Siamtara Palace Hotel — Big Rooms by the Rice Fields, the Edge-of-Town Pick Maha Sarakham Visitors Keep Booking
If you're after a room in Maha Sarakham that's large, easy on the wallet, but not the tired old kind, Siamtara Palace Hotel is a name that comes up a lot with locals. The building is a white block with Greek columns out front, open since 2013, sitting on the edge of town in Tambon Kaeng near the city's sports grounds and Mahasarakham University. What guests mention again and again: rooms bigger than you'd expect, comfortable beds, and balconies looking out over green rice fields — the kind of quiet a city-centre hotel simply can't give you.
Siamtara Palace opened in 2013 as a three-storey white block with Greek columns framing the entrance lobby — it does look the part of a "palace." There are 77 rooms in all, split between Superior and Deluxe categories with both twin and double bedding. The thing guests agree on most is the room size, which is generous for the price point in this town. Many rooms have a separate seating sofa apart from the bed, a work desk, light-wood wardrobes, and a large LCD TV. Rooms on the side facing the fields get a small balcony, and stepping out gets you cool air and a wall of green.
On the food front, it's worth saying up front that most rates do not include breakfast. The hotel does run its own restaurant on the ground floor — a homely, warm room with wood-panelled walls and lotus paintings, serving à la carte dishes and coffee. Book a rate that bundles breakfast and you'll get a simple, filling set. Past guests consistently call the nightly rate good value for what you get, and the university district nearby has plenty of restaurants and cafés a short drive away if you'd rather venture out.
One guest recalls a room "far bigger than the rate suggested, a very comfortable bed, and opening the curtains in the morning to a rice field" — quiet enough that they were in no rush to check out.
Siamtara Palace's edge comes from its large banquet hall. It's one of the go-to venues in Maha Sarakham for weddings, seminars and class reunions, with a ballroom dressed in gold drapes and chandeliers that seats several hundred. Visit on a weekend and you may catch a lively function in progress. The upside is plenty of free parking that handles both overnight guests and event crowds — parking is genuinely a non-issue here.
The location is edge-of-town rather than city-centre. It sits in Tambon Kaeng, about a 10-minute drive into central Maha Sarakham, within walking distance of the Major Arena artificial-turf football ground and Venus Stadium, and a 5-minute drive from Mahasarakham University — ideal if you're here for university business, a graduation, or visiting family who study there. The trade-off: public transport is sparse, so a car or a ride-hail will serve you best.
The overall score sits at 8.9/10 from around 60 reviews (Trip.com runs higher at 9.2 among recent guests). Cleanliness and value rate highest. The honest complaints are real: some guests have hit a room mix-up at check-in where the room didn't match the booking, a few rooms have a weak TV signal, and the bathroom floor can be slippery when wet. Worth knowing in advance — but most people end up booking a return stay anyway.
On price, Superior rooms start around ฿590/night, while the larger Deluxe rooms with a balcony run roughly ฿790–990. During Mahasarakham University graduation week or a big provincial event, rates climb and rooms fill fast, so book 2–4 weeks ahead in those windows. Outside the event season you can book just a few days out and still walk into a good room — usually at a better rate, too.
Bottom line: Siamtara Palace suits travellers with a car who want a big, clean, affordable room for business or sightseeing in Maha Sarakham. Its strengths are spacious rooms, free parking, and a banquet hall for the big occasions. If you'd rather sleep in the city centre and walk everywhere, or you need a swimming pool, this isn't the one — pick by the kind of trip you're taking.
Summary from Booking & Agoda
- ✓ Spacious, clean rooms with comfortable beds
- ✓ Strong value for the room size
- ✓ Free, generous parking
- ✓ 24-hour front desk
- ! Occasional room mix-up at check-in
- ! Weak TV signal in some rooms
- ! Bathroom floor slippery when wet
- ✓ Big rooms, some with rice-field balconies, quiet setting
- ✓ Close to Mahasarakham University and the sports grounds
- ✓ On-site restaurant and banquet hall
- ✓ Free Wi-Fi and parking
- ! Edge-of-town location — a car helps a lot
- ! Most rates do not include breakfast
- ! Weekend functions can get lively
- 💡If you want a rice-field view — ask at booking for a room on the balcony side facing the fields → front-facing rooms look onto the car park instead
- 💡If breakfast matters — check whether your rate includes it, since most don't → choosing a breakfast-inclusive package at booking works out better than ordering on the day
- 💡If you're visiting for MSU graduation week — rooms fill fast and rates rise → book 2–4 weeks ahead to lock in the price and the room type you want