Highly recommend a few hours here. The grounds are wonderful, and the upstairs walking tour of the royal living spaces was amazing. This is a royal historic site so respectful attire is required. The bonus is the wildlife with some birds that we've never seen before.
This was a great way to learn about the Royal family and Thai history. The grounds and palace include well documented write ups and the palace is funrished as it would have been when the royal family lived in the palace. We drove to the palace from Hua Hin and missed the turn off at first. If you think you've gone too far, go another 1 km up that road. Also the small parking lot area has a few shops including a great spot for a Thai iced coffee. We sat and chatted with the ladies in the coffee shop. Turned out one of the owners used to live in California! Small world.
Great to learn more about the Thai history. Recommend to visit especially in a good weather. Great place to take photos
The palace is set in its own grounds which are nice to walk about but in addition one of the royal princesses has opened up much of the area as an environmental park with pathways and bridges crossing mangroves. There is also a bird hide and many cycle paths. It is 30 bhat to enter the grounds and another 30 to go into the upstairs rooms of the palace. Well worth the trip.
We got the "Orange Bus" for 20 Baht in Hua Hin (leaving from the Petchakasem Road, aprox. 400m north of the night market, right after you pass a minivan company going to Bangkok) and spent half a day at the Palace. Enjoying the silence and nature as only few other people crossed our way.
It's really worth seeing this spot and we can highly recommend a half day trip if you don't want to spend your whole time in Hua Hin at the beach.
