This section is dedicated to take away all your "I wish someone had told me that before I went!" experiences. This way, you can spend less time settling in, and more time making new friends in your chosen hostel. We share our insider knowledge of tips, tricks and important things to look out for in Hat Yai.
Hatyai is well known as that place to which you have to catch a bus before changing on another bus to go to Malaysia if heading south, or the islands if going north to Thailand. Most people do not stop here, but if you were wanting to break up a full twenty hours of a bus journey that you will encounter to get anywhere good, you will find a Hatyai hostel close to the train station -- so it is easy to walk your way to and from there.
Otherwise Hatyai is just a giant city centre. It has quite a large number of Western-influenced brand shops and food stores, many shopping malls, and loads of traffic. It is a good place to go shopping and stock up on anything that you might need during your stay, and they do have quite a large number of beauty product stores that aren't laced with bleaching cream like most other places you will encounter in Thailand. You'll also find good-quality pharmacies and full department stores with cheap clothes as well.
The Chinatown area is an interesting walk around for a couple of hours and they do have some temples and other things that you can visit here, but it is nothing overly spectacular. If you are planning on staying here, it is probably not worth more than spending an afternoon, crashing out for a sleep, and then continuing on your way to your next destination in the morning.
Written by local enthusiast for Hat Yai hostels
Globetrotter
