During the last 2 weeks I went to some one way trips with different student groups. They had to plan and execute those tours as part of their tourism management studies here at the college. A great chance for me to see them in action and to see some more of the north-eastern part of Thailand. One of our destinations was “little Italy” – Palio in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat).

palio - korat - nakhon ratchasima

Palio is a small little ‘city’ that is built in ‘Italian style’. Many Thai people are quite amazed by the so called european style and beautiful buildings. If you have ever been to real Italy it is, of course, far away from the real deal. Nevertheless it is nice to see some beautiful buildings and roads without traffic.

little italy in thailand - palio

When you look at Palio from the outside without being blinded by the nice looking houses it is – sadly – just a big and extremely expensive shopping district in the middle of nowhere. As soon as you leave the walls of Palio there is nothing.  Furthermore it is located about 5 to 6 (bus) hours away from Udon Thani and therefore quite a long one day trip.

Nevertheless if you are close to Palio (for what reason ever) it won’t hurt you to hang out there for a while and escape the hectic Thai city life. If you expect to find ‘little Italy’ with the real Italian charme you might be disappointed though.

Another fun thing about Palio: Naked sculptures and fun restaurant names everywhere (‘the mumu restaurant’ or ‘(con)fusion food’). At least they are not to serious there in little Italy.

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