Songkhla is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are (from east clockwise) Satun, Phatthalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani and Yala. To the south it borders Kedah and Perlis of Malaysia. In contrast to most other provinces, the capital Songkhla is not the largest city in the province. The much newer city of Hat Yai, with a population of 359,813, is considerably larger, with twice the population of Songkhla (163,072). This often leads to the misconception that Hat Yai is the provincial capital.