The Rawai Area
Rawai Area – A Quick Guide
In a few words: Family-friendly. Sports-oriented. No swimmable beaches. Limited nightlife.
In a few sentences:
A great place for long-term residents. Everyone is always on their way to or from a workout.
Women roam around in leggings and sports bras from morning till night, carrying a rolled-up yoga mat in their right hand and an organic, almond milk, unsweetened, chickpea-based latte in their left. Men, on the other hand, must be incredibly poor—otherwise, I can’t explain why they never wear a shirt, even when riding a motorbike with a protein shake in hand, glistening under the morning sun that highlights their chest muscles and solid back-arm tattoos.
Where to eat in Rawai?
You’ll find restaurants specializing in “meal prep” menus, carefully measuring your protein/carbs/sugar intake, build-your-own salads from places that grow their own farm produce, and spots offering every possible diet known to mankind: keto, vegan, raw food, micro-organic, macro-organic, Atkins, color-coded diets, intermittent fasting, head-eating (just kidding)… you name it.
It’s a tough place to be a woman who just wants to do yoga and immediately balance it out with fries and a milkshake.
There’s also a fish market with some of the best seafood restaurants in the world. Am I exaggerating? Maybe. But who cares?
Is it delicious? Absolutely. The best in the world? Debatable. Check the fish market highlights for more details.
Housing in Rawai:
You can find everything from:
- A terrifying little room for 6,000 THB/month (~600 ILS)
- A two-bedroom, unfurnished, no A/C, no window screens for 17,000 THB/month (~1,700 ILS)
- Or full-blown 26-bedroom mansions with 15 pools, a private chef, and a talking vacuum cleaner for 700,000 THB/month (~70,000 ILS)
Hotels: Options range from hostels to mid-range luxury hotels.
Digital Nomads: Loads of them. Still unsure how I feel about the term. Plenty of co-working spaces.
Tourism & Attractions: Rawai is a departure point for day trips, offers wind-surfing (in season), but the beaches aren’t great, and the tide can go out for a kilometer or more—but it’s stunning nonetheless.
It’s a great spot to experience local life, be close to families and some schools, and…
