Sights in Hua Hin
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Phra Ratchaniwet Mrigadayavan
With a breezy seaside location 10km north of Hua Hin, this summer palace was built during the reign of Rama VI (King Vajiravudh) in 1923 as a health-promoting retreat for the king who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. The court's Italian architect built the palace to maximise air circulation and admire the sea. The result is a series of interlinked teak houses with tall shuttered windows and patterned fretwork built upon stilts forming a shaded ground-level boardwalk. It is functional and elegant without excessive opulence. Surrounding the palace is a beautiful garden with statuesque trees, some nearing a century old. A traditional Thai orchestra helps transport…
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Hua Hin Train Station
An iconic piece of local architecture, the red-and-white pavilion that sits beside Hua Hin's train station once served as the royal waiting room during the reign of Rama VI. It was the railway that made Hua Hin's emergence as a tourist destination possible for the Bangkok-based monarchy and the city's elite. In the early 20th century, the four-hour journey between Hua Hin and Bangkok was a transportation revolution. That was before the emergence of speeding minivan drivers fuelled by energy drinks.
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Hua Hin Hills Vineyard
Part of the New Latitudes wine movement, this vineyard is nestled in a scenic mountain valley 45km west of Hua Hin. The loamy sand and slate soil feeds several Rhone grape varieties that are used in their Monsoon Valley wine label.
You can spend the day here learning about viticulture in a tropical climate on a vineyard tour, doing a wine tasting or eating at the picturesque Sala Wine Bar & Bistro. There is also a pétanque course, mountain-biking trails and elephant riding.
A vineyard shuttle leaves the affiliated Hua Hin Hills Wine Cellar store at 10.30am and 3pm and returns at 1.30pm and 6pm; return ticket is 200B.
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Hat Hua Hin Neua
Genteel but modest Thai-Victorian garden estates bestowed with ocean-inspired names, such as 'Listening to the Sea House', line this end of the coast. The current monarchy's palace lies about 3km north of town but visitors are only allowed on the grounds. On weekends, Th Naebkehardt is the preferred getaway for Bangkok Thais, some of whom still summer in the old-fashioned residences while others come to supper in the houses that have been converted into restaurants.
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Baan Silapin
Local painter Tawee Kase-ngam established this artist collective in a shady grove 4km west of Th Phetkasem. The galleries and studio spaces highlight the works of 21 artists, many of whom opted out of Bangkok's fast-paced art world in favour of Hua Hin's more relaxed atmosphere and its scenic landscape of mountains and sea. Outlying clay huts shelter the playful sculptures of Nai Dee and Mae A-Ngoon. Khun Nang, a skilful and charismatic teacher, leads art classes for adults on Tuesday and Thursday and for children on Saturday.
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Plearn Wan
More of an art installation than a commercial enterprise, Plearn Wan is a vintage village containing stylized versions of old-fashioned shophouses that once occupied the Thai-Chinese districts of Bangkok and Hua Hin. There's a pharmacy selling (well actually displaying) roots, powders and other concoctions that Thai grandmothers once used; a music store specialising in the crooner era of the 1950s and 1960s; and other bygone shops and attractions that pre-date the arrival of 7-Eleven. It would be a tourist trap if it charged an admission fee but most visitors just wander the grounds snapping photos without making any impulse purchases. If you want to support this bit of…
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