Cycling Thailand: Kanchanaburi - Kaeng Krachan
This is the second of three parts reviewing my cycling tour around Central Thailand in January and February 2025. Click the links for Part One and Part Three.
In this part I arrived in Kanchanburi after two days riding from Ayutthaya and stayed for six nights, exploring the city and doing some short rides. From there I rode to the historical site of Mueang Sing, before heading south to the Kaeng Krachan National Park.
Kanchanaburi
I explained a bit about the history of Kanchanaburi in the previous route description, but reading it back, I realise it gives a rather sombre depiction of the town. Modern Kanchanaburi is actually very friendly, upbeat place and a beautiful city to relax for a few days.I did a couple of circular rides here and found there to be some nice cycling, particularly to the south of the river where the roads are quieter and the mountains nicely frame the rice fields.
I have included a 40km circular ride as the first part of this route (see below). It was very pleasant and crossed the river a couple of times, including visiting the railway bridge.
Check out this link for the standalone route.
Kayaking along the river
I was also keen to go on the river itself. There were some boat tours, but they looked a bit boring so instead I went kayaking. There are several places offering kayak trips along River Kwai road and, from what I could tell, they provide a similar service.
I got transferred 15km upstream and then kayaked back to town, passing underneath the railway bridge and finishing at a nice temple complex close to the night market. It was a really fun trip and the river was extremely quiet, even though I went on a sunday. There was no-one else kayaking and just a handful of boats, which made for a very tranquil experience. The river is a pleasant temperature for swimming and apparently clean enough to do so, particularly upstream of Kanchanburi town.
There was plenty of picturesque scenery riding around Kanchanaburi
The other main activities offered from Kanchanaburi are day trips to the Erawan National Park. Here you can do some short hiking up to waterfalls, or visit the war monument at Hellfire Pass.
I didn't fancy either of these, but was contemplating cycling to Erawan as the next stop on my tour. In the end, I decided to head some of the way there, but didn't fancy going all the way into the National Park, because it would mean riding a relatively long section on a busy road.
Instead, I rested and ate plenty of delicious Thai food, and settled on my next route - which would be riding to the historical park at Mueang Sing.
My hotel gave me some lucky gifts for Chinese New Year
Mueang Sing
The ride from Kanchanaburi to Mueang Sing was around 50km, but I went a bit further, as I dropped my panniers off at my accommodation (Banana Resort) on the way, in case I had to leave the bike unattended at the historical park.
This was another pleasant ride, mostly on side roads with little traffic. After about an hour of riding I took a slight detour and continued a climb up to Wat Tham Phu Wa, which was an expected surprise.
I hadn't planned to go here, but saw quite a few cars turning off, with the occupants all dressed in red. It was Chinese New Year, which is also celebrated by many Thais, and they were going to the temple complex to see in the new year. In the morning my hotel in Kanchanaburi (the very nice Keankan Resort) had also given me some lucky Chinese desserts which was a nice touch!
The impressive cave temple at Tham Phu Wa
The complex included two temples, one with a reclining Buddha and another with a giant Buddha statue outside. Inside the lower temple was a fantastic cave complex. It didn't come out very well in the photos, but it was full of little niches and walkways, with stalactites hanging down. It was a very cool experience.
A little further along the road was another temple complex, but this was under heavy reconstruction. Apparently they are building an 80m high Buddha, which will be quiet some sight if it is ever completed.
From the temples, the road to Mueang Sing was rolling and a lot of fun with a strongish tailwind. The final stretch from my accommodation at Banana Resort was mostly on a good gravel road, allowing me to reach Mueng Sing with very little traffic.
This fun gravel road took me to the Mueang Sing Historical Park
I was very impressed with the Mueang Sing ruins. It is a former Khmer city dating from the 13th century. The Khmer empire, with its capital at Angkor, stretched nearly as far as the border with modern Myanmar, and Mueang Sing was one of their western-most towns.
The city was well fortified, and the square shaped perimeter wall remains, giving you an idea of the size. Within the walls some of the site remain, and these are the most extensive Khmer ruins in Thailand.
Mueang Sing was a fortified town on the western most border of the Khmer Empire
The highlights were two central temple complexes, which were used to perform ceremonies and also held a library and other political functions. The city followed a hybrid Hindu-Buddhist religion reflected by reconstructed statues of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and Prajnaparamita the queen of the gods.
The site is mostly in ruins, but enough survives to give you a feel for what the city would have been like
The city fell into a state of disrepair when the Khmer empire was conquered by the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 15th century, and the region became a kind of hinterland between Ayutthaya and Burma.
It is a very interesting site, particularly if you read up a bit on the history beforehand (as often with historical parks in Thailand, there is little information available at the site itself). It was almost empty when I visited, and it was possible to cycle around between the different parts of the site, as well as enjoying views of the city wall overlooking the River Kwai.
Similarly to in Ayutthaya, Sukhothai or Angkor, you can cycle around between the ruins
From Mueang Sing, I cycled around 10km back to Banana Resort and had a fairly average evening meal. The resort was empty in mid-week, but they did sell some delicious dried bananas covered in chocolate, as well as some banana and oat granola bars and sundried guava. I purchased a couple of packets to ensure I would have plenty of energy for the next couple of days riding.
