Thaksin Ratchaniwet Palace

Royal ties with Narathiwat predate the palace: a public-domain photo on Wikimedia Commons records the King and Queen in Narathiwat in 1959. MGR Online (October 2016) reports that in 1972 the King stayed on the beach at Khao Tanyong, an area now within the palace's middle royal zone.

According to Thai Wikipedia, the King ordered the palace built in February 1973, taking about six months, wishing to stay in the south to be close to and visit the people. He chose Khao Tanyong for its high ground, rich large forest trees, seaside setting and closeness to the Malaysian border.

Local residents, mostly Muslim, gladly offered the land, and the King granted funds to build a mosque near the royal grounds. MGR Online reports that the Bukit Tanyong Mosque, which locals call "Masjid Raya", occupies about 1 rai 2 ngan; it was originally a wooden building moved from its former site, and as worshippers increased the King gave 300,000 baht from his private funds to the first imam, Haji Nahawan Rotanyong, for a new concrete mosque, completed in 1985.

Area figures differ. Love Thailand and Thai Wikipedia give about 300 rai in front of Khao Tanyong by the Gulf, 173 feet above sea level, but Wikipedia's section on the royal zones says the buildings occupy about 542 rai, plus about 1,875 rai of forest on Khao Tanyong protected from logging and hunting and also counted as royal grounds.

The palace is reinforced concrete with plastered brick in a modern hip-roof style, decorated with fretwork at the gables, vents and eaves, raised on high posts like equatorial houses, with a roof form influenced by Western colonial architecture. Wikipedia says the King asked the architects to make it harmonise with local houses.

The grounds have three zones: outer, inner and residential. The residential zone has the Tanyong residence and Sala Bulan, used for ceremonies and craft training; below are quarters for staff, a medical unit and craft-training halls with rhyming names, Sala Burong Suan San, Sala On Chamnan and Sala Panan Daen Dong, followed by the Private Secretary's office, aides' building, staff houses, kitchens and guest houses. A monastery on Khao Tanyong hosts senior monks accompanying the royal visits.

The royal garden is mostly rocks and foliage plants, as the shade of the big trees leaves too little sun for flowers. Signature native plants include bang sun palm, rak na and torch ginger. The residential zone has a deer enclosure and aviaries of rare birds, and Wikipedia says the King asked that the rare black-naped oriole be bred for release into the wild.

Residence periods differ by source: Thai Wikipedia says August and October each year, while a GotoKnow article says usually October to December. Love Thailand links the site to royal projects in water, soil, agriculture, fisheries and handicrafts, and to a planned southern botanical garden.

One of the most important developments linked to the royal stays is the Pikun Thong Royal Development Study Centre in Kaluwo Nuea. MGR Online (2016) reports it was founded on 6 January 1982 on over 1,740 rai because most of the land was waterlogged, highly acidic peat that could not be farmed. King Bhumibol devised the "klaeng din" ("provoking the soil") method, alternately wetting and drying the soil to release acidic minerals, then flushing it with fresh water and lime, which he called the "washing machine system", until it was fit to plant.

During their stays the King and Queen met people facing hardship in health, education and livelihoods, and Queen Sirikit granted supplementary occupations, which became the Narathiwat SUPPORT craft programme: yan lipao vine basketry, krajood and panan mats, palm-leaf work, model kolae boats, ceramics, embroidery, cotton and silk weaving, woodcarving and batik. Wikipedia says she rented a rubber plantation to conserve yan lipao vines, and contests and exhibitions of the work are held at the palace each year.

Thai Post (August 2026) reports that a special ceramics craft centre was set up in 1985 in the outer royal zone, partly with Queen Sirikit's private funds. It now has over 40 Thai Muslim members, with Sripho Klinmalee teaching since its founding; the Queen viewed their work on every visit, and later Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana granted new patterns for fabric, basketry and ceramics.

MGR Online reports that whenever the royal family came to stay, local people gathered to greet them, and the imam of the Bukit Tanyong Mosque says several Malaysian state leaders have prayed there, reflecting the palace's role as a link between the royal court and the Muslim communities of the far south.

As unrest in the far south intensified, the palace remained an important residence. MGR Online (November 2004) reports Queen Sirikit's remarks of 16 November 2004 that she had stayed at Thaksin Ratchaniwet Palace in September–October, "two full months in the South", out of concern for the people. She described visiting Ban Tanyong Limo, where Buddhist and Muslim villagers lived in fear, and noted she had accompanied the King to the south for 30 years. The article says more than 300 people had been killed since 4 January 2004.

Thansettakij reports that on 19 March 2007 the King granted an audience at Thaksin Ratchaniwet Palace to the Fourth Army Area commander, the director of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre and the Yala governor to discuss helping families from Ban Santi 1 and 2 in Yala who had fled unrest to Wat Nirodh Sangkharam; at a follow-up audience on 27 August 2007 he named the "Strong and Peaceful Community at Ban Santi 2" project.

Visitors may enter free, Thai or foreign, when the royal family is not in residence. Wikipedia gives 09:00–16:00, while Love Thailand and GotoKnow give 08:30–16:30. Areas may close during royal duties. Dress modestly, follow staff instructions, avoid restricted areas and do not pick plants. By bus, take the Narathiwat–Tak Bai route, which stops in front of the palace.