8 Awesome Things To Do Kanchanaburi (Travel Guide)

Last updated on August 4th, 2022 at 03:31 pm

This Kanchanaburi travel guide is for you we were coming from Chiang Mai after a night train to Bangkok! It was our first time visiting Kanchanaburi together. For this trip during two days we decided to team up with Mellow Adventures and we spent amazing couple of days with Steffen and May.

We learned many new things to do in Kanchanaburi and especially about Thai culture. They know everything that you can imagine around the area. Check how to get from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi.

Things To Do In Kanchanaburi

1. Visit Erawan Waterfalls

Our first stop visiting Kanchanaburi with Mellow Adventures was Erawan Waterfalls. How to get there?  It’s an hour drive from Kanchanaburi, there is no traffic and the road looks good! It was the first leg of the 2 day tour in Kanchanaburi. There are 7 levels, and the tour is very well planned that they will drive you there first thing in the morning, avoiding the crowd.

We visited Erawan Falls, with our Thai Guide, May. A couple of hours is fine to see everything, little bit more time if you want to relax, swimming in the waterfalls. Erawan Waterfalls is very clean and if you go in a proper time to visit (avoiding peak hours), you can get good pictures with just a few people there. We took a couple of hours visiting Erawan Waterfalls and we had time for swimming, fish massage and taking tons of pictures.

Our favorite levels were 4-5 where you can find big waterfalls and almost no people. Level 7 is also really beautiful and the water is very clear. There are a few places for relaxing and swimming. Check below for the names of the falls and the walking distance between them.

What can you do in Erawan Waterfalls? A nice hike, swimming in the falls, taking pictures and even get a massage with your feet from the fishes. You just go inside the water and fishes will start biting you. Rachel loved it so much! The place is very well conserved and they don’t allow visitors to bring food and water. You need to pay 20 Bahts per plastic bottle. You may get your plastic bottles, if you still need to use them, as you can get them from the counters just before leaving the falls.

Check out more beautiful waterfall shots bellow!

2. Visit Sai Yok National Park

Sai Yok National Park is a very nice and quiet place to stay and visit! It was our first experience sleeping in raft houses next to the river. The raft has everything that you need and all the comfort – there is a private shower with running water, huge bed, everything very clean and as a big surprise, no mosquitoes! They told us because the water is not stagnant in the area, and actually move fast, that mosquitoes don’t stay and lurk in the area.

We enjoyed at sunset time in our private raft around the river. We visited the waterfalls, went up and down around the river while having a beer before dinner. Most of the people around the river and rafts were local Thai people and it wasn’t crowded. We enjoyed dinner, a local dinner with a variety of really good Thai dishes. It´s great having dinner in the raft, a perfect place for relaxing and having a beer or a cup of coffee while enjoying the views.

3. Kayaking

We really loved the experience of crossing the river with the kayak. More than an hour enjoying the views and the best, you are alone the whole way. There are no people and we have a couple of guides watching us on another boat (but in a considerable space, for us to still have our privacy) just in case we need something or even for taking our pictures. It was really easy, just in case you aren’t an expert in kayaking like us. The water current easily helps you while you are rowing your boat, at every moment and you can take all the time that you need. Nobody is in a hurry which is best because you are there to relax, unwind and just have a great time!

CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR PLACE TO STAY IN KANCHANABURI WITH BOOKING.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK WITH AGODA.

More Things to do in Kanchanaburi

4. Elephant Sanctuary

Elephants are very popular in Thailand. Little by little, we can see organizations that are exerting efforts to provide a supporting home for these elephants. Although some parts of Thailand tourism still promote these elephant rides, without nice practices on taking care of these animals, we are happy to find one good shelter where you can spend some time with them, playing and bathing them.

We learned many interesting things about them, their weight, how much do they eat. We also had the opportunity to feed them. The elephant ate a couple of big watermelons in less than a minute. We guess that it was just an appetizer for him. After the bathing in the river, you can have shower and change your clothes before continuing your day around Kanchanaburi. Steffen took care of every small details in the tour and he made the experience amazing.

5. Eat Thai Lunch

Everybody knows how great Thai food is. Steffen chose really nice places for eating. Local food, great taste and a lot of food. There’s papaya salad, chicken, fried rice and more Thai dishes. All of these dishes while having great talks with Stefen about life, Thailand and Kanchanaburi. If you don´t like Thai food, no worries, they will prepare for you a special dish. Just take a look at our favorite dishes during the trip below!

6. Visit Rim Nam Café

A coffee shop with an amazing view to the river was an amazing dessert for our lunch. The place is very peaceful and you can even rent a cottage if you want to spend the day in the middle of nowhere next to the river. This plan is perfect if you are traveling by motorbike while visiting Kanchanaburi.

7. Visit Prasat Mueang Singh Historical Park

One of our favorite hidden place was Prasat Mueang Sing Historical Park in Kanchanaburi. We really love Khmer temples. The ruins are from the 13th-14th century and they are well conserved. The name Mueang Sing of the ruins came the reign of King Rama. The place is super quiet and we didn’t see any tourist during our visit. It’s small and you can make the visit in less than an hour taking your time to walk around and for your pictures.

8. Visit Bridge over the River Kwai

Last part of our tour was Thamkra Sae where you can visit the railway. The train is coming everyday from Bangkok and the speed is very slow. A perfect place to get amazing views and walking around the railway enjoying the river views. This spot has a really long place in history, with prisioners were carried by train to Myanmar.

Do we recommend the tour?

For sure! We really loved the places that we visited. Avoiding the crowd all the time. There are areas that you can’t avoid them , but it was okay as every part of the tour we were able to visit with good conversations with the crew of Mellow Adventures.

We felt very comfortable with Steffen and May. We learned many things about Kanchanaburi and about Thai life, thanks to them. We tried different local dishes and we experimented sleeping on a raft house. The place was really peaceful and quiet with amazing views! Everything was planned perfect, 100 % fun and entertainment.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR PLACE TO STAY IN KANCHANABURI WITH BOOKING.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK WITH AGODA.

How did you like our things to do in Kanchanaburi? Let us know in the comments or if you have any questions!

If you want to read more adventures in Thailand, click here to know more about our experience in Bangkok. And read all the things to do in Ayutthaya.

Happy Travels