Thien Beach (Koh Larn, Pattaya)

Thien beach on Koh Larn is one of the most picturesque and large beaches on the coral island of Koh Larn near the famous resort of Pattaya. At the same time, rest on this beach can be very quiet, calm and secluded. This review details the ways that you can quickly and inexpensively get to Thien Beach on Koh Larn Island (Which transport from Pattaya is better to use and which transport to use on the island of Koh Larn) as well as the main particular qualities and benefits of this magnificent beach with photos and videos.

Getting to Thien beach from Pattaya

To date, there are several ways that you can use to get to Thien Beach (Tien Beach) from Pattaya. All these methods differ somewhat in value, so I’ll start describing from the most budgetary ones and end up more expensive, but also faster (although the latter factor is in some cases very conditional).

★ From Pattaya to the Thien beach (Ko Larn) for 120 baht (both ways). The most accessible option, involving the use popular ferry from Pattaya to Koh Larn island. This ferry arriving at the ferry pier in Naban (a village on the east side of the island). For more information on Ko Larn ferries and their timetables, see “Getting from Pattaya to Koh Larn by ferry“. After arriving at Naban Pier, you must find a songthaew (passenger pickup), the route of which goes to the Thien beach.

In the distance – Thien beach. View from the parking. On the right side – parking for motorbikes

To find this transport, you must go about a hundred steps along the sea to the left (if you stand with your back to the pier). The parking lot is located not far from the island’s main temple (see the article “Main attractions of Koh Larn Island”). The cost of a tuk-tuk is fixed and is 30 baht one way.You need to take a seat on a bench in this transport and go to the end of the route. The stop will be next to the sea, in a parking lot outside the beach of Thien (see photo), then you need to pass the parking for motorbike and walk along the bridges along the rock to Thien beach itself. Return to Pattaya should be done in the reverse order: songthaew + ferry from Naban pier to the Bali Hai pier in Pattaya.

Return from Thien beach. In the distance in the parking lot – blue songthaew for 30 baht

★ From Pattaya to Thien beach (Koh Larn) for 140 baht (both ways). This option involves the use of a ferry from Pattaya, which arrives at the Tawaen pier near Tawaen beach in the northern part of Koh Larn. The higher cost is due to the lack of a car road from the beach to Thien beach. There is only a narrow winding path paved with sidewalk tiles, which only motorbikes can drive. The journey takes about five minutes, and the fare of taxi-motorcicle services is 50 baht per person.

Thien beach on Koh Larn. Pointer at the beginning of the beach.

Taxi-motobike you can find right next to the exit from the pier of Tawaen (even sooner they will find you). In the article “Transport on the Koh Larn island – practical advice”, I already wrote that when riding a motorbike with two passengers, a little bargaining is possible. Mototaxi will take you to the same parking lot as the tuk-tuk in the variant described above (even slightly closer to the beach). The total path to the beach will cost you 30 baht (ferry) + 50 baht (motobike) = 80 baht. The total cost of this option is indicated as 140 baht, since back to get through the pier of Tawaen there is no sense. More easier and faster getting to Pattaya through the Naban pier on the tuk-tuk (as in the first variant). For those who are afraid of riding motorbikes, there is a variant with two tuk-tukami, which in sum is the same 50 baht (20 baht for tuk-tuk between piers + 30 baht for tuk-tuk from Naban to Thien Beach).

Concrete path along the sea to Thien beach on Koh Larn

★ From Pattaya to the Thien beach (Ko Larn) by big boat for 150 baht (both ways). I describe this option here due to the fact that it seems to someone to be the most simple and at the same time accessible. We are talking about large boats that deliver passengers for 150 THB to Samae beach and back. Details of this method and its advantages are described in the article “How to get to Koh Larn from Pattaya on big boat”. You may have a question: why do I write about Samae beach, when you need Thien beach? It’s simple: both named beaches share a small cape, on which houses a large solar power station of the island (which is also one of its attractions.

The way to Thien Beach from the pontoon pier Samae Beach (marked in yellow)

Arriving at the pontoon pier of Samae Beach, you need to move left along the sea. You can go not by the sand, but by the road that runs a little further from the beach. After overcoming a small hill, you will get to the parking near Thien Beach (about which I wrote earlier). Return to Pattaya occurs in reverse order. On the satellite map, the path between the beaches is marked in yellow. The distance from the pier is about 700 meters. The advantage of this method is the lack of additional transport. Disadvantage – fewer flights of boats for 150 baht per day (schedule – by reference in the previous paragraph). By the way, in rare cases, when very big waves are on the Samae Beach, big boats from Pattaya can come to Thien beach and drive their passengers for free to Samae beach on tuk-tuk (songthaew).

Thien beach (Koh Larn). View of the solar power station on the beach Samae beach

★ From Pattaya to Thien Beach (Koh Larn) on a speedboat for 300 baht (both ways). The fastest and most comfortable way to get to Thien beach from Pattaya: directly to the island takes 15-20 minutes, while they take you directly to the line of sun beds on the beach Thien beach. The disadvantages of this method can be attributed only to a higher cost, as well as the fact that most likely you will have to wait for some time to fill the speedboat at the pier of Bali Hai in Pattaya (usually not less than 12 passengers) and similarly back. Details about using speedbots to the island – in the article “How to quickly get to Koh Larn Island from Pattaya.” At the end of 2016, parking for speedboats was transferred from the Bali Hai Pier to the Jomtien beach area. But a small number of boats you can find and use for getting to Koh Larn, on the several beaches of Pattaya, how it was before.

