Visiting Thailand in March and going to Kanchanaburi for 3 nights. Plan to take the afternoon train from Bangkok. Already booked a riverside guest house.

Anyone been there recently? I want to do the Death Railway sights including trip to Hellfire Pass. Thinking to take a bus there and the train back. Might also do a trip to Erewan Falls.

Interested in the logistics of those trips. Also would like to visit some of the local bars. I know there were a few girlie bars there before Covid but not sure if they survived. Not expecting any stunners but wouldn't mind some female company if I'm in the mood.

Done a few online searches but not a lot of up to date info available. 

Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

 

Go On Then Tours

Day trips can be booked here.

Kanchanaburi - GoOnThenTours

In general, I would recommend that you spend at least one night in Kanchanaburi. For a day trip from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi, you should expect about 5 hours of total travel time between the cities. Kanchanaburi has too much to offer to be experienced in one day. I have had bad experiences with squeezing as many experiences as possible into one day. In addition to the experiences mentioned, I can recommend Wat Tham Seua and Safari Park Kanchanaburi. There are some girl bars along River Kwai Road. Butterfly Bar is one of them.

A 3 night visit is ample to see everything. Kan is really a daytime place, and other than about 200 m of a bar/restaurant area on the river road, there is no other nightlife that would interest you. Because of this I stay at the NATEE hotel which is directly in the middle of this area (one minute walk). 
The main things to see pertaining to WW2/Railway are Hellfire Pass and the Center,  Main War Graves Cemetery and adjacent Museum, The bridge area is a good photo op (with another museum called Jeath Museum).
Other attractions are Khao Poon Temple Cave and it's lovely cafe overlooking the River (fantastic View). Also the Krasae Cave....The replica old city called MALLIKA RE is definitely worth a visit (you can google it). There also ancient Khmer ruins near Mallika, but it's small area and not really worth visiting IMO.
There are many temples worth visiting, if that's your thing, plus the Erawan and SaiYok waterfalls (but they are in 2 different areas)
Also if you have time then take the train from the local station and it crosses the River Kwai bridge and winds around the original railway line to SaiYok station (Then returns in the evening)..excellent views and photo time.
This is the main stuff to see.

On 22/02/2025 at 05:40, footix said:

Visiting Thailand in MARCH and going to Kanchanaburi for 3 nights

How did it go? Sorry the forum failed you. It happens

I booked a day tour around the sites with my hotel. Was a great day on a great trip. 

I didn't notice the date the OP posted..dumb!

But hopefully my info above will help some other people.

53 minutes ago, thainet said:

I didn't notice the date the OP posted..dumb!

But hopefully my info above will help some other people.

Hehe, agreed. I was just being a little "funny". 

I had an enjoyable trip. I took the early afternoon train which was a pleasant enough and a cheap journey. Main problem was getting to Thonburi station as the route shown on Google Maps from the nearest metro station was being dug up and had to take a longer diversion.

I stayed in one of the guesthouses near the river which was about a 15 minute walk from the station.

I was fairly tired so after checking in just went to the nearby road which had most of the tourist bars and restaurants for a meal and a couple of beers and had an early night.

Got up early the next morning and took the first train to Nam Tok. Pleasant scenic journey and not too busy apart from a few schoolkids travelling from local villages.

Unfortunately the early train arrives before the bus services to Hellfire Pass. Paid a songthaew to take me there. I can't remember the exact cost but it wasn't ridiculous.

I arrived before the centre opened but there are a few food and drink stalls so had a coffee and a few snacks while waiting. 

Paid to enter the museum and took the walking trail with the accompanying audio guide. A touching and well designed trail. The walk wasn't too challenging but I took my time. Probably took a couple of hours altogether. Well worth doing. After a quick look around the tourist centre I went onto the main road and took a bus back to Kanchanaburi. 

I spent the evening at the guesthouse after a tiring day. 

I spent 1 more full day in Kanchanaburi doing the tourist sites in town including the bridge itself, the Death Railway Museum and one of the large cemeteries. I also explored a large moden Buddhist temple on the opposite side of the river with great views of the bridge itself. No tourists there at all but a great place to wander around for an hour. They even had a fridge full of bottled water with a notice saying help yourself. 

I did take a wander around a few of the bars that evening. A few girls available for take out if you were inclined. Some looked ok. I did buy a couple of lady drinks but didn't pull the trigger. I decided I was going to take the (very) early train back to Bangkok the following day and was going to Pattaya later so decided the mongering could wait.

Overall I enjoyed the trip and worth doing if you have the time especially if you have any interest in WW2 history. A pleasant laid back place to spend a few days. I didn’t have time to do a trip to Erawan Falls but would probably consider that if I venture back again.