Hat Yai is the largest city in southern Thailand, a sprawling commercial hub about 30 km from the Malaysian border. It is not a pretty place, but it has an energy that comes from being a genuine crossroads — Thai, Chinese and Malay cultures overlap here, and the food reflects all three. The night markets and street food stalls are the real attraction, with dishes you will not find further north — Hat Yai-style fried chicken, dim sum from breakfast, and southern Thai curries unapologetically loaded with chilli.
The city's main sight is Wat Hat Yai Nai, home to a 35-metre reclining Buddha that you can enter to see anatomical models of the heart and lungs. Beyond the temple, the daytime sights are modest — the Hat Yai Municipal Park with its hilltop Buddha and cable car, the Kim Yong Market for dried goods and Sino-Thai snacks, and the very good Sirindhorn Natural History Museum at Prince of Songkla University. Real life starts at sundown, when the ASEAN Night Bazaar opens and the dim sum houses give way to the late-night seafood and noodle stalls. The Khlong Hae Floating Market north of town runs Friday to Sunday evenings.
Hat Yai is a common stopover for travellers heading to or from Malaysia and serves as a gateway to the beaches and islands of the Andaman coast and the Gulf of Thailand. The nearby provincial capital of Songkhla — 30 km east on the coast — is the quieter, prettier counterpart to Hat Yai's commercial chaos and well worth a day. Note that the deep south of Thailand (Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat) has been the site of an ongoing low-level insurgency; check the latest advice before continuing south.