The sun is down and its time for some Koh Chang nightlife! Head out to the best lounges, dance clubs, bars and entertainment the island has to offer. The night is yours!
For a lot of people the concept of nightlife differs from one person to another. For some it is a high intensity nightclub with pounding music, for others it is a nice bar with a beach side view and still for others it is a great party that goes on until dawn and of course for others it is the beer bar scene. We will try to cover a bit of it all and hope the guide helps you to decide where to go, what to do, how to get there, and most importantly – how to have some fun on Koh Chang. So inject some nightlife into your trip here and have some fun!
So What exactly is Koh Chang Nightlife:
Koh Chang does not have any Go-Go bars, streets of nightclubs and 1000 person discos or much of the frantic activity of Pattaya or nightlife locations of Bangkok. The feel is much more relaxed and serene, the venues smaller and more intimate but, yes there is still a good time to be had, but not like the non-stop craziness in so many other places in Thailand. So relax, your on the island. Nobody is that pushy, bars are quite welcoming and you will find, we are sure, a place to call “home” for your stay here…
Nightlife in White Sands Beach:
White Sands has been more or less the epicenter for nightlife in Koh Chang since it started. Wide beaches, the biggest hotels and the highest concentration of services, restaurants and other amenities it was and continues to be, for many – the place to go. All of the hotels and lodges have attached restaurants and we will cover those in another article.
The three biggest dance clubs are One Club on Walking Street, Sabay Bar on the beach and KCs, also on the beach. KCs and Sabay have lots of loud music, big crowds, fire shows, specials and of course, they are right on the beach which attracts a lot of people. KCs is something that one would expect to find in Bangkok and is really upscale and fun. Sabay has just done some huge renovations and expanded. One Club just opened and are doing a great job of attracting the clubbing crowd…Head into of them just around midnight and see if you can figure out where all the single girls are coming from if you can… All are a good place for couples and a guaranteed dance time. All are good places to be seen and see, very high energy and a lot of dancing – all three are basically the local disco or main nightclubs if you want. If you want a relaxing but fun beach bar just walk down to the shore with Beach Tango, pilot Bar and Tiger Den being some favorites of ours.
Across from Sabay Bar is Oodies Restaurant that not only serves great food but also has live music. And of course Buffalo Bills Steakhouse that has a wonderful mechanical Bull to ride, but do that before eating and a full stomach okay?
Just south down the main and only road is Walking Street and it is being developed and advertised a bit more with One Club, Amazon Queen, Rock Bar and a couple others being popular places to head to. All are a little laid back and can be a lot of fun at night. As mentioned One Club is a dance club, with Amazon Queen and Rock Bar quite a bit more laid back.
Towards the south is what many locals call Mini-Pattaya (mini-Pats), a large area of many small beer bars that of course have the usual cranked up stereos, calls of “Hello! Welcome!’ and many alluring charms of the ladies of the night, who are always thirsty and will beat you very quickly in a game of jenga, pool, or any drinking game you can think of. As is often the case the bars change names and owners quite often, but some manage to last like Toy Bar (the bartender does the best magic tricks on the island) Double Lucky (with many flags of the world overhead, including the Vatican?!) Golden Bar, Candy Bar, Honey Bar, Mankeyto, Yes Bar and quite a few others. The faces are constantly changing and of course the nights go on and on here for the beer bar crowd.
Just heading out of White Sands is Paddys Palms, a very nice Irish pub-house that has pool tables and imported beer (Think Guinness!) South of Paddys is Zap Bar, Koh Bar and south again a few beer bars with RockHard being one of the more inventive names we have seen in quite a while.
Nightlife in Chia Chet:
The biggest feature in Chia Chet is the Entertainment Complex that once hosted at least a dozen bars in what looks like an airplane hangar (it used to be the local fish market at one time, (if you read Shakespeare you will get the reference…) but over the years it has dwindled to two bars that seem to get by as they have the coveted front spot (as the rest is abandoned). You will see you are there when you see the huge telephone tower on the mountainside.
Across from that are numerous smaller beer bars like Pillow Bar, Butterfly, Rattle Snake, Jimmys Bar, The Flying Wedge, Maxs Place and Baht Bar. Last we counted there are about 30 34 32 beer bars here! Their all beer bars, not great for a date, unless she works at one of them… Some are open early to cater to the all day drinking crowd and others close when you leave… there should be something here for the beer bar crowd depending on their tastes and times and decor.
