Tara Raft Kanchanaburi Guest House

6/10

Pleasant

13 Nov 2023

Darren

A tale of two hotels.....

So, after having such nice welcomes.everywhere I've ever been in Thailand, here was a bit of a shock. There is no real welcome and interaction comes across at best nonplussed, at worst rude.

But if you come prepared for that and you have a room on the raft, they are lovely and are good value for the price. Once you get over the lack of interaction with anyone.... It's great! The view from the river are really lovely to wake up to.

Self

6/10

Pleasant

07 Sep 2023

Neil

Sometimes you get what you pay for. . .
Quiet, cheap with comfortable bed.
Cramped shower/toilet.
Raft floating on the river Kwai.
Close to nightlife & restaurants, far enough for quiet sleep.

Leisure

4/10

Poor

29 Mar 2023

Stephen L

Very basic accommodation

This floating hotel is okay if you are wanting the most basic of accommodations. If you are wanting something a bit more refined, keep looking. The bathroom was filled with mosquitoes that were entering through a hole on the floor that was drilled to drain shower water. The room had a lot of noise from adjacent rooms. If you don’t speak Thai, you will find communication with the staff difficult. We mostly dealt with a young boy that was camped out on the couch in the “lobby”. My wife speaks Thai, so we managed.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

17 Feb 2020

Paul

Great views and location, soft bed.

Our stay for 5 nights was very nice.
The room had a balcony which was lovely in the afternoon with no sun and a cool breeze, we sat there with our feet dangling in the water having a beer most afternoons.
The bed was very soft and comfortable which is not so common in Thailand.
It’s a 5 minute walk to the local bar area and if you want to rent a scooter there are places nearby. We will stay again on our next trip

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

29 Apr 2019

John

Good value for budget travellers

Great river view, easy walk to Kanchanaburi station and shops and market. Room looking rather tired, needed a bit of renovation. Overall good value for money.
If using this town as a base for Hellfire Pass, staying at Nam Tok would be a better choice.

Partner

4/10

Poor

18 Feb 2019

Verified traveler

We have stayed in this hotel twice before and it was newish with friendly staff. This time the staff were very stern faced and no maintenance has been carried out for years.
Obviously the location is still perfect but we won't be staying again.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

12 Feb 2019

Robert

A peaceful break

A little bit of a walk into Kanchanaburi but very quiet and peaceful. Lovely comfy small rooms though could do with some hanging space. Breakfast very nice.

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

04 Apr 2018

Verified traveler

Very basic but at the price thats what you get. Its a nice outlook on the river but its a decent walk to the nearest shops.

4/10

Poor

02 Apr 2018

Ronnie

room was not as in the picture.

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

31 Mar 2018

Don

Bad signage and miserable staff but a nice view

This hotel has the worst signage making it incredibly difficult to find the reception area. There is a carpark out front and then a flat roof area. One must climb some stairs and then go down and find a sign to another set of very steep stairs.

The staff are miserable, scowling and very unhelpful. I could see they had a huge TV monitor so must have seen us struggling to find them but had not cared enough to come and assist.

I had read earlier reviews of people buying the best room and then being put in the less expensive room. So I booked the expensive room. Yep, they gave me a middle room with a view of a very sad looking fish trap rather than at the front where the view is of the river.

They had nothing about our reservation, no paperwork, not computer. They had to call someone, their boss I presume. So this all took quite awhile, while we were totally ignored. Not even invited to have a seat or a drink of water.

We had booked the best room with a view of the river. I had read previous reviews where even if you do this they give you a lesser room with a terrible view of a bunch of ugly fish traps and pollution.

Sure enough that's what they did. I protested and asked for a refund. Back to the phone they went. Finally we were directed to the front room which we had paid for.

The room is very basic but ok for the price. The location is ok as there are shops and bars close by.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

09 Mar 2018

Verified traveler

a nice stay on the river close to shops a relaxing spot to stay

8/10

Excellent

03 Jan 2018

Tony

Lovely river experience

Great river views accompanied by great mosquito bites but somehow worth it. A unique experience. Would stay again for a long weekend.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

29 Oct 2017

S

Comfortable

Comfortable with nice and relaxing views. Great location. Easy access from train station.

8/10

Excellent

11 Aug 2017

P Wong

Nice raft hotel, 10 mins to night market

Helpful, smiley and friendly staff, who helped us arranged transfer back to Bangkok. The view from room is unbeatable!! Close to night market. River kawi is less than 10 mins away by tuk tuk!

