If you want to visit a mountain villa serving Italian cuisine and don’t have the time for a quick flight to Rome, then Primo Posto del Khao Yai is a terrific alternative. It’s an easy two-hour drive into the dense mountain range north of Bangkok. Here, nestled along Phankhuk-Kutkhla Road, the turn off for Khao Yai from Friendship Highway, you come to a small cluster of Italian-style buildings painted in earthy yellows and oranges. The cuisine is authentic Italian and there is also a café and ice cream parlor for those who don’t want to sit down to a full-course meal. The only way to describe Primo Posto would be, “bella e delizioso.” (Tel: +66 (0) 8 4035 8554, www.primo-posto.net)