This excellent museum balances statistics and historical context with personal accounts of the conditions endured by POWs and other imprisoned labourers forced to build the Thailand–Burma Railway. Kanchanaburi's role in WWII is thoroughly explained, but most of the museum traces the journey of railway workers from transport in cramped boxcars to disease-ridden labour camps in the jungle, as well as survivors' fates after the war. Allow time for the poignant video with testimony from both POWs and Japanese soldiers.
Galleries upstairs display wartime artefacts, and there's a 3m-deep diorama showing how Hellfire Pass got its name.
You'll need at least an hour for your visit. For in-depth wartime and railway history, the centre can organise half-day (per two people 4100B) to multiday tours in and around Kanchanaburi. Advanced booking is required; enquire via its website (under 'Railway Pilgrimages').
