booking of tours in bangkok and to the river kwai

[ultimate weapon]

Feel like taking a tour to that area from bkk how long is the bus/car ride and which website do you reccommend to use to book these tours?

[craigt3365]

You need to be a little more specific. But in general, unless you are trying to do a tour on a major holiday, you can just book them when you are in Bangkok. Many tour agents offer these trips.

[ultimate weapon]

I mean i just want some tour websites that you guys think are reliable and so on. I don't exactly have a fixed plan i don't want my entire trip to be going on tours day in and out.

[craigt3365]

They have some listed here:

http://www.tourismthailand.org/Where-to-Go/Tours-Packages/Search?view=222&cat_id=&activity=&duration=&price=&keyword=

But most I've used are only advertised by local hotels/travel agents. Just show up and pick which one you want.

Where will you be staying? Hotels tend to be a bit pricey (but also can be a much better experience...depends).

[marshall stanley]

It's an easy trip from Bangkok - Get the express bus from South Station in Bangkok they leave every 30 minutes to Kanchanaburi, about a two+ hour ride. On arrival get a tuk tuk to the guest house area near the river - I recomment the Ploy Guesthouse.

From that point you can do everything on your own. Rent a motorbike or hire someone at the guesthouse if you don't want to drive. The bridge is not very far from the guesthouse. Lots of eateries on that road where the guesthouses are located.

Train tickets at the rail station on the near side of the bridge if you want the train ride, its not very long a trip.

This works out much less expensive than taking a full tour from Bangkok and gives you your own time to do whatever.

The bus ticket is about Bt110 or there-a-bouts each way. The tuk tuk to the guesthouse should be about Bt60.

The Ploy guesthouse is one of the nicer places to stay and should run about Bt800+ per night per unit.

This info is about 3 years old which was the last time I did the trip.

[bender92]

Do they still have the Saturday (?) train from Bangkok main station to the river and bridge?

[ultimate weapon]

They have some listed here:

http://www.tourismthailand.org/Where-to-Go/Tours-Packages/Search?view=222&cat_id=&activity=&duration=&price=&keyword=

But most I've used are only advertised by local hotels/travel agents. Just show up and pick which one you want.

Where will you be staying? Hotels tend to be a bit pricey (but also can be a much better experience...depends).

Staying at chatrium riverside

[super22k]

I went by train from a smaller station across the river in Bangkok. No problems. Arrived at the Kwai river bridge ( the train arrives almost on the bridge)asked a Tuk-tuk driver to take me to a hotel. Again no problem. This was with no advanced planning, only a few thousand bhat stuffed in my pocket.

The bridge is very much a floodlit tourist attraction now. Also you can go on the so called death railway to Burma.It is an interesting tour but,of course,tinged with sadness.

[oldsailor35]

I went by train from a smaller station across the river in Bangkok. No problems. Arrived at the Kwai river bridge ( the train arrives almost on the bridge)asked a Tuk-tuk driver to take me to a hotel. Again no problem. This was with no advanced planning, only a few thousand bhat stuffed in my pocket.

The bridge is very much a floodlit tourist attraction now. Also you can go on the so called death railway to Burma.It is an interesting tour but,of course,tinged with sadness.

Not so sure about the train to Burma ! But the train does go about 60 klm towards Hell fire Pass and Hintok crossing, the line does not go further as the line is then covered by the dam water. The whole area of the original line is then a massive dam going right up as far as Sanklaburi which is just a few miles south of Three Pagoda Pass into Myanmar. This crossing is closed most of the time but occaisionally open. I have passed through twice, but the area beyond is very very poor , not really worth visiting. There is a mini bus service from Kanchanaburi up to Three Pagoda Pass and Sanklaburi about 3 hours.

Edited November 29, 2013 by oldsailor35

[ultimate weapon]

I don;t think i will stay overnight if i go to that area. If i took the railway to burma then wow that's going to be a few days long it looks so far from burma and can you believe it the death railway is so long but all because of the movie bridge over river kwai that small section of the bridge is famous. I went there when i was very long and i think i sat on the train but i didn't know where i was going cos my parents brought me there i don't think we reached the burmese areas. Anyway afterwards many years later i tried searching river kwai assuming that was the name of the bridge and the river and thought it was just that small tiny section and couldn't really find it.

[craigt3365]

Kanchanaburi is one of the most interesting parts of Thailand. Definitely worth a few nights if you have the time. Plenty to see.

[socksy01]

Book a hotel through Agoda. You can get a quick (extremely) shared mini-bus from near Victory monument, if you dare - very cheap and about 1.5 hours.