Hellfire Pass

This outstanding museum and memorial hiking trail allows visitors the chance to get up close and personal with the rugged terrain that POWs and forced labourers were forced to turn into flat, solid ground suitable for a railway.

The name refers to the hellish red-orange colours that emerged from inside the rocks as they were chiselled by the prisoners, although the conditions under which the work was undertaken are obviously hinted at in the name as well.

For long stretches through this especially rugged section of the Death Railway, the level train tracks needed to be cut through a steep mountainside dotted with dozens of massive rocky outcrops. Toiling for up to 16 hours per day with minimal food and water, the labourers were forced to chisel these rocks by hand, carving 10 metres deep in some places. On other stretches, the steep grades needed to be made level by workers filling in huge ravines with stones. Visitors can walk for several kilometres along a trail directly over what was once the train tracks, which allows for an immediate sense of what the prisoners must have gone through. Western views from the trail are spectacular in places, including one area that looks down on a piece of flat ground that was once the sight of a prisoner camp. The whole trail is a memorial of sorts, but an especially large cutting near the museum now has a plaque to officially recognise those who died here.

Although the memorial trail is the main draw, a small and very tasteful museum is also found here. It offers similar exhibits, videos and personal effects of prisoners as those found at the Death Railway Museum in Kanchanaburi town. The museum is very clean and well taken care of, and it has the feel of a museum in the West. No food or beverage vendors are found here and there's nothing else in the immediate area, so make sure to arrive nourished as you'll need some energy to traverse the trail. Plan on spending an hour here if just wanting to see the museum and the first railway pass, or up to a full day if you want to hike most of the trail.