Ratchaburi Province
A scenic temple on back roads in Ratchaburi province
The route from Mueang Sing to Kaeng Krachan was around 180km going on side roads and quiet lanes. It was largely flat, but still long enough that I decided to split it into two days. I stayed in a small camping in Ratchaburi province, roughly half way through the route.
The first day was mostly on paved roads with just a couple of short off-road sections. Early in the day I had to ride for a short stretch on a slightly busier road (the 3455 into Ban Kao), which confirmed some of my fears about road safety in Thailand.
As I rounded one gentle bend, I heard tyres screeching behind me and the next thing I know, a car was flying into the ditch on the other side of the road. This was an innocuous enough looking road, and I assume the driver had been distracted and panicked when suddenly confronted with a slight bend and a cyclist!
I went to check on the driver, who was fine. Although, somewhat surprisingly, she just tried to drive out of the ditch without once getting out to check the car. I had to politely inform her that she had two burst tyres, some damaged rims and half of the bodywork hanging off. At that point, some other locals had arrived and I couldn't really help at all, so left them to it!
This monkey seemed a bit intimidated by the bicycle
After that reminder of the dangers on the road here, I was happy that the rest of the day was on very quiet side roads. I passed some scenic temples and cycled a lot through banana plantations and arable farmland. It was like a typical ride in this part of Thailand - nothing really spectacular, but just all very pleasant and enjoyable.
The only downside on this particular route was that there were a lot of dogs who seemed quite angry. I never really felt threatened by them, but there was a lot of barking and half-hearted chasing on some of these roads. There were a few monkeys as well, but, although they seemed a bit wary of the bicycle, they were far better behaved than the dogs.
It was a hot day and I was pleased when I arrived at the camping to eat and rest in a fancy air-conditioned tent!
Relaxing in a very fancy tent
The next day I continued riding to Kaeng Krachan. Overall, this was a better route than the day before, with more diverse scenery and a bit more elevation gain towards the end to keep things interesting.
One of the highlights was riding around the picturesque Phu Sai Lake, and visiting one of the small temple complexes there.
Phu Sai Lake
As I reached the end of the lake, I took an off-road path to delay riding alongside the main road as long as possible. This was in the process of being reconstructed, and I'm not entirely sure that I should have been cycling there, but nobody seemed to mind.
This took me close to the junction with the 3510 - the main north to south highway in this area. There is a cycle lane running alongside it for about 20km, which allowed me to stay out of the traffic. Along the way I stopped at a 7-Eleven for refreshments, before heading into the hills surrounding Kaeng Krachan.
Some nice roads leading through the jungle to Kaeng Krachan
About 20km out from Kaeng Krachan I turned off-road and followed a track which looked good and interesting on the map. It started off as a gravel road, then slowly turned into a single track as it climbed up a small hill. I started to get a bit concerned when it became increasingly overgrown, and, unsurprisingly it soon became impenetrable. The jungle had well and truly reclaimed it.
I ended up having to retrace my route a few kilometres to get back on a much wider trail (I have updated the route map, so it doesn't go the way I initially went!). It was kind of a fun excursion into the jungle, but I was a little apprehensive as it got thicker that there might be an elephant lurking around the corner or a venomous snake hiding underneath the leaves.
The jungle had reclaimed the track at one point!
The alternative trail I ended up taking was actually a wide dirt road and was fantastic for cycling. It had a couple of short climbs and descents and was a lot of fun, surrounded by well irrigated banana plants and coconut palms.
The final 10km into Kaeng Krachan were on paved roads and I was rewarded with a tail wind all the way to Nana's Resort, a large and tranquil place situated next to the river.
Kaeng Krachan
Kaeng Krachan Lake borders the large National Park
I spent six nights in total in Kaeng Krachan, staying at Nana's Resort. I didn't have any real plans here, other than to relax, swim a bit and do a couple of rides. The main attraction in the area is the large Kaeng Krachan National Park, which extends to the border with Myanmar.
Several companies offer trips into the park, which are a kind of safari experience. It is not uncommon to see sun bears and leopards (including melanistic ones) along the main road and close to the campsites in the park. There are also plenty of exotic birds, snakes and bats. A handful of tigers apparently roam the border area with Myanmar, but are almost never seen.
I was quite keen to cycle into the park, but found out that it wasn't allowed (nor are motorbikes). I think the official reason was that it was too steep and hilly to be safe - but perhaps the presence of potentially dangerous wild animals was also a factor. The only way into the park is on 4x4 vehicle, which didn't really appeal to me - I preferred the idea of exploring the periphery of the park by bike instead.
Delicious Fish and Spicy Salad
Other than the National Park, Kaeng Krachan is known for its water activities. There were people jet skiing on the large large, as well as taking boats out to some of the small islands.
The main Petchaburi River is a good spot for rafting and swimming. It's quite fast flowing and you can float downstream, stopping off at various resorts for refreshments. This got very busy on the weekend, but was quiet the rest of the time.
I did a couple of nice rides around the area (see Part 3 for details), and I enjoyed my time here. It was a really peaceful and comfortable place to rest and catch up on a bit of work.
Part 1 - Ayutthaya to Kanchanbauri
Part 3 - Prachuap Khiri Khan Province
Central Thailand - Tour Summary
Cycling in Thailand
Cycle Touring Guides
