Lovely gardens on the river Kwai at The Jolly Frog Kanchanaburi
Welcome to our Cheap Family Accommodation Thailand series! Kanchanaburi was a dream of a budget travel destination.
Finding cheap family accommodation in Kanchanaburi was easy, this town is incredibly cheap. It was way cheaper than Bangkok, Ko Samui and Ko Phangan. So far the cheapest accommodation prices of our whole trip. It’s also a lovely little town, we ended up staying in Kanchanaburi for almost 2 weeks, busy doing nothing, gazing at the beautiful river and the life that happens around it.
We didn’t pre-book accommodation in Kanchanaburi, we turned up on the train at around 5pm and walked from the station down to the main road that runs along the back of the River Kwai. There are dozens of guest houses and cheap hotels along this strip.
Note: I always point out a few negatives. Obviously, if they’d been a big deal we wouldn’t have stayed, I just find a few for the benefit of others who may be sensitive to noise or whatever. They’re not my negatives, I’m usually very happy with everywhere we stayed.
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Double room $6. Not our best accommodation ever, but it was OK for us for 1 night. Jolly Frog Kanchanaburi
Cost: 200 Baht (roughly $6)/room. So cheap we took 2 double rooms.
Beds: 1 double (x2)
What was included: en-suite and fan. We failed to connect to the free Wifi , in the room or in the restaurant.
Our Verdict: The Jolly Frog was our first stop in Kanchanaburi. At 5pm we didn’t want to walk up and down searching for accommodation for too long, this was the first place we came to.
For $6/night you don’t expect much. This place was as basic as I’m ever going to go. It wasn’t very clean, but after going over surfaces with antiseptic wipes I felt OK. We were on the first floor, the wooden steps weren’t too safe for the children and I was a little concerned about fire risks, the buildings were mostly bamboo. There was a lovely Scottish guy in the next room, he’d fallen down the stairs the night before after a few beers and cracked a rib.
The incredibly beautiful setting made up for the negatives, the rooms were arranged around a garden with hammocks and river views. If the wi-fi had worked I would have stayed here longer.
View along the River Kwai from The Jolly Frog towards Sugar Cane Kanchanaburi
Cost: 350 Baht (about $12)
Beds: 1 double.
What was included: basic en-suite, fan and good WiFi. Our room was floating on a barge on the river.
Our verdict: This place was recommended to us by Gabi of The Nomadic Family, she stayed here for weeks. We didn’t blindly follow Gabi’s recommendation, we checked out just about every guest house and hotel we could find. Sugar Cane was the cheapest and, we thought, the nicest, place to stay.
Our raft room at Sugar Cane Kanchanaburi
Sugar Cane held us prisoners in Kanchanaburi. We set up an easy routine of three delicious meals every day in the Sugar Cane restaurant, blog work, school work and watching the world go by. The children made friends here and had lots of fun running around the rafts, spotting wildlife and even having a “kids dinner” in the restaurant with some little girls they’d met.
Great food at the Sugar Cane restaurant, overlooking the river.
Kanchanaburi was a lovely place to stay. The main attraction is obviously the River Kwai and the famous bridge. There is a fabulous museum next to the River Kwai Bridge and you can take the Death Railway tour from here. The Kanchanaburi War Cemetary is just up the road.There is also the tiger temple and the safari park. We didn’t go, I see no entertainment value in drugged tigers and performing elephants. There are waterfalls nearby, they are a big tourist draw, we didn’t go, we didn’t feel the urge, we were quite happy where we were. The night market in Kanchanaburi is great for cheap eats at local prices, it’s not a tourist market at all, there are plenty of good restaurants in Kanchanaburi, we had some of our best food in Thailand here, at great prices.
This was one town where our $41/day Asian budget was extremely achievable, we also loved the place, so it was a big winner for us.
Kanchanaburi Night Market. Great food!
