8 Best Sights in Kanchanaburi, Around Bangkok

Kanchanaburi is most famous as the location of this bridge, a section of the Thailand-Burma Railway immortalized in director David Lean's epic 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai. During World War II, the Japanese, with whom Thailand sided, forced about 16,000 prisoners of war and from 50,000 to 100,000 civilian slave laborers from neighboring countries to construct the railway, a supply route through the jungles of Thailand and Burma. Sure-footed visitors can walk across the bridge, whose arched portions are original. In December a big fair takes place with a sound-and-light show depicting the Allied bombing of the structure late in the war. Next to the bridge is a plaza with restaurants and souvenir shops.

This two-room exhibition of 4,000-year-old Neolithic remains is 8 km (5 miles) from Muang Singh Historical Park. Cars and motorcycles are your only options for getting here.

The serene and simple resting place of many of the soldiers forced to work on the Thailand-Burma Railway has neatly organized rows of grave markers. On the grounds of a former hospital for prisoners of war, the cemetery is a little out of the way, and therefore rarely visited. To get here, hire a tuk-tuk or moto-taxi for about B60.

The letters in the first part of its name an acronym for Japan, England, America, Australia, Thailand, and Holland, this museum sits a little more than 2 km (1 mile) downriver from the Bridge on the River Kwai. The museum, founded in 1977 by a monk from the adjoining Wat Chaichumpol, is housed in a replica of the bamboo huts that were used to hold prisoners of war. On display are railway spikes, aerial photographs, newspaper clippings, and original sketches by ex-prisoners depicting their living conditions.

Next to noisy Saengchuto Road, this cemetery has row upon row of neatly laid-out graves: 6,982 Australian, British, and Dutch prisoners of war are laid to rest here. The remains of the American POWs were returned to the United States during the Eisenhower administration. A remembrance ceremony is held every April 25th, Australia and New Zealand Army Corps Day.

A walk through the center's nine chronologically arranged galleries provides a good overview of the railway's history. Though small, the center is well designed and packed with informative displays. The second-floor coffee shop at the end of the exhibits has a view of the adjacent Kanchanaburi War Cemetery.

Also known as Wat Pa Luanta Bua Yannasampanno, the Tiger Temple is a forest monastery that houses several kinds of animals on its grounds, most notably tigers. Every day at 3, the 30 or so tigers are brought into a canyon for a photo op that lasts no more than a minute. The rest of the day you can see some of the tigers in their cages, as well as wild boars and water buffaloes.

Controversy surrounds this site. Some locals are concerned about safety (though no injuries have been reported), and many suspect that the tigers have been drugged to make them docile around visitors. Many tour operators claim they'd rather not promote Tiger Temple, but can't afford to lose customers.

One of the Kanchanaburi area's best cave-temples, the wat displays Buddhist and Hindu statues and figurines amid stalagmites and stalactites. During World War II the Japanese used the cave complex as storerooms. A local may appear at the small shrine outside the cave and offer to direct you, but you can walk through the cave by yourself. Paying a donation to enter the cave is voluntary.