Hatyai and Songkla is opening next month

Hatyai and Songkla is opening next month

While many people are talking about the opening of Bangkok in October 2021, another popular tourist area will be opening next month. Hatyai, part of the Songkhla province will be opening from middle of October next month.

From mid-October, another 21 destinations up and down the country will reopen. These include Chiang Rai, Lamphun, Mae Hong Son, Nan, Phrae, and Sukhothai in the North; Bueng Kan, Nong Khai, Ubon Ratchathani, and Udon Thani in the Northeast; Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi in the West; Chanthaburi, Rayong, and Trat in the East; Ayutthaya in the Central Region, and Nakhon Si Thammarat, Ranong, Satun, Songkhla, and Trang in the South.

Why Hatyai is so popular with Malaysian tourists?

Hatyai is one of the largest city in the province of Songkhla. It is one hour away from the Bukit Kayu Custom Checkpoint.

For decades, Malaysians who stayed in northern Peninsula will visit Hatyai over the weekend. For Malaysians who stayed in the border state, they have border pass and they do not require an International Passport and hence, they will self drive to Hatyai for the weekend.

Hatyai has evolved to a family friendly destination for Malaysians. There are new shopping malls as well as cafes, restaurants as well as night markets suitable for couples, friends as well as families.

Hence, there are also many new HALAL restaurants and places for the Muslims. This makes Hatyai as one of the most popular border city in Southern Thailand.

Not forgetting that there are many new boutique hotels are booming around Hatyai city to woo the younger and trendier Malaysians. Hatyai is no longer a boring city but it is for all.

We visited Hatyai quite a number of times and we love to visit this city especially self drive. The people in Hatyai are mostly friendly and they are well versed in either Chinese or Malay.

Thus, we usually went to Makro or Lotuss to do our shopping before slowly drive back to Malaysia. Our parents will drive to Thailand and Hatyai is their last shopping stop before driving back to Kuala Lumpur.

Now, the big question is when are the Malaysian Thai borders opening?

Thailand is set to proceed with the fourth phase of reopening in January 2022, with 13 border provinces to reopen under travel bubbles with neighbouring countries.

However, this will depends on the Malaysia side whether to open the border with Thailand. It takes two countries to make the travel bubbles to work and hence there will be a few more months to January 2022 to work out the details. The most important criteria will be vaccination so get vaccinated now or else you will stay in Malaysia forever.

We will update more on the details of the opening of Hatyai and Songkhla soon as well as the Malaysia Thai borders. The good news is Hatyai and Songkla is opening next month but the bad news, Malaysians are still not allowed to travel abroad for holiday.