Last updated on April 23rd, 2018 at 10:31 am

A lot of people say that Cha Am’s beaches are not the most beautiful nor cleanest in Thailand. I agree with that statement to a certain point.

Cha Am is not that far off away from Bangkok, which is just north west, about 2 hours and 45 minutes by car. So a lot of “the stuff” will still make its way to the waters of Cha Am. So you won’t find that crystal clear Listerine blue you’d find in Phuket and Samui.

That said, I still like heading down to Cha Am for a little beach getaway. Sometimes Bangkok can get a little crowded, so it’s always a treat to go somewhere and just chill out in peace.

This time around my wife and I drove down to Puktien Beach which is the northern section of Petchaburi province. Cha Am and Hua Hin’s beaches are so easy drive to. You don’t need a GPS because the highways have English signs. From Bangkok we hopped on the highway via toll expressway. Follow Dao Khanong which is highway route #9 to Samut Sakong which leads to highway #35. Finally connect to highway route #4 which leads down to Cha-Am and Hua Hin. Sounds like a lot but Thailand has a pretty good highway system.

When we arrived tho this part of Cha Am we noticed it’s not area that’s ready for loads of foreign tourists. You’ll mostly see locals on a short family weekend holiday instead of a family from Australia. And I prefer the less crowded touristy places with jacked up prices. So I like Puktien Beach just the way it is. But I can see perhaps in a few years the area will get to see more development.

I just heard that Fitch ratings has increased Thailand’s credit rating back to BBB+ from BBB. Not sure exactly if that’s a big whoop dee do but it can’t be bad for Thailand’s near future. So perhaps foreign investors will start pumping some cash into building up Cha Am’s tourism infrastructure.

But I hope they keep the resorts small. For this trip my wife and I stayed at a beach side resort called Puktien Cabana Beach Resort.

Entrance

Resort Reception

Beach View Cabana

A Happy Camper

Our Cabana (after a night)

Small Private Pool

There’s also the Puktien Sea View Residence Hotel which is a separate hotel just a little ways down from where we were staying all under the same owner. This hotel is in a traditional hotel style setting.

The only difference is that all of the rooms at Puktien Cabana Beach Resort are all closer to the beach and the rooms are as the name implies cabana style.

It’s not an expensive hotel as far as it goes for staying at a beach side resort. But we got these vouchers for a free night from our insurance broker. But we paid 1400THB extra to upgrade to a cabana with private pool and a can’t beat view of the beach. And it was worth it.

But either way, you can check Agoda.com to see if you can get discounts for Puktien Cabana Beach Resort.

The area surrounding both properties is quiet and you’ll find a few locals running small shops and beach side restaurants.

We chose one of the smaller restaurants which had no customers but neither did the larger restaurants. So we took a chance and dove in. Yeah, the food didn’t taste so good but at least the ambiance was nice. Wasn’t exactly cheap either though, we had a plate of fried rice, larb gai, vegetable stir fry and shrimp tom yum and the bill came out to 300THB.

Then we headed across the street to one of the few small shops to get 2 sticks of ice cream and 4 cans of Singh beer. The cost, 300THB. Yes folks, that’s pricey. No I’m not exactly complaining, because it’s a quiet area where the shops don’t make a lot of money because they’re probably only busiest during weekends.

The shop where we bought our beers and ice cream…

After dinner we dropped of our beers and ice cream back at our cabana fridge and took a stroll along Puktien beach. There were only another couple with their kids so we were basically alone. And the sun was coming down and the weather while not exactly cool it was breezy and comfortable as we watched tiny birds chase after tiny clams running for cover. I tell you, walking on a beach barefoot with the sundown on my back and holding my wife’s hand was wonderful.

A walk on the beach to end a great day…

When we got back to our cabana we plopped ourselves down on the sun chairs, popped open our cans of beer and devoured our ice cream. None of us said a word as we just chilled and watched the ocean and time past by. Life is good! No, wait… life is freaking awesome!