The Area
Mae Phim Thailand's quiet east coast
Five kilometres of beach with shallow, still water — two hours southeast of Bangkok.
Mae Phim sits on Thailand's east coast in Rayong province. It is not Phuket and it is not Pattaya. It is a five-kilometre beach with shallow, calm water, a handful of streets with restaurants, and a pace that has not changed much in twenty years. Most people who come here come back.
The Area
Getting here
From Suvarnabhumi it is motorway nearly the whole way. Bangkok traffic is the only unpredictable part, and it comes at the start of the drive, not the end.
- Suvarnabhumi (BKK)
- approx. 180 km, 2–2.5 hours
- Klaeng
- 16 km
- Ban Phe, ferry to Koh Samet
- approx. 20 km
- Rayong city
- 44 km
A private transfer is what works in practice. There are buses via Rayong, but with luggage and children the change is not worth it.
Where the house sits
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Blue Mango Residence
The house sits in Blue Mango Residence, a small villa development in the middle of Mae Phim, completed in 2007. Thirty-seven houses along curving lanes, with two shared pools and plenty of palms and flowering shrubs between the plots. The beach is a few minutes’ walk away, with the restaurants, bakery and shops of the beach road the same distance off. The development has a reception, security and its own parking.
Good for: A quiet setting with the beach a walk away
The beaches
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Hat Mae Phim
The main beach. Nearly five kilometres of soft pale sand and a shallow, calm seabed — this is a bay, not open sea. Shaded in parts by the pines. In the evening a seafood market gets going along the sand.
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Ao Khai
At the far end of Mae Phim. White sand, a couple of beach bars and a restaurant. Tucked away enough to stay empty even in high season.
Good for: When the main beach is busy
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Haad Suan Son
The pine forest beach, a couple of kilometres east of Ban Phe’s Nuan Thip pier. Handy if you are taking the ferry and want a swim first.
Where to eat
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The Kitchen
A short way from GrandBlue towards Ban Phe, and has been here a long time. Broad menu, generous portions and prices that have not followed the coast upwards. Expect a wait when it is busy. The Lucky Viking pub is right next door if the evening is to continue.
Good for: An easy dinner, no booking needed
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Tequila Sunrise
Opened in early 2007 and was one of the first western restaurants in town. Today it is as much a meeting point as a place to eat, for Thais and foreign residents alike. There are recurring offers on certain days of the week.
Good for: Meeting people, western food
Mae Phim Beach Road +66 82 721 3906 Website
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La Capanna
Italian, right on the beach with a terrace facing the sea. The place you go after five straight evenings of Thai food.
Good for: A break from Thai food
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Jae Muay Pad Thai เจ๊หมวยผัดไทยทะเล
Among the Swedes in town it is known simply as "the blue tables", after the plastic tables out front. A plain Thai roadside eatery: seafood pad thai, spicy basil chicken and whatever else you point at. A lot of food for very little money, and this is where you go to eat the way people here do.
Good for: Cheap, real Thai food
52 Kram, Klaeng, Rayong 21190 +66 81 638 5629
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J.Steak & BBQ
Grill and Thai food right next to GrandBlue on the beach road. An evening place — it opens late in the afternoon. Good when you want meat off the grill without hotel prices.
Good for: A grill evening
176/2 Kram, Klaeng, Rayong 21190
What to do
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GrandBlue Resort & Beachclub
A beachfront hotel with a large outdoor pool and a restaurant facing the sea. A good place to settle in for an afternoon when the beach gets too hot and you do not want to go anywhere.
Good for: A slow afternoon
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Yourfav Beach Club
A newly opened beach club on a calm lagoon, with its own parking. They rent out SUP boards and water bikes.
Good for: Half a day with kids
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Rayong Marriott Resort & Spa
A resort a little way along the coast, with lovely pools, its own beach and a spa. You do not need to stay there: day passes for the pools are bought right down at the pool, and then the day is yours. Expect it to take the whole day.
Good for: A pool day
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Elementi Rooftop Restaurant & Bar
The rooftop restaurant on the 30th floor of the Holiday Inn in Rayong, with a bar and a view over the whole city. Western food. An evening out rather than just dinner — you go to sit up high as the sun goes down.
Good for: An evening out
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Sköldpaddscentret på Koh Man Nai
Sea turtles are hatched and raised in protected pools before being released. You get close, and the staff explain the work. This is the trip children tend to talk about afterwards.
Good for: Children
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Khao Chamao–Khao Wong nationalpark
The waterfall has seven levels and you can swim in several of them. Two hiking trails of a couple of kilometres, and in the hills nearby there are some sixty caves, around twenty of them open to visitors. The water is at its strongest during the rainy season.
Good for: A full day, and cooler air
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Rayong Aquarium
Forty-three indoor tanks and outdoor ponds with sharks and turtles. Just west of Ban Phe, and it saves a rainy day.
Good for: A rainy day with children
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Thung Prong Thong
Rayong’s largest mangrove forest, with a boardwalk running out through the trees. Quiet, shaded and free.
Good for: A morning walk
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Golfbanor i östra Thailand
Eastern Thailand has more than twenty-five courses, about seven of them within an hour’s drive.
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Koh Samet
A day trip to the island. The ferry leaves from Ban Phe and the crossing takes a little over twenty minutes.
Good for: A full day
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Sunthorn Phu-monumentet อนุสาวรีย์สุนทรภู่
A memorial to Thailand's most widely read poet, on the road between Klaeng and Laem Mae Phim. A short stop, but it is the area's own cultural history.
Good to know
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Vård och tandläkare
Bangkok Rayong Clinic is on the beach in Ban Phe, open every day 08:00–20:00, and also does dental work. There is a private clinic in Kram and an English-speaking dentist in the area. For anything larger there is Bangkok Hospital Rayong, open around the clock.
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Att ta sig runt
Most of Mae Phim is walkable. For longer trips there are songthaews — the white pickups run roughly every twenty minutes from early morning until late afternoon. Scooters, cars and bicycles can be hired locally. Rayong is flat, so a bicycle works better here than in most parts of Thailand.