Family

8/10

Excellent

12 Jun 2017

WAI KWAN

Fair stay

Quite good in terms of value, only thing to complaint was about the bad smell from the toliet pipe. Location was good, convenient to access to other places!

Family

8/10

Excellent

15 Mar 2017

Katie

Great location with beautiful views

Located on the river, our room had perfect sunrise views facing the mountains. Within short walking distance of convenience store, restaurants, and nightlife. The shower situation is interesting but we were comfortable overall. Would definitely recommend

10/10

Exceptional

05 Nov 2016

Peter

Very relaxing stay.

8/10

Excellent

20 Jul 2016

jules

Cheap clean hotel on the river

I booked this hotel because it was cheap and within walking distance of the train station. The room was clean and tidy, with an amazing view of the river and a nice little balcony to enjoy it from. The staff spoken pretty good English and were very helpful. The wifi dropped in and out a bit buts that only critisim. As far as cheap hotels go this was very good one.

6/10

Pleasant

21 May 2016

Verified traveler

Nice views

Nice views on the top deck over the river Kwai. 500meters walk to the war graves and memorial centre. 1km walk to the bridge.

Family

6/10

Pleasant

15 May 2016

Verified traveler

Not satisfied !

Planed to stay 3 nights, but left after 1 night. Room was clean enought, but to small. Nice location out in the river, but this hotel is for backpackers/young travelers. Servicepersonell was more or less sleeping in the reseption area. Didn't feel very welcome. Will not be back.

Partner

2/10

Poor

23 Mar 2016

Verified traveler

This hotel is NOT for everyone....

Heed the warnings about access to the hotel.. it is on the river with terrible steps leading to it. The rooms get mosquito since there are no screens for patio doors. Asked for fan for room, none available.

You shower next to toilet and therefore floor is always wet and very slippery. Bring your own soap and shampoo would be advisable.

People are friendly, but English is limited. Food is limited, but there are other places to eat not far.

And the idea of romance staying on the river is... well, it won't happen. Garbage and stink. Loud music. Power boats all the time. Etc. Etc.

YMMV of course.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

16 Mar 2016

ROBERT

SOMETHING NOVEL AND DIFFERENT.

very good value if you fancy a hotel/guesthouse with a difference,beautiful view from top deck as sun sets over the river.

6/10

Pleasant

21 Feb 2016

Justin

Rough beginning, smooth ending

Our check in wasn't that great as the 3 girls working that day were just laying around the main reception area/ dining room. They seemed a little irritated that we were there. The. The wifi didn't work, so they eventually got us a new password. But after that initial unpleasantness, the rest of the stay was quite nice. The breakfast wasn't anything special, and for 100 baht you could get a lot more from somewhere in town. But overall it was clean, quiet, and enjoyable. The street this place is located on is off the main drag so it's a lot quieter (for those who don't want to party at all the bars). By the end of our stay, we were enjoying it a lot.

Partner

4/10

Poor

28 Jan 2016

Raj

Good in emergency.

Time passed with it's own Pace

Partner

8/10

Excellent

14 Dec 2015

James

Unique Comfortable Stay

Unique floating raft. Room a good size and the bed was comfortable. Great view from the room.

4/10

Poor

09 Dec 2015

Frank

Terrible experience

Was given room no.3 which was almost on the bank of the river and which was surrounded by the river rubbish. A request to change to a room further out into the river was met with a very unfriendly NO even though the rooms were empty when we arrived. WOTIF guests getting the worst rooms??? Furthermore in contrary to other hotels in the world,the rooms are not cleaned if the sign CLEAN THE ROOM is not hanged up. It took a sit-down protest in the corridor before our room was agreed to be cleaned. Overall very bad experience.

8/10

Excellent

06 Dec 2015

Verified traveler

Great, quiet stay in the river. Lovely sunset. Five minute walk to a variety of restaurants.

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

29 Nov 2015

Brian

Nice small room

I arrived at the hotel before check in time and was grateful to be allowed to check in early. However, that's as far as it went with the hotel staff. Most of them don't speak good English, so you need to be prepared for that. The facilities in the room were ok. However, the water in the shower was cold. The room was very clean when I arrived. However, the biggest let down for this room is the size. It is absolutely tiny. I barely had space to open my suitcase. The bed is however very big. Also be aware that this hotel has quite a few steep steps to enter it.

