Chances are that you have been to Chonburi and didn’t even know it. Most people pass the entire Chonburi town and city, only to visit Pattaya. It’s easy to think of Pattaya as its own destination, but there are tons of reasons to visit Chonburi other than Pattaya. There are all sorts of cafes, cool hidden spots, temples, beachside restaurants, and delightful resorts. One of them that has it all is Beach Walk Bangsaen.
Beach Walk Bangsaen is a multi-purpose, mini destination in Saensuk Bang Saen district of Chonburi. It’s got almost everything you would need and it is just less than 1.5 hours from Bangkok!
A perfect mini getaway, especially on a budget.
4 reasons to visit Beach Walk Bangsaen
Stay a night or two at the resort
If you’re going to travel for even an hour, you need a place to stay. Well, Beach Walk has its own resort called Sikhara Plago (formerly known as Beach Walk Boutique Resort).
The ambiance and design can be described as a balance between classic and modern elements. It fits my 3Cs of a hotel stay – clean, comfortable, and convenient. You can’t go wrong with that.
It’s a 47-room resort with 6 types of rooms ranging from deluxe to the grand beachfront villa. We stayed in the junior suite with pool access.
Other than a pool, other facilities include a gym, meeting room, garden, and a guest-only restaurant. The only suggestion I can give is that it needs a bit of a redesign in colors – white with blue accents like at Beach Walk Cafe and restaurant would be best.
Oh, and the resort has fantastic Wi-Fi. One of the best I’ve encountered. Free and no user/password required!
Artistic Cafe
The Beach Walk Café is an Instagram photography heaven. I don’t know about the drinks and dessert (since I did not have any), but the design in this place is visually sensational.
The cafe is well-lit and airconditioned, making it an ideal place to chill, work, or just hang out.
Beachside restaurant
Firstly, Beachwalk Bangsaen has a massive restaurant that divided into sections – indoor, outdoor, and on the beach.
You will find accents of blue tones with hints of bright colors in every aspect of the design. It has a sort of beach club vibe – refreshing, inviting and relaxing.
As you can see, both the restaurant and café are very Instagram vibey.
Obviously, our favorite section was on the beach, sitting under the huts, watching the sunset over the sea.
The restaurant serves traditional Thai dishes, mouth-watering fresh seafood, Italian cuisine, and other comfort foods.
During our 2-day stay we had both seafood and Italian.
I would highly recommend the giant lobster, which is caught and transported from the South of Thailand fresh every week. You can have it cooked Thai or European style.
Lots of things to do within 10-minute drives
If you are going to stay at the resort at Beach Walk Bangsaen, you will find there are tons of things to see or do if you just drive in any direction for 10-15 minutes.
Restaurants and cafes
Seafood club (600 m)
Just next door to Beach Walk is another cool beach restaurant that is quite popular. We didn’t have the time to visit it but it looked pretty nice. Again, a very Instagram-y spot with lots of props and backgrounds for your photos.
We also just found out that they have fire shows every Wednesday and Friday evening, starting from 20:30.
White House Beach café / Seafood 33 restaurant (4.1 km)
It is 1.4 km if you walk since you won’t have to take two U-turns.
Yet another and café restaurant in the area worth a try. Sadly the café was closed when we went so we can’t say anything about their food or drinks.
However, I think what really draws the crowd (including myself) is the iconic stairway to heaven structure located in the area.
Now, the staircase that is tagged on Instagram as White House is actually at the Seafood 33 restaurant. They have even put their logo on it but somehow, people always geotag the spot as White House. I guess it is more catchy. I am not sure. But I figured I would point that out.
Hideout beach café & bistro (8.4 km)
Another café with surfboards? Yup! Who is copying who, I wonder.
I was recommended by a friend to visit this place. It has a quaint, garden ambiance, which is slightly different from the other beach cafes/restaurants.
Beaches and Viewpoints
Wonnapha Beach (5.3 km)
A quaint beach with a very fisherman village type of vibe. But don’t let that fool you. There are lots of trendy cafes, bars, and restaurants right across the beach too.
One of the highlights at Wonnapha beach (at least for me) is the Labyrinth, which is basically this cool artistic structure that, well, looks like a labyrinth.
You can play around in it, walk up/down the maze of stairs and take a million photos.
Bang Saen beach (6.6 km)
This is the most popular beach in Chonburi town. Before COVID, this beach would be packed with locals and tourists from nearby provinces. Water sports, beach loungers with hawker food, shops, restaurants, walking streets and so much more can be found on this stretch of beach road.
Related article: a day in Chonburi
Bang Phra lake (8.5 km)
This spot was not on any travel blog. I found it purely by looking at Google Maps, noticing a giant blue lake. It was close to Beach Walk, so naturally, we had to check it out.
I highly recommend this place as the panoramic view at Bang Phra viewpoint is absolutely amazing. The massive red platform looks over the lake/reservoir and the vegetation around it. It is a natural beauty masterpiece.
If you have the time, consider driving the entire loop around the lake. It is a gorgeous 22 km drive. Along the way, you can also take a small detour and check out the surrounding cemeteries (you can clearly see them on the map).
Khao Sam Muk (12 km)
While this takes double the time to reach (about 20 minutes) it is well worth the trip as it the probably the best and highest viewpoint in this area of Chonburi.
If my Thai is correct, I believe Khao Sam Muk means 3 viewpoint mountain. Yup, I am certain, since three viewpoints are marked on Google Maps. Each spot looks over the ocean and partial views of the coastal city.
Be wary though, there are hundreds of monkeys on this hill. While they are not dangerous, they do get in front or on top of the cars. So be very careful. We saw many people selling feeding them, which surprisingly did not seem to make the monkeys aggressive.
Just be careful if you plan to get out of the car to take some photos at the scenic spots. We barely did.
Obviously, there are a million other things you can do if you drive further towards Pattaya or beyond. But that is beside the point. We’re only considering stuff nearby from Beach Walk Bangsaen.
We hope you take the opportunity to check out some of these places on a day trip or the weekend.
Take us there too sometime guys