Thailand Guide
The central plains
Hellfire Pass
Opening time: Daily 9am–4pm
Price: Donation
Address: Highway 323, just north of kilometre-stone 64; 18km north of Nam Tok
To keep the Death Railway level through the uneven course of the Kwai valley, the POWs had to build a series of embankments and trestle bridges and, at dishearteningly frequent intervals, gouge deep cuttings through solid rock. The longest and most brutal of these was Hellfire Pass, which got its name from the hellish-looking lights and shadows of the fires the POWs used when working at night.
Hellfire Pass has now been turned into a memorial walk in honour of the POWs who worked and died on it, and their story is documented at the beautifully designed Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum which stands at the trailhead. This is the best and most informative of all the World War II museums in the Kanchanaburi region, using war time relics, and POW memorabilia, photos and first-hand accounts to tell the sobering history of the construction of this stretch of the Thailand– Burma Railway. Founded by an Australian-Thai volunteer group, the museum now serves as a sort of pilgrimage site for the families and friends of Australian POWs.
The same Australian-Thai group has also cleared a four-kilometre, ninety-minute circular memorial walk, which begins at the museum and follows the old rail route through the eighteen-metre-deep cutting and on to Hin Tok creek along a course relaid with some of the original narrow-gauge track. The creek was originally forded by a trestle bridge so unstable that it was nicknamed the Pack of Cards Bridge, but this has long since crumbled away. The trail doubles back on itself, passing through bamboo forest and a viewpoint that gives some idea of the phenomenal depth of rock the POWs had to dig through.
Most Kanchanaburi tour operators offer day-trips featuring Hellfire Pass. It's also quite easy to get there on your own by bus (75min), and to combine it with your own trip on the Death Railway.