Hua Hin Evenings - Night Markets, Seafood, Live Music

Evenings in Hua Hin are lived at the night markets, along the pier seafood restaurants, at a handful of long-running live music venues and, most of all, on the beach after sunset. This page ignores the bar strip on Soi Bintabaht - it exists, but it is not the town's character and it is not why people move here.

The three night markets

Cicada Market (open Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from about 4 pm until 11 pm, on Soi Hua Hin 83 south of town near Khao Takiab) is the arts-and-crafts market. Local ceramicists, painters, jewellers and independent designers set up covered stalls; there is a food-court section with quality Thai and international kitchens, and a small amphitheatre with live acoustic music most nights.

Tamarind Market (Thursday to Sunday evenings, on the same road as Cicada) is the street-food market: grilled seafood, phad thai stations, mango sticky rice and craft beer, arranged around long communal tables under fairy lights. It is the easiest place in town for a relaxed family dinner.

Hua Hin Night Market (nightly from about 6 pm on Dechanuchit Road, the original one from the 1970s) is the classic tourist market. Two blocks of stalls sell everything from silk elephants to grilled prawns and coconut ice cream. Bargain politely; the atmosphere is the point.

Seafood on the pier

The Hua Hin fishing pier at the northern end of the beach has a row of Thai-Chinese seafood restaurants built over the water - Chao Lay, Ketsirin, Sang Thai and others. Point at what you want in the ice trays, choose the preparation (steamed with lime and chilli, wok-fried with garlic, grilled), share a table with the sea one metre below you. Prices are Thai-restaurant prices, not tourist-trap: a full seafood dinner for two, with rice and beer, sits in the 800 to 1,500 baht range.

Live music and quiet drinks

Hua Hin's live music scene runs to jazz and acoustic. Cool Breeze Cafe and Bistro in the old town has jazz sets in an old Sino-Portuguese shophouse. Hua Hin Brewing Company (attached to the Hilton) has house bands most evenings. Several beachfront resort bars book acoustic duos for early-evening sunset sets. For a properly quiet drink, the wooden verandas of the historic Sofitel Centara Grand Beach Resort (the former Railway Hotel of 1923) still serve gin and tonics under paddle fans as they did a century ago.

The beach after sunset

The eight-kilometre Hua Hin beach stays busy well after dark. Families walk from the pier down to Khao Takiab; horses are led home along the tide line; small food carts sell grilled squid and fresh coconut. In the cool season (November to February) the after-sunset temperature is around 25 degrees, the sea is calm and the walk down to Takiab hill and back is a two-hour highlight in itself. Bring a light layer and mosquito spray.

Family-friendly by default

The night markets, the pier restaurants and the beach walk are all safe for children and for solo travellers. Soi Bintabaht (the bar street) is a two-block strip near the pier and easily avoided - most residents of both Hua Hin and Cha-Am never set foot in it.

Practical notes

Markets take cash; most restaurants and hotel bars take cards. Grab and Bolt work reliably in the town centre; a taxi from central Hua Hin to Cicada Market is 150 to 200 baht. If you are staying in Cha-Am, the drive back up Route 4 takes twenty-five minutes and is well-lit the whole way - many Cha-Am residents dine in Hua Hin two or three evenings a week and sleep at home.