Built as the summer residence for King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) starting about 1890, the Judhadhut Palace was abandoned in 1894 after the death of Crown Prince Vajirunhis. Hostilities with France in 1893 had already showed how vulnerable the summer capital on Ko Sichang was to a modern navy. The main building was taken to Bangkok about 1900, where it is now famous as Vimarn Mek palace.
Several of the remaining structures have been restored. A walk through the gardens and up the hill under century-old frangipani trees can be a delightful way to spend an hour or two, especially in the late afternoon. For the determined explorer, there are hard-to-find staircases down to the see, a couple of caves with almost-safe staircases leading down into the darkness, a rock that rings like a bell when you hit it, and the architecturally unique Asdangkhanimit temple (conical white structure up on the hill).