What is it like living in Hua Hin?

Hua Hin truly is a town like no other. Imagine a place where you could walk in the mall or down the night market any day of the week and run into someone you know by name, stop and say hi. On that walk, your feet can take you to a new little pop-up restaurant that wasn’t there the day before, and there is already a line of people waiting to try the new, delicious food that’s being served there.

Hua Hin was popularized generations ago by wealthy Thais who invested and bought properties like high rise condos for family weekends away from Bangkok before it was even a thing.

The main reason for this is that Hua Hin is the location of the Royal summer residence called Wang Klai Kangwon Palace – or The Palace Far From Worries. This was the favourite holiday summer palace of His Late Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the Father of the nation. The King spent many happy years in the palace during his long reign, which made Hua Hin into the clean, safe and well-run city that so many local and international visitors flock to each year.

What is it like living in Hua Hin, you ask? Well, simply put; it’s amazing. Who wouldn’t want to live in a city where you can travel from any location around town to the beach in less than 20 minutes?

Where you have some of the best coffee shops found anywhere in Thailand. (We know that Chiang Mai has more of a hipster – coffee vibe but there are SO many fantastic coffee spots in Hua Hin, we’ll cover it in one of our future posts)

Where you have some of the best kite surfing found anywhere in the world, some of the best beachfront hotels, some of the best street-food places and top-class restaurants anywhere!

The list just goes on.

Hua Hin is an eclectic, medium size city with ocean on the one side to the east and mountains on the other side to the west. A thin sliver of land with both mountain and ocean breezes everywhere you go, during all times of the day.

It’s a city where you can drive from one side of the city to the other in under 30 minutes north to south – but at the same time you could literally see a new coffee shop or restaurant, or café pop up every other month and locals and tourists flock to it to check out what is the new deal in town.

Hua Hin is a beach town where you get to know the people so well that you eventually realize that you don’t want to be anywhere else but in Hua Hin.

Hua Hin is a city where you take photos of your food (I know, guys, I do it too, come on…) so that you can intentionally share it on your social media to make sure that your friends and family can enjoy the places you do, and you can talk about it with your friends when you see them again.

You find yourself wanting to share each and every good experience so that the establishments you visit can benefit from more business.

When you live in Hua Hin, you get to really and truthfully understand what it means to care for others and be friendly and helpful, because you meet so many people who are always willing to help you out or give you advice on any given subject.

When you come to Hua Hin and really get into the groove of things – you learn that all you need to do is go with the flow and relax. Take it easy. What’s the point of getting upset about things that you have no control over?

Just relax, everyone. Enjoy the life you have while you have it. Your biggest question of the day should be – “what are we going to have for lunch today?” and not – “what am I going to be upset about today?”.

Hua Hin is a place where you look forward to seeing your friends at the new bakery that just opened up down the road and where half the town goes for an afternoon stroll on the beautiful beaches at the low tide, morning and evening.

Hua Hin is a place where you want to invite your family to visit so they can get on the same vibe as you. It’s a place where you want to invite your childhood friends so they can quite simply enjoy the life here.

One thing that we must address is that Hua Hin is internationally recognized as one of the best and most popular cities in the world to retire for foreign expats, as you can find out from this article HERE. (Although we would argue that on any good day and time you can reach Hua Hin from Bangkok by car in under 2.5 hours easily. Plus with the continuously expanding railway infrastructure, traveling by train will soon be possible in under 3 hours)

This immediately and automatically puts an image in most (younger) people’s minds as it being a retirement resort. It makes you think that there is nothing to do except tan yourself dark brown on the beach and drink beer at eight o’clock in the morning at a local English pub.

While that does happen, this is not what Hua Hin is about.

Think about WHY so many retired expats choose Hua Hin as the place where they want to be…

Because it offers the best of everything, that’s why.

That’s why so many foreign expats choose to buy luxury pool villas and retire here, because they know that they can BOTH get top level food and drinks from international standard grocery stores, markets and hotels and chill on the beach or go have an early morning coffee at a local favourite, AND they can go hang out at some awesome party spots at night and spend their hard earned money feeling like they’re young again enjoying the amazing nightlife with such a wide range of ages without feeling like there’s anything weird about it, because there isn’t.

Hua Hin is a place where you learn to realise that people are people, no matter their age or background. You need to treat everyone with respect and a sense of open mindedness.

Hua Hin is a place where you find yourself and you find others like you, even though you never expected it.