There has been so much buzz about PRIMO POSTO, a Tuscany style cafe located near Khao Yai National Park, that I decided to check it out myself. So on one early Saturday morning in late November, I made a special outing to Khao Yai - about a 2½ hours drive from Bangkok - accompanied by my friend, Khun Moongmink.

The landscape near Khao Yai - gentle, rolling green hills and haystack like mountain peaks – was somewhat reminiscent of the wine country in Northern California. An important grape growing region in Thailand, there was a number of wineries in the area as well.

I wasn’t really aware how popular PRIMO POSTO was until we pulled into their parking lot only – it was packed with tour buses, minivans and many cars, mostly Toyotas and Hondas. A long line formed in front of the entrance – mostly tourists from Bangkok - where a young lady collected an admission fee of 55 baht per person, which can be applied towards the purchase of ice cream (most popular item), coffee, food from the cafe or restaurant or anything from the gift shop.

My Impression of Primo Posto? It has to be the Biggest Tourist Trap in Thailand. Framed by the haystack like peaks of Khao Yai, Primo Posto - with its stunning Tuscany style architecture & lovely Mediterranean gardens - attracts thousands of visitors from Bangkok, mostly on weekends during the high season. Most people stop here just to have themselves photographed in the gardens -the food is not the attraction here!

While Primo Posto was very lovely, I couldn’t wait to get out of the place as the gardens were way too congested with photo happy, camera toting tourists. The average visitor stayed no more than 20 minutes, just enough time to take a couple of pictures before they moved on.

My friend talked to the manager who told her that during the high season November – May, Primo Posto received on the average an astounding 5000 tourists from Bangkok on the weekends. At 55 baht per person (1.40USD). You can do the math! Primo Posto was doing quite a brisk business. PRIMO POSTO WAS INDEED A REAL TOURIST TRAP!

Check out my Khao Yai/Primo Posto Photo Gallery!

After leaving Primo Posto, we had lunch at the nearby Terano Cafe, a very lovely and quiet place without all the photo happy tourists of Primo Posto. The food was very delicious and the setting was very serene.

Everybody in Bangkok has been raving about PRIMO POSTO, the new Italian restaurant-café located in the Thai countryside, so this past weekend my friend and I decided to check out what all the buzz was about. Located near Khao Yai National Park about 160KM from Bangkok, by car, it’s a leisurely two-hour drive to Primo Posto. See map below

Believe it or not, all the hype is well deserved - the architecture and landscaping was absolutely breathtaking. Painted in many brilliant colors, the Italian style building houses a coffee shop, restaurant, ice cream parlor, gift shop and an upstairs art gallery. Chatting briefly with the owner, he said “the design is from my experience and strong inspiration from traveling through Tuscany and Florence in Italy.” In the backyard, wooden benches and tables were set up under the shade of the building not far from the green fields of the wine vineyard. Covered with brown trees and dry vegetation - showing signs of the approaching summer - the mountains loomed in the background forming the perfect backdrop for this new Italian country café. Primo Posto exudes such a wonderful ambiance that even though I have never been in ITALY before, It felt like I had been transported somewhere in the Italian countryside. It took me a minute or so to realize that I was still in Thailand.

For the time being, the coffee shop and restaurant is only open Friday-Sunday and public holidays. When I was there, I observed that there were many hipsters visiting Primo Posto. It seems most of them stayed just long enough to take a couple of pictures before moving on. Prices for coffee and coffee drinks are similar to Starbucks in Bangkok, and the restaurant fare is somewhat pricey for most Thai people but would be considered affordable to the oversea tourist crowd (farangs).

To discourage the casual Thai tourist who stops there only to take couple of pictures without buying anything, the owner has instituted a 55 baht entrance fee which can be exchanged for one scoop of ice cream or applied to any coffee drink or item on the menu.

For more pictures of Primo Posto, see my photo album.