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ThailandDescription and is it worth a visit
Hellfire Pass Museum is an open–air museum dedicated to the tragic events during the construction of the Thai-Burmese railway during World War II. Most of the dead were Thai residents used as slaves, as well as prisoners of war of the Western coalition captured by Japanese troops. Together with bridge over the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi, these are the most important historical sites in the province, but unlike the bridge, this museum is much more interesting and informative.
It consists of two parts: exhibitions in the building, and an open-air museum. There is a lot of information in the building in the form of photographs and stands about the construction of the railway, you can watch a movie. After viewing the exhibition along a wooden path, you will get to a dirt road laid along a steep cliff, where the very railway was built, cutting through a multi-kilometer passage through a mountain pass in the rock.
The walking route begins with a rather long descent down the steps, which you will have to climb when you return. Walking along it, you will see a small number of artifacts and information plates with numbers. Each number corresponds to a story that can be listened to in the audio guide. An audio guide player can be obtained for free at the entrance in a separate koske, leaving a document as a deposit. We highly recommend using it, so it's much more interesting to inspect the complex. Unfortunately, audio guides are only available in English or French. Also, at the entrance, you can get a beautiful illustrated route map for free, because if you go the full way, it will take at least 3 hours, since it stretches for 4 kilometers in one direction. If you decide to go the full way, the museum staff will even offer you a radio station for safety so that you can get in touch if necessary. But in fact, it is not necessary to go on the full route. Everything is pretty monotonous there, and it's enough to walk just a few hundred meters and listen to all the stories on the audio guide along the way.
🕐 Working hours
The museum is open from 09:00 to 16:00, the trail from 07:30 to 18:00. Until the end of 2018, the museum in the building is closed for reconstruction, only the trail is available.
💵Entrance fee / ticket price
Free of charge.
🚶 How to get there
The museum is located 80 kilometers from the city of Kanchanaburi (museum on the map). It is most convenient to get there by rented transport, but you can also get there by bus. To do this, from the Kanchanaburi bus station (bus station on the map) you need to take a bus to Songkhlaburi or Thon Pha Phum, which depart every 30-60 minutes from 06:00 to 18:00, an hour and a half on the way, cost from 50 baht (1.53 USD, see Thailand's currency and exchange rate). The last return bus to the city passes here at about 17:00. You can also include a visit to the waterfall and Nam Tok railway station in this route. To do this, you need to take the earliest train to Nam Tok at 06:07 in the morning, get to the Nam Tok terminal station in a little over two hours, see the waterfall and cave there, and then take the bus to Hellfire Pass. You can take a bus back from Hellfire Pass to Kanchanaburi.