"When to go to Pattaya" has no single answer, because there are four seasons here and they do not line up. For the boats it is a price season, for the wind a weather one, fishing has its own, and diving has none at all. Below are only the dates the operators printed themselves, and what those dates are worth in money.
- The only exact season dates in the destination
- Wind: November to March
- Fishing: October to March
- Diving: no season
- What changes within the day rather than the year
The only exact season dates
One operator publishes a calendar — Serenity Yachting. Its high season runs 1 December to 19 April and its low season from 20 April to 30 November. Those are the only firm boundaries in the destination, and they make a convenient yardstick for everything else.
| Outing | Low season | High season |
|---|---|---|
| Day catamaran, per person | ฿2,700 | ฿3,250 |
| Private sunset trip, 2 hours | ฿35,000 | ฿44,000 |
| Private charter, 4 hours | ฿50,000 | ฿62,500 |
| Private charter, 8 hours | ฿90,000 | ฿112,500 |
The difference is quick to work out. For a couple, the day catamaran is ฿5,400 (≈ $150) in low season against ฿6,500 (≈ $180) — a saving of ฿1,100 (≈ $30). For a family of four with children aged 7 and 12, ฿8,100 (≈ $224) against ฿9,750 (≈ $270).
On a private charter the gap is of a different order: an eight-hour day is ฿90,000 (≈ $2,493) in low season and ฿112,500 (≈ $3,116) in high — ฿22,500 (≈ $623) for the group. Every other operator in the destination publishes no seasonal mark-up at all: their price is the same all year.
Wind: November to March
The kitesurf school at the Blue Lagoon names November to March as the main wind season and promises to move a lesson if the air is still. That is the same corridor as the high tourist season, and for kite, wing-foil and windsurf it is the reference that matters.
Tip
check the day, not the month. Clubloongchat keeps a live wind gauge and a season guide on its site, and the club says outright that which sport suits here changes with the season. That beats a calendar: you can see what is worth taking tomorrow specifically.
Outside the wind season the same beach still works, only for something else. A paddleboard at ฿300 (≈ $8) an hour and a Hobie Wave catamaran at ฿1,000 (≈ $28) need no wind at all, and a windsurf lesson at ฿900 (≈ $25) works in far lighter breeze than a kite does.
Fishing: October to March
The fishing charter names its season plainly: the peak is October to March, when the water settles. Trips run in other months too if the weather allows, and the price does not move with the calendar: ฿15,000 (≈ $415) for the boat and up to eight anglers, all year.
The catch itself is not seasonal. Trevally, barracuda, snapper and queenfish are caught year-round — the operator says so separately. The autumn-to-winter window buys you not different fish but a calmer sea: six hours of jigging and trolling in a swell is not for everyone.
Diving: no season
This is what sets Pattaya apart from the other Thai dive regions. Pattaya Dive Centre states that diving off the Pattaya islands and in the Samae San marine park runs all year, including the monsoon months when part of the country shuts down.
The second operator says the same thing differently. Thai Ocean Academy runs year-round and answers the windier months with the size and comfort of its boats rather than a closed season. The same operator is also honest about the bay's drawback: low visibility, currents and swell.
Important
"all year" does not mean "any day". In both cases the captain picks the site in the morning by conditions, and a trip is cancelled if the sea is unsafe. Pattaya Dive Centre then states a full refund less a card fee of about 3%.
What changes within the day rather than the year?
Within a single day the contrast is sharper than between months. Morning at Na Jomtien is the flat-water window: the breeze arrives after midday, so people paddle before it and sail or kite after. Sea outings do not follow that logic — they are tied to a timetable.
Almost everything in the morning leaves between 08:00 and 09:15: the Mermaids dive day at 08:00, the snorkelling boat from Bali Hai at 08:00, the Samae San trip at 08:15, the Koh Larn speedboat at 08:30, the Jomtien dive speedboat at 09:15 and both jet ski tours at 09:00. The evening is closed by the sunset catamaran: boarding at 17:00, mooring at 20:00.
The cable wake park is a case of its own. At Thai Wake Park the cheap low-speed session at ฿450 (≈ $12) runs in fixed hours: Monday to Friday 10:30 to 12:00 and at weekends 09:00 to 10:30. The cable itself runs 10:30–18:30 on weekdays and 09:00–18:30 at weekends.
