Head to head
Two long-established foreigner camp scenes with very different price tags and very different towns.
Updated 2026-09-01 · 3 comparisons include Phuket
The training on offer is more similar than the marketing suggests. Pattaya costs less and sits close to Bangkok; Phuket costs more and gives you a better place to spend the hours you are not training.
Decide on conditions
The detail
Both have decades of experience taking foreigners from nothing to competent, and both have camps that will happily take your money for less than that. The camp matters far more than the region here.
Where they separate is the town. Phuket has beaches, a large resident foreign community and enough to do that a rest day is pleasant. Pattaya has a specific nightlife reputation, and it is accurate.
Money is the other axis. Pattaya being cheaper is not a small thing when your budget decides how many weeks you train rather than how nice your room is.
Be honest about Pattaya before booking a month there. It is the most common reason a training trip produces less training than planned, and the camp is not the variable.
Phuket
Chalong, Phuket / Large camp
The largest and best-known training complex in Thailand, running Muay Thai alongside a full MMA and BJJ programme. Big enough that you can always find training partners at your level, and structured enough that a total beginner is never left guessing. The trade-off is scale: it feels like a fitness resort rather than a Thai gym, and it is priced accordingly.
Rawai, Phuket / Mid-size camp
A long-running Rawai camp that stayed Muay Thai only while neighbours diversified into MMA. Reputation is built on Thai trainer quality and pad work rather than facilities. Suits people who want to actually get better at Muay Thai rather than sample several martial arts.
Rawai, Phuket / Mid-size camp
One of the older established camps in the Rawai cluster, with a mixed crowd of holiday trainees and longer-stay fighters. On-site accommodation and a walkable location put it in the practical middle of the Phuket options.
Pattaya
Pattaya / Large camp
Large resort-style training centre attached to the best-known equipment brand in the sport, with on-site accommodation and food. Polished and self-contained, which is either the appeal or the drawback depending on what you came for.
Pattaya / Mid-size camp
One of the historically significant names in Muay Thai, with a lineage that long predates the training-holiday market. Traditional in approach rather than resort-styled.
Pattaya / Mid-size camp
Runs structured multi-week training and weight-loss camps as packaged programmes rather than open drop-in training. Suits people who want the schedule decided for them.
Still torn