The Best Party Beaches

Patong Beach (Phuket): The busiest beachside strip on Phuket, Patong is a great place for shopping, dining and the nightlife. Though a bit seedy along some side streets, it's a lot of fun and kicks late every night. The beach isn't the greatest, but it's a good area to yip it up at night.

Chaweng Beach (Ko Samui): If you like the beach, but don't want to feel like you're marooned, then Chaweng has all the action you're looking for. With countless dining options, shopping, nightlife choices and activities (and lots of tourists enjoying same), Chaweng can be a lot of fun and parties late into the night with some raucous little clubs and young crowds. Comparison with Patong (on Phuket island) are apt.

Haad Rin (Ko Phangan): People still talk about it in hushed tones, but the infamous Full Moon Parties on Koh Phangan's Haad Rin have been attracting crowds of rave babies in the thousands. Drug busts are on the rise and the parties are becoming a more "packaged" experience than the more grass-roots hoedowns they once were, but it is where to get your proverbial "freak-on" in Thailand.

Pattaya (Pattaya, Eastern Seaboard): The infamous red-light capital of Thailand, Pattaya's very origins were as a base for U.S. troupes on R and R from fighting in Vietnam, and the city still has a certain "last stop before hell" feel to it. The go-gos and beer bars of Pattaya attract guys from all over the world.

• Australia
• China
• Japan
• New Zealand
• Thailand