Renting a Motorbike in Pattaya: Shops, Checkpoints

Pattaya has one of the deepest rental markets in Thailand and one of the least forgiving traffic environments to use it in. Scooters are rented from shops along Soi Buakhao, Second Road, Thepprasit Road and the length of Jomtien Beach Road, and there is a genuine big-bike scene here too — this is one of the few Thai towns where 650cc and larger machines are rented in volume. What makes Pattaya distinctive is not the shops, though. It is the baht buses, the one-way loop through the middle of town, and the fact that this is among the most-reported places in the country for routine roadside checks.

The national picture on paperwork, deposits and damage is in renting a motorbike in Thailand, and it applies here without modification. Below is what riding a rented bike in Pattaya specifically involves.

• Typical daily rateRoughly 200–300 baht for a 125cc automatic; monthly rates are common and much cheaper
• TerrainFlat, apart from the Pratamnak headland between Pattaya and Jomtien
• Best vehicle125cc automatic for town; big bikes widely available if you are qualified
• Main hazardBaht buses stopping without warning, anywhere

Baht buses are the local hazard

Pattaya's blue songthaews — baht buses — are the town's public transport, and they behave like shared taxis rather than buses. They stop wherever a passenger raises a hand, without indicating and without pulling in, and they pull back out into the traffic stream just as abruptly. Because they cannot easily U-turn, drivers who miss part of their route will loop round a side street and rejoin it, which means they turn without much warning too.

For a rider on a scooter, this means the vehicle in front of you may become a stationary object at any moment, and the gap you were about to filter into may be occupied by a passenger stepping off the back. Leave a much bigger following distance than the traffic speed suggests, and never assume a baht bus that has just pulled over is going to stay there. Songthaews and how they stop without warning covers the reading of them.

The one-way loop

Central Pattaya runs on a one-way system. Beach Road carries traffic in one direction and Second Road carries it back in the other, forming a loop through the busiest part of town, with the connecting roads — Central, South and North Pattaya Road — running across between them. Get it wrong and you cannot simply turn round; you go round the loop. Visitors who try to shortcut it end up riding the wrong way down Beach Road, into oncoming traffic, on one of the busiest streets in the country.

Learn the loop on the first day, ideally by walking it. Driving in Pattaya maps out how the one-ways, the baht bus routes and Beach Road interact, and one-way streets and wrong-way riders covers the wider problem — plenty of local riders go the wrong way up the edge of a one-way street, so look both ways even where the arrows say you need not.

Pratamnak, Jomtien and the rest

Pattaya is otherwise flat. The one climb worth mentioning is over Pratamnak Hill, the headland separating Pattaya Bay from Jomtien, which carries the road up to the viewpoint and the Big Buddha. It is short and not steep by Thai standards, but it is busy and the descents into Jomtien are faster than they look. Jomtien Beach Road is a long flat seafront strip with parking on both sides — the most pleasant riding in the area, and the place where car doors open into your path. Further south, Na Jomtien and the road towards Sattahip open out, with Silverlake and Khao Chi Chan within an easy morning's ride.

Checkpoints: what riders report

Pattaya sits alongside Phuket as the place where visiting riders most often report being stopped. The commonly described pattern is checkpoints on the main approach roads and at junctions on Second Road, Thepprasit and the Jomtien end of town, more frequent in the evening and around holiday weekends, with a strong focus on two-wheelers. That is what travellers and local media consistently report, not a statement about the law.

What happens at a stop is covered in police checkpoints in Thailand and what Thai police can and cannot ask you for. Sort out which licence you can use in Thailand before you rent, and see informal roadside payments if you are unsure what you are being asked for.

Where the deposit trouble is reported

Pattaya's rental market is large enough that both ends of the quality range are represented: long-established shops with a premises and a printed contract, alongside kerbside stands that appear in high season and vanish afterwards. Deposit complaints here cluster, as they do everywhere, around shops that take the original passport and hold it until the bike comes back clean.

Do not do it. Offer cash — a few thousand baht is standard — plus a photocopy, and walk away if the shop refuses. See passport as deposit, rental deposits explained and rental scams in Thailand. Film the bike before you ride it: the inspection video.

Big bikes

Along with Chiang Mai, Pattaya is where Thailand's large-capacity rental fleet lives — sports bikes, adventure bikes and cruisers rented by the day to riders heading south towards Rayong or inland to Khao Yai. Shops renting these ask real questions about your licence and take deposits to match, which is as it should be. Renting a big bike in Thailand covers what to expect.

Prices and seasons

Pattaya swings less than the islands because it is busy all year and full of long-stayers. A 125cc automatic typically runs around 200–300 baht a day (roughly £5–£7 / US$6–US$9), rising over Christmas, New Year and Songkran, when Pattaya's own water festival runs for several days. A scooter rider hit by a bucket of water at speed is a scooter rider on the floor — see driving during Songkran and New Year.

Frequently asked questions