Rajapruek Place

The hotel is just within the gate of the Royal Park and seems to be called the Rajapruek Place. It is about 20 minutes drive from Chiang Mai old city. Grab drivers seem happy to collect and deliver passengers there - for a price of course. The hotel seems pretty new and the facilities are in good condition. There are 2 stories with no lift but fortunately my room was on the ground floor meaning no dragging a bag upstairs. I had requested a room with a big bed but apparently these were all occupied so I was instead given one with twin beds. Very hard twin beds! The room was very clean with high ceiling and good a/c. There was a small fridge and kettle but no chair or closet and just a rail for hanging clothes. The individual hot water heater in the bathroom worked surprisingly well. There was only cold water in the sink. While the sound proofing wasn't very good, other guests were mostly quiet and while I didn't sleep very well it was due of the small bed and the extra firm mattress rather than any noise. The wifi was terrible in both the room and the reception area dropping out repeatedly - sometimes ＜1 minute of connecting or reconnecting. There was a sitting area with some comfortable sofas at the side of the reception area. Reception was tended 7am to 9pm with key card entry to the front door outside those hours. The front gate of the Royal Park has a guard house and road barrier but the barrier seemed to be up all night and the guards pretty inactive. This is an okay place to stay if you choose to be in the Royal Park area and can live with there being very little close, by including restaurants, that are open after about 5pm.

This wasn’t our first visit to these magnificent gardens and it certainly won’t be our last. You need to build in several hours if you want to see everything and believe me, there’s much to see. When we visited, the gardens were virtually deserted of visitors apart from an exceptionally noisy tour group ( many of whom didn’t bother wearing masks) who fortunately arrived just ahead of us and were being driven around the gardens having been allowed about 30minutes for the tour! As usual in Thailand, foreigners are charged more than Thais…200 baht with 100 baht for Thais.( it doesn’t matter how long you’ve lived in Thailand, you’re still an alien!). There are huge car parks which were virtually totally deserted when we were there. A helpful map is provided and every 15 minutes or so, the electric buses run on a hop on hop off basis. We chose to walk much of the way although if you’re visiting in the afternoon, the heat may prove too much. They’re is so much to see so don’t rush! The first real showpiece is the orchid house which is simply magnificent. If you want to see orchids at their best then this the place. One thing that is necessary is a fully charged phone/camera battery! There are all sorts of different gardens and areas to visit including the international section where individual gardens of different countries are on display. A given the lack of visitors, one or two seemed a little neglected but overall this section was very good to visit. The Royal Pavilion is well worth visiting and provides excellent views over the park and surrounding areas. It’s a very attractive building which has been well maintained. From there, by bus or on foot, head for the shaded paradise and sky walk and cool down! There are many interesting plants, shrubs and trees. The rose paradise, whilst still interesting was past its best primarily, I suspect, due to a lack of rain but there were still some beautiful specimens on display. Throughout the parks are several cafes some of which were closed and the one we visited, the service was incredibly slow to the extent that my partner has almost finished her drink by the time mine arrived, it was exactly service with a smile either! Several hours later, we arrived back at the entrance/exit, exhausted but so happy with what we had seen. We can’t wait to visit again!