Patong Travel and Tourism Guide

Patong Beach is a little easy and caotic village on Phuket island's west coast. It is the main tourist resort in Phuket. It contains an important centre of Phuket\'s nightlife and is the centre of cheap shopping on the island. The beach became popular with western tourists, especially Americans in the 70's (during the Vietnam war) and Europeans, in the late 1980s. Numerous large hotels and chain hotels are located in Patong.
Patong Beach is more famous for its nightlife than the 2km beach that runs the entire length of Patong Town’s western side. Nightlife is centered on two main areas Bangla Road and Paradise Complex: Bangla being predominantly straight and Paradise being predominantly gay. Much mixing of the two scenes occurs due to Phuket Island’s tolerant nature, with Kathoey present on Bangla Road.
On December 26, 2004, Patong Beach along with many other areas along the western coast of Phuket and Thailand were struck by a tsunami. The wave caused a great deal of destruction to the waterfront of the beach and immediately inland, and many people were killed there. Patong was one of the worst affected areas of Phuket, although the destruction was not nearly as bad as nearby in Khao Lak.
But in only six months of human help everything back the same or better than before.
A lot of international communities are present in the village. It's easy to speak your mother language everywhere due to the hundreds of foreiners living there.