There are a couple of good places to be had though if your looking for a good night. A new larger bar called Pillow Bar has opened recently with a more modern theme, The venerable DD Bar and Baht Bar which is one of the oldest ones still running on the island.
Nightlife in Klong Prao:
Klong Prao has been up and coming for a while and although it lacks the sheer bars and nightlife of most areas it can still be worth going to for a few places. As the area is quite large there are several good restaurants and lounges along the main road but also along the river (turn at Ramayana Resort) to find some good places like Moleys, Sea Breeze and Phu Talay.
If you are looking for a beach lounge Klong Prao is a great place to head to. Turn at the Amari and follow the road until the pavement ends. Head about 200m up the dirt road and take either left that you see. You will come to either Mandaly or Family restaurant. Although not “happening” night spots if you want an evening with sea breezes and stars as the waves lap in these two cannot be beat.
In the center of Klong Prao on the main road is a great place called Ma Tinis, an open floor plan with a pool in the back, not open late but great to dip into on a hot afternoon! Pot & Kettle is also a laid back place with M&D farther south. One of our favorite places is across from M&D called Cheap Thrills, a French run live music venue – worth the trip there to be sure. Towards the very south are a few small beers along the road.
Kai Bae Nightlife:
Kai Bae was once the poorer cousin of White Sands and Lonely Beach, with Kai Bai being more of a go-through between the two than a destination a while back. That has really changed and it now boasts quite an active nightlife, club and bar scene all on its own. Frankly, maybe its because we live closer, we really like Kai Bae. You can pretty walk the entire length and there are numerous small cafes, bars and lounges to take in. Lots more trees also… its a bit more relaxed than White Sands and developing very nicely.
In the north section there is a very unadvertised area called Walking Street, that the owners are trying to promote and it definitely has a bit of a Pattaya feel to it with quite a few small beer bars that are about 10m by 5m in size that boast a flurry of colours, lots of bright lights and of course drink specials, hostesses, etc… and as far as we know is home to the only boy-bar in town (look for the purple theme). There are multitude of changing bars and it seems on a monthly basis one shuts down and another opens in it’s place. A recent addition was a food area with several carts that do an amazingly good job at Thai food, but they come and go and there is no set schedule for openings there.
Then there is Sir Henry Morgan’s Pub that is the largest lounge/restaurant in Kai Bae that offers a fire-show pretty well every night and caters to eastern European tastes, a good place for a date night and just south the newly opened Texas Steak house – just a stone throws down the road.
Central Kai Bae has numerous small beer bars that again are opening and closing monthly. To the south is the ever popular Butterfly and You & Me Bar and of course a really good couples bar called Mojitos Lounge that “surprise” serve up great mojitos, a good dance floor, pool and a few other amenities that make it a great destination. Across from them is Mak Mak Restaurant that serves up some good food and often live music. Across the river and to the south is the new night club/lounge called Filous, with a nice laid back feel and often with live music.
A little harder to find but worth it is Nang Nuals “Cabaret Show”. Turn towards the sea at the first turn south of the river and head to Nang Nual Resort, definitely a good show, and a good time right on the shore. There are quite a few late night restaurants with Big Elk, Mak Mak and Morgans being some of our favourites.
Nightlife in Lonely Beach:
Lonely Beach has been the big draw for nightlife for quite while and has been popular, very popular actually, for years with the backpacker, gap year and younger (or want to be younger crowd). The area has some very unique nightlife to take in and pretty well every night there is a big draw going on. It is a party area bar non. Most people here do the beach in the day, sleep a bit and then head out… and stay out late.
So with a party every day of the week and with the size of Lonely Beach all you need to do to find that night’s party is follow the noise… Some good places to check out are: Lemon Bar, Himmel Bar (check out the flaming Molotov Cocktail show), Ting Tong Bar (24 hour food), Om Bar, Vitamine, all great DJs, late nights are common and of course some of the biggest beach parties are in this area. Sandy beach Club (a new nightclub) has opened in the North, Siam Hut has some great times and of course there are a lot of good places to eat all about including Lonely Beach Resort, Barrio Bonitos Mexican food and numerous other smaller places.
We know we probably missed a few places.. drop us a line and tell us who you like and why!
