Hintok River Camp @ Hellfire Pass หินตกริเวอร์เเคมป์ กาญจนบุรี — Hotel in Kanchanaburi Province

This was our second destination after spending 4 nights in Bangkok. We were really looking forward to some fresh clean air and lush green surroundings and were not disappointed. |We were greeted with a welcome drink and some friendly, smiley staff and the cutest little girl who had the biggest smile of all. This quickly took a turn when one lady started asking which trips we'd like to book-giving us both a book. I've got to say that we both felt a little bit pressured. She told us we could go on a long boat at 4, and, maybe because we were a bit jaded after our 3 and a half hours transfer, we booked a trip. I think we felt a bit bullied into it. She insisted we look at the brochure and make a decision about where we wanted to go the next day. Being someone who doesn't even like it when someone asks if I need help when I walk into a shop, this got my back up a bit. When we returned to reception for our tour we explained that we wanted to relax for the short time we were at Hintok and the trips were not mentioned again. |Anyway - the tents are great - hard but good beds, a separate bathroom and shower. The shower is, as expected - not particularly powerful (we were in the forest) but it was OK for a freshen up. It took ages to get the shampoo out of my hair , but, I wasn't really worried about what my hair looked like, so it didn't really matter.|There was plenty of. complimentary water and everything else in the fridge as well as the snacks had to be paid for. The tents are reasonably close to each other and some guests don't adhere to the request to be quiet after 10pm, and the staff are vocal pretty early in the morning. I suppose this is all part of the experience. It was a shame though when we were woken by drilling and hammering on our first morning at about 7am- I suppose the staff needed to repair whatever needed to be done early before the guests used the facilities? |The WiFi is excellent - much better than in Bangkok - so we could download our boarding passes for our next flight. Also it's worth noting that you can use your credit card to pay for trips, drinks etc. The booklet in the tent implies you have to use cash. |Our package was for full board, which was a bit of a waste. We arrived just before 3pm and were told we'd missed lunch and we left before 12:30 on the last day so, again, missed lunch (no packed lunches or snacks were offered). So in reality, we only had 1 day of full board. Something worth considering when booking.|The food was excellent. Breakfast was a choice of Thai food, freshly cooked eggs /omelette and continental food. There was plenty of tea and coffee and a selection of juice. I cannot eat seafood, including fish sauce and shrimp paste and at lunch and dinner all of the dishes contained either or both. I explained this to the staff and the chef kindly cooked my meals separately. It was piping hot and absolutely delicious. The Som Tum (papaya salad) was excellent if a bit hot!! Dinner around the fire was a lovely experience and the staff were attentive without being annoying.|The setting is astounding - so serene and lush.The pools are very cool and inviting and they over look the river. We had to pinch ourselves a few times to remind us we were actually there. A lady slipped as she was leaving the pool, and hurt her wrist, so take care. |We decided not to go on any trips but we're told that a taxi can be arranged for roughly £12 to take you to Hell Fire Pass. The driver waits for you for 2 hours and the entrance is free. We decided to walk to a nearby temple and preferred doing our own thing really. It's definitely worth the walk. Take some water as there is little shade on the return leg. |Hintok Camp is beautiful, has such friendly, sweet staff and all you need for a totally different experience. We are pleased it was part of our trip...

The view is amazing... But our experience was not that good. Still I will list our the good points and bad points, and people are free to decide.

GOOD POINTS

1. The view around the camp was good. The camp in itself is beautifully maintained and has a soothing relaxing feel.
2. The bbq dinner was delicious and the variety they offered was impressive. We don't eat pork so, along with chicken bbq they even made a vegetable dish for us.

BAD / DISAPPOINTING POINTS

1. They didn't have coffee in the camp... Just the neacafe satchet in tent, and anyone who is an ardent coffee lover or drinks it regularly that those satchet do nothing to satisfy. When I asked for coffee they said that their machine was broken and they couldn't get it repaired - I have no idea why. Usually I wouldn't have minded and bought my coffee from somewhere outside, but the location of the camp is such that we would have to drive 15kms to get a decent coffee. Imagine rainy days but no coffee - yeah! I lived through that.
2. The electric kettle in my tent wasn't working, and these camps aren't equipped with a phone. So I walked down to the reception and somehow managed to explain in mix of Thai-English about my problem... They said someone will come to check. No one did... After 30mins I literally started crying bcz I had a bad headache and was ready to drink even that Neacafe satchet coffee... But there was no freaking hot water. My husband went and complained again... Finally someone came and took away the kettle, without replacing it! After one more complain they gave us hot water in a small kettle as temporary solution. And then the electric kettle was returned or replaced after another 30mins. So that's more than an hour wait for a Neacafe satchet coffee - definitely not worth it!
3. The swimming pool is a natural spring water pool and is built to give a river view... Extremely beautiful! But the pool was just like the size and depth of a kid pool... Water hardly came to my waist... I mean seriously? Is that even a pool?
4. To reach that so-called natural pool you have to climb down a steep set of stairs which is okay for me, but the climb back is extremely tedious and you wouldn't feel like doing it after a relaxing time at pool... I love hiking but I don't want to hike between my room and swimming pool... Plus after climbing that set of stairs just one time I was sure that I would never ever bring my parents to stay there... It is such a big camp that I really feel they should have had a normal swimming pool somewhere near the tent that would be easily accessible to all, and they could call the kiddie pool as natural spring water pool for people who are interested to experiment.

That's all... Please choose after reviewing properly and carry your...

I’m glad we came here, it was a nice distinction after spending time in Bangkok and the opportunity to visit the HellFire Pass Museum was incredible. ||I loved the tents and I thought the food and drink options were very good and reasonably priced. Good selection of wine. Dining outdoors was atmospheric - they’ve made a lovely effort with the lighting and the service was good.||The natural pool and the area by the river is nice.||I think this is a place for just one or two days. The beds are so hard it’s incredible. My whole body aches. Not that it matters too much because there is little chance of sleeping - there are dogs close to the tents and they bark/fight/bark cry literally all night. We are leaving absolutely exhausted, which was not the point of this break. Also worth noting that whilst I thought the food was good it was exactly the same both nights almost, so would be difficult to stay for longer.||I also feel there’s a lot of extortionate costs and attempts by the resort to overprice and extract cash. The excursions, organised taxis and activities are massively overpriced. 1,000 baht just to make the very short trip to the museum. In my experience resorts of this nature would offer a complimentary shuttle to something so nearby, not use it as an attempt to overcharge. For those of you that enjoy an adventure it’s worth noting that we walked to the museum (with children) - takes about an hour. Steep hill on the way there but you reap the rewards on the return leg! As you walk through the village you’ll come upon the loveliest of local people offering ice cold drinks and ice creams, grateful for your custom. We also saw lots of interesting bugs and frogs on the road, which the kids loved. So ditch the overpriced taxi service, if you can.||My main gripe is personal to me - I had a carrier bag full of kids socks and pants and swim shorts (way less than a full load) that I wanted the resort to launder for me and the best they could do was 45baht per item. When you’ve got 40 teeny tiny items that’s an incredible expense. I’m leaving to continue my travels around Thailand with two kids and a backpack full of dirty washing. The relatively abrupt lady on reception didn’t care, wasn’t willing to be even slightly flexible about it, didn’t even ask me how my stay had been on check out. Shame - wouldn’t take much and this could have been a much...