Sangkhlaburi

When travellers dream of Thailand, they picture verdant jungles, sparkling temples and the exotic charm of its rural villages -- Sangkhlaburi is home to all this. Located 225km northwest of Kanchanaburi and a mere 24km from the Burmese border at Three Pagodas Pass, Sangkhlaburi's seclusion only adds to its mystique.

Sanghkhlaburi is set towards the end of one of Thailand's most spectacular roads, nestled on the low hills edging Vajiralongkorn Lake (previously known as Khao Laem Lake), and is surrounded to the north and east by higher forest-covered limestone ranges. The outlying area hosts Karen and Mon villages, caves, waterfalls, the vast Thung Yai Naresuan wildlife reserve and Khao Laem National Park.

While Sangkhlaburi was traditionally a Karen town, a recent influx of Thais along with numerous Mon and Burmese settlers fleeing problems over the border, has created a culturally and religiously diverse town -- yet another reason to make sure you fit this lovely town into your itinerary.

Sangkhlaburi is popular with Thai weekenders from Bangkok, but it's rarely frequented by Western travellers despite being a great place to chill out with enough sights, activities and atmosphere to keep one entranced for days.

While having a very remote feel to it, Sangkhlaburi can in fact be reached by bus from Bangkok in around seven hours.

 

Higher altitude and the presence of the lake can make it very damp during the rainy season and considerably cooler at night than say Kanchanaburi. With the cooler weather, stunning natural beauty, hospitable locals and a range of things to do that includes trekking, rafting and elephant riding, Sangkhlaburi remains one of our favourite destinations in Thailand. Highly recommended.

Our recommendations

We LOVE Sangkhlaburi!

When you've travelled this far to get to a place you need to give it at least a couple of nights. Do not try to visit Sangkhlaburi on a daytrip from Kanchanaburi -- all you'll do is sit on a bus all day.

We've a soft spot for the Burmese Inn, though P Guesthouse tends to get better feedback -- but either way it's difficult to go wrong in this laidback, remote destination.

Activities we'd put in the absolutely must do category include walking across the wooden bridge and doing a boat trip on the lake -- if the waters are low, make sure you go see the ruins of the sunken old town. On the other hand, making the trip out to Three Pagodas Pass is about as interesting as travelling to a roundabout anywhere in the world that happens to have three pagodas in the middle of it. And they're not even the original pagodas, which were submerged by the dam.

Some massive refugee camps are in the outlying regions, but these are nearly all closed to casual gawkers. If you've a serious interest in visiting the camps, swing by one of the evening NGO haunts (there's not many) and have a yarn to some of the workers, who might be able to assist.

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