River Kwai Village Hotel, Kanchanaburi

Advantages: Beautiful, historical place that I'd visit again
Disadvantages: Sad that so many died in this area

...Over The River Kwai' (1957) and has attracted tourists ever since, in ever increasing numbers Kanchanaburi has this beautiful river, lovely people and so much history you will almost feel overloaded with information. The main aspects being based around the Burma railway, constructed by the hardwork of thousands, spanning over 400Km (290 miles) and which cost the lives of many, to the point where they say that each railway sleeper on this never-ending line represents a life lost. It is a sad reason for the popularity of this place, but what has happened is a lesson to us all and those visiting now can gain huge insights into what happened here, the hardship, ilnesses, deaths and huge engineering feat of constructing such a railway line at that time. It is also worth visiting for the breath-taking scenery, the welcoming people... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: A unique historical journey.
Disadvantages: As a day trip you get a limited view.

...Kanchanaburi is the nearest major centre to the Bridge Over the River Kwai and that's the main attraction. I don't usually opt for organised trips, preferring to do my own thing on public transport, but this is one occasion when I think the day trip is best. There is plenty to see and do, but it is spread over a fairly wide geographic area, involves multiple modes of transport and can benefit greatly from local knowledge. If you are staying a few days then I guess its easy enough, but if you want to do it in a day, you'll struggle. Organised trips from Bangkok, Cha Am and Hua Hin run fairly regularly and are good value. The one I did from Hua Hin started with a visit to the River Kwai museum where we had a brief film to set the scene and a chance to see the exhibits. Our guide took us from here by long-tail boat, along the River... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: thousands
Disadvantages: it is to far away

...I guess that the Ciao members around my age can remember a 1957 movie with Alec Guiness that described the construction, during the II World War, of a bridge over the Kwai river. May be the younger Ciao members had the chance to watch this movie on TV or VHS or DVD. Anyway it is not my intention to write about the movie, but to give you some advise on an excursion you can make while visiting Thailand. The Kwai or better the Kwae river, as I called in Thailand, flows in the north-west part of Thailand. The closest city to the bridge over the Kwae river is Kanchanaburi that can be reached by car in about two hours (130 km) or by train in three and half hours. First of all I discourage you to go with organized tours because their one day program includes many other places and at the end you see practically nothing of really... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful