BEACH
The city beach Songkhla Samila is about 2 kilometers long and is located in the northern part of the city. It is a lively city beach where many local people come on weekends and at the end of the day for a picnic or a drink. The beach bars are in the southern part of the beach against the city, and the northern part is quiet. If you get bored, you can even go horse riding on the beach! Also don’t forget to take a photo of the statues of the golden mermaid and the cat with the rat.
Samila has a lot of potential, the only question is when this will be realized. At the moment it is a little developed beach and not too clean. Still, we decided to add it to our database. The combination of a nice city, a beach and the relaxed local atmosphere make it a TreasureBeach for us.
WHERE TO STAY
In Songkhla you can find good budget and mid-range stays. For this, make sure to check the options online. There are 2 stays on the beach. Samila Beach Resort is directly by the main beach and has many rooms and a congress hall. Although it is not the most intimate stay in the TreasureBeaches database, it is definitely good enough to mention.
The Pine Songkhla is an experience. We found this good mid-range stay in a small pine tree forest, 1 kilometer north of the city center. Here you will encounter horses walking between bungalows, and a sheep farm is also part of the accommodation. You have to walk 100 meters through the pine trees to reach the very wide empty beach. Keep in mind that they don’t clean the beach here!
There is a lot of eating options in this area. You can eat at the stays’ restaurants, at other beach bars or in the downtown area. In addition, it is possible to rent scooters in town, and even rent bicycles at The Pine Songkhla.
PLACE
Songkhla is a province in southern Thailand, known for its rich cultural heritage, diverse landscapes, and a blend of traditional and modern attraction. If you like going to “undiscovered” places, Songkhla is a good place to go. Because of violence in the Deep South Songkhla has not seen much tourism in the past, although the city and the northern coast have not seen much of this violence. In the past, Songkhla was considered unsafe by various travel advisories, but since 2014 it is considered safe enough for tourism. We visited the area and added 2 beaches to our database.
WHAT TO DO
The city is located on a headland and is surrounded by the Gulf of Thailand and Songkhla Lake. This lake is the largest inland lake in Thailand. You can go bird watching in Khu Khut, go to Parkan Waterfall or take a boat trip on the lake, a special experience for nature lovers. The hill of Khao Tang Ku (2000 meters) is known for the relics of the Buddha and offers great views of the area.
Although it is a nice bustling city, we only notice some other tourist during our stays in Songkhla town. You can explore the historic old town with its well-preserved architecture and charming streets. It is definitely worth seeing are the beautiful Chinese-Portuguese houses in the pleasant shopping streets! Another attraction of Songkhla is the National Museum located in the eastern part of the center in a mansion dating from 1878. You can also visit Chedi Ong Dam and Chedi Ong Khao, known as the black and white Stupas. The city beach is Samila Beach, where a striking bronze statue of a little mermaid overlooks the sea. This definitely makes for a good vacation photo!
TRANSPORT
Songkhla is located 30 kilometers northeast of Hat Yai. You find good connections with low-cost airlines from Bangkok to Hat Yai. Hat Yai is very well connected to major cities by bus or minibus. There is even a train station with trains to and from Bangkok, a journey of about 17 hours.
Our suggestion is to rent a car at the Hat Yai airport. Otherwise, you can take a minibus from Hat Yai to Songkhla and if you stay outside the town take another minibus to Sathing Pra. Get dropped off the main road and take a motorbike taxi for the last few kilometers. A taxi from the airport costs 500 baht to the city and up to 1000 baht to Sathing Phra.
