During the day, Patong Beach is a nice stretch of beach, although you'll be constantly harrassed by offers of massage/food/tattoos/water sports/hair beading. Patong town, which hugs the beach, is another story, though. During the day it serves up an unappealing mix of western fast food, counterfeit everything and the usual tourist kitsch. In the evening, it's a frenzy of sex and drunkenness, with prostitutes of every conceivable variety plying their trade in garishly lit outdoor bars and very drunk westerners stumbling around the streets, singing, shouting and puking. It's probably worth seeing once, but it gets pretty tired pretty quickly.