Hua Hin Beach

Hua Hin became Thailand's first beach resort in the 1920s, when the railway reached it and the royal family built a summer palace here. The town beach runs about five kilometres south from the fishing pier.

The sand is broad and the water shallow and calm - this is the Gulf, not the Andaman, and the character is gentler. Ponies are still led along the sand, a holdover from the resort's early days.

The northern end by the pier is the busiest; walk south past Khao Takiab and it empties out. Hua Hin is around three hours from Bangkok and is a domestic weekend destination as much as an international one.