Located only 50 kilometers from Pedang Besar on the Malaysian border, Had Yai is the commercial hub of Southern Thailand. Essentially just a major city and used by tourists as a gateway to Malaysia and the rest of Southeast Asia. The city does have a few places of interest but it cannot really be called a tourist destination in its own right. However it is a good place for shoppers.
As with any big city there are the large malls and chain department stores but Had Yai does a roaring trade in technologies such as Playstations and other computer gadgetry, as these types of goods are sold tax free due to the citys border location. This attracts many weekend visitors from Malaysia and you will hear as much Malay spoken as the local Thai dialect. Had Yai is not a bad place to break a journey for a day or so, but not really much else.