← All articles · Thailand · 7 May 2016

Pattaya, Thailand: Up the naga staircase to the Big Buddha

Big Buddha Hill on the Pratumnak headland in Pattaya, May 2016: a staircase guarded by two long gold serpents, a huge golden Buddha on top and a quiet street below.

Late in the afternoon of 7 May 2016 we climbed Big Buddha Hill, which is exactly what it sounds like: a hill on the Pratumnak headland in Pattaya with a very large gold Buddha sitting on top of it. The Buddha is the reason people come. The staircase is the reason they remember it.

Inga in a bright printed shawl standing at the foot of the naga staircase at Big Buddha Hill, two multi-headed gold serpents rearing on either side and the golden Buddha at the top of the steps — Two nagas rear up over the bottom step, a fan of heads each, teeth included. The Buddha is the small gold figure right at the top, which gives you a sense of the climb.

The stone staircase at Big Buddha Hill lined by the long gold scaled bodies of two naga serpents, visitors climbing towards the seated golden Buddha at the top — The serpents' bodies run the full length of the stairs as handrails. Genuinely useful, in that heat, at that hour.

Turning round at the top

Most temple hills sell you a view. This one doesn't really, and we liked it more for that. You get to the top, you pay your respects to a Buddha you can see from half of Pattaya, and then you turn round and look at an ordinary street getting on with its evening.

Inga standing at the top of the naga staircase at Big Buddha Hill looking back down the wide steps towards the street, parked cars and low rooftops below — Looking back down. No panorama, no viewing platform, just the road you came in on.

The whole stop takes about twenty minutes, so there's no reason to skip it. Pair it with the carved wooden Sanctuary of Truth further up the coast and the fossil garden at the Million Years Stone Park inland, then head down into Pattaya when the neon comes on.