Pattani Central Mosque is the city's defining building, set beside a broad reflecting pool on Yarang Road. Its white domes, minarets and long prayer hall make it one of the most recognisable mosques in southern Thailand, and a clear sign that Pattani belongs culturally to the Malay-Muslim south as much as to the Thai state.
Visitors should dress modestly and avoid prayer times unless invited in. Even viewed from outside, the mosque gives useful context for the city: this is not beach-resort Thailand, but a borderland society with its own language, faith and history.