The Pattaya Garden Cliff Resort
by Jack Corbett

The Garden Cliff Resort on Wongamat Beach just North of Pattaya is rated a five star hotel for many reasons.  First, Wongamat Beach is the class act of the three main beaches in the area:  Pattaya, Jomtien, and Wongamat.  Even so, its location is more secluded than most of its stunning rivals.  Its Private beach is within several hundred yards of the Temple of Truth, but it faces North unlike the beaches of Jomtien, Pattaya and the main Wongamat Beach all of which face West which gives it the feeling of a private hideaway in its own alcove that's away from practically everything else.

This resort's swimming pool ends on a steep hillside high above the ocean so that its guests feel as if they can swim straight off the edge of the pool and continue their swim into the Gulf of Thailand without touching land.  The effect is spectacular, but if that's not enough, there's a poolside bar that has bar stools right in the water.

My girlfriend and I sat at the pool close to this bar where I had a couple of beers and she had a pineapple shake.  Seated next to us were two young Japanese women who were enjoying swimming in the pool and their reclining beach chairs.  I might be wrong, but I had the feeling Garden Cliff is a favorite of the Japanese.  Overall I got the feeling that this is a place where time stood still, where things slowed way down, and it was very quiet unlike most of Pattaya and the surrounding area which is beset by sound of every description.  Service from the staff at the pool was as I expected---on a very high order.

For the right kind of person I'd have to recommend Garden Cliff very highly although it's undoubtedly pricey by Thailand standards.