Hellfire Pass Interpretive Centre

3 Best Day Trips From Bangkok

"Steep stone walls dotted with flower wreaths, black-and-white photos of fallen men, and an eerie, abandoned railway track sneaking through the jungle: that's what Hellfire Pass Memorial visitors will remember most vividly from their time here. Fifty miles from Kanchanaburi and about 75 miles from Bangkok, the museum is a poignant tribute to the thousands of prisoners of war—mostly British, Dutch, and Australian—and Asian laborers who lost their lives building the Thailand-Burma Railway under Japanese forces during World War II, either because of air bombings, illness, starvation, or slave-like work conditions. Hellfire Pass Memorial is a vivid symbol of the suffering brought by war, and it's an important landmark because of that. The audio guide is likely to make you tear up; it'll also coax you to broaden your knowledge about WWII's toll in Southeast Asia." - Marianna Cerini