Speed boat, allowing access to Thien Beach (Koh Larn) from Pattaya

With the exception of a boat for 150 baht, where you must pay for a both way, you have the opportunity to combine the above methods. For example, you can get to Thien beach by ferry and tuk-tuk (30 + 30 baht), and for speeding back to Pattaya use a speedboat (200 baht per one way ticket). Finally, you can use a bit of an extreme option – to walk on foot to Thien beach from the pier of Tawaen beach or to travel this way in the opposite direction to save money. But this option is not for the middle of the day, because the transport on the island is inexpensive, and walking in the heat over hilly terrain is not very pleasant.

The main road to the left – to Naban village. A narrow path to the right – to the Thien beach.

However, if the option with a walking walk does not seem too difficult for you, you can try to do it. It will be necessary to go along the narrow cobbled path already mentioned, which starts right after the parking lot of motobikes near the beach of Tawaen.Collapse to the right in the vicinity of the steep hairpin when descending to the beach (see photo). Walking in one direction takes about half an hour (be careful when motorbikes are passing by, because the path is narrow and there are no roadsides). If you get back the same way, the cost of the road to Thien Beach from Pattaya and back will cost only 60 baht, because you pay only for ferry ticket in two directions.

A path along the cliffs to Thien beach (Koh Larn, Pattaya)

Description of Thien beach (Koh Larn, Pattaya)

Thien Beach – one of the best beaches of the island, having a length of about 400 meters. In my personal rating this beach currently occupies the first place, taking it from last year’s favorite Samae beach. First of all – the beach is very beautiful. Here I mean not so much the surrounding environment, which usually also take into account how much the beach itself – sandy shore strip and water, which has an amazingly bright color and stunning transparency on Thien Beach. Do not believe those who speak or write on forums that during your holidays in Pattaya you will not be able to swim in truly transparent and clean water.

General view of Thien beach in the morning. In vests – a group of Chinese tourists

In reality, this is possible. But for this you have to make a visit to the island of Koh Larn nearest to Pattaya and visit one of the best beaches, first of all Thien beach. Of course, everything is known in comparison, but I have something to compare, because shortly before visiting the beach of Thien I rested on Koh Samui and many beaches in Krabi province, including one of the ten most beautiful beach on the Earth – Phranang beach on the Railay peninsula. And I was very surprised when I realized that the sea water on Thien Beach really more transparent. At the same time, many other beaches of the country that I visited during my long trip to Thailand could envy the whiteness of the sand at the bottom of Thien beach.

General view of Thien Beach in afternoon

A special concrete path with railings on stilts leads to the beach from the parking for motobikes. From this path above the water along the cliff there is a magnificent view of the whole Thien beach. The best time to visit the Thien bech on Koh Larn – is earlier in the morning, when this beach looks rather deserted. Walking along the line of sunbeds at the water’s edge, you can see that even in high season there are very few holidaymakers. For example, at 09-40 in the morning there were many beach sections absolutely without tourists. Especially low number of vacationers usually in places where beach loungers are located in the shade of trees growing near the water’s edge.

The central part of Thien beach at 10-00 am. There are almost no holidaymakers

I suspect this is due to the fact that there is a shadow on the branches and foliage on such sites, and in fact many prefer to sunbathe under direct sunlight, forgetting how to sunbathe in Thailand correctly and safely. In the furthest extremity of the beach, the water near the rocks is slightly more turbid due to the presence of rocks in the water and waves that raise the sand from these stones from the bottom. There at the end of the beach there are small swings over the water, on which girls like to be photographed.

Swing in the far part of Thien beach (Koh Larn, Pattaya)

The Beach Restaurant HardTien offers Thai and European cuisine and drinks at prices that are standard for the island’s beaches (food costs more than the average for Pattaya, but inexpensively compared to the prices in restaurants in Europe). More budgetary option – to eat what is carried in baskets and buckets of stray merchants. First of all, these are fresh fruits of Thailand and fish and seafood cooked in various ways. But compared with the city’s beaches, for example, with the Central Beach of Pattaya, there are fewer such peddlers. But the masseurs and masters of temporary tattoos – enough. On the beach there are other cafes, but the prices are also higher than in some cafes in neighboring Samae Beach.

Restaurant HardTien in the southern part of Thien beach

Entrance to the water on the beach of Thien is quite gentle, pleasant to the touch white coral sand. Here and there on the bottom there are small pebbles, but because of the clear water they are clearly visible and do not pose a danger. The distance to the buoys is about fifty meters, but the depth begins earlier. There are places for swimming and places for speedboats and water motorcycles. Since recently I prefer places on the beaches not in the sun, but in the shade, I was resting in the middle part of Thien Beach, where trees with a dense crown grow near the water line.

The bearer of fruit on Thien beach (Koh Larn) – a strong thai woman

Silence, absence on the next loungers at a distance of 8-10 meters of vacationers – it’s not I scared all, just a lot of places on the beach 🙂 – sing birds or play your favorite music in the headphones, bright blue waves I run to the beach – beauty !!! By the way, about the sunbeds. On Thien beach they are full, i.e. You can conveniently lie down, not half sitting in the sun loungers, like on the beach Jomtien in Pattaya. By the way, about the prices for sun loungers: the first line from the sea is quite standard for the entire resort – 100 baht for full day. You can find for 50 baht, but only on the third and further lines of the water, which for me is usually not interesting.