8/10

Excellent

26 Nov 2015

Verified traveler

Comfy hotel

8/10

Excellent

27 Oct 2015

Edward

A surprise packet

It was located in a quiet area but close to transport and walking distance to nightlife and eateries. We stayed 4 nights and thoroughly enjoyed our stay visiting local attractions Bridge on the River Kwai etc. Our room on the river was very good and quite a nice surprise.There was something going on all the time on the river to keep your interest. The staff were very pleasant and helpful. We paid for a taxi from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi and our accommodation but there is a mini bus service running every hour to/from for a third of the price. Victory Monument is one bus stop but ask the hotel when you book.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

02 Oct 2015

Linda

I had booked this under the Raft hotel but due to a health issue stayed the last four nights at the B&B Hotel. I liked the Floating Raft a lot but also thought the B&B very nice also as closer to town and with its own restaurant. You can't go wrong with either!

8/10

Excellent

28 Sep 2015

Verified traveler

peaceful river room

I really enjoyed the peaceful quality here and the helpfulness of the staff. They accommodated all my needs and wants.

6/10

Pleasant

22 Sep 2015

santanu

Riverside comfort

It was good, could have been better

Partner

8/10

Excellent

30 Aug 2015

Verified traveler

Recommend

I would recommend this hotel-on-water for four reasons: The staff is super helpful and friendly; the rooms are clean; its very inexpensive; close to all the sites. It is a bit run down, but if you are looking for something clean and inexpensive, this is your place.

8/10

Excellent

21 Aug 2015

Deborah

Peaceful spot on the River Kwai Noi

Very nice room with view of the river. Clean and big comfortable bed! Lovely place to sit outside with a cup of tea in the morning or a glass of wine at night.

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

27 Jul 2015

Verified traveler

Standard room does not come with river view!

Initially, I booked the standard room (without the river view) from hotels.com without knowing it, I thought I booked a room with the river view (as seen in the photos).
The standard room was really disappointing as there was no river view at all and the room was very small.

However, I upgraded to the room with the river view the next morning and the room was way better than the standard room.

The photos shown on hotels.com (with the river view) is not the standard room. While the option for the room with the river view was not displayed on hotels.com when I was making my booking. So, please take note about this when you are making the reservation.

I urge hotels.com to ensure that the photos provided by the hotels/resorts are correct as this affected my overall experience with hotels.com and impacted my holiday.

Partner

4/10

Poor

19 Jul 2015

Verified traveler

Bugs and tiny room, window with no view.

We wanted to experience a Raft on the river kwai and was so excited to arrive at Tara Raft. We were led to our room to find it had no view out the window and just enough room to walk around one side of the bed. We dumped our things and headed out to see the sights, its about 5-10 minute walk to the restaurants and bars and you walk through the locals area (lots of dogs too).
When we returned to our room that evening we pulled the covers back to find lots of insects in our bed. We spoke to the man that worked there (who spoke little English)and showed him the bugs and asked to move to another room. He moved us to an even smaller room again with a window onto a wall, no apology and he even asked us to give him the water out of the new fridge!
The rooms were right next to reception/eating area you could smell cigarette smoke and it was quite noisy.
The main terrace however has stunning views over the river kwai and it was beautiful and peaceful there.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

14 Jul 2015

Verified traveler

Hidden gem - don't miss this one!!

This place is a HIDDEN GEM! My only regret is that we didn't stay longer. The best thing is its the cheapest accommodation we stayed in, and our favourite by far!

Tara Raft is literally a huge raft on the water (don't worry, its stationary! You could feel it bob up and down from time to time though!) so the views are to die for and your balcony is literally on the water. We spent ages there enjoying the sunset glistening off the river and the beautiful landscape, listening to the water lapping around the raft.

The room itself is also GORGEOUS. It felt cosy because as the pictures show the bedcovers are lovely colours, the furniture is made of lovely wood and the bed is huge! There's a mosquito net provided if you want to use it, as well as a safe.

The staff didn't have amazing English by any means but we managed just fine, they were very helpful. There wasn't a kettle provided but in our 10 days of travelling we only used a kettle once or twice anyway. There was a fridge of course, and the bathroom was perfectly fine other than a funny smell perhaps from the water (though it didn't smell on the balcony at all).

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

14 Jul 2015

Verified traveler

Good location

Close to the main strip and clean room but it was very small and for our budget room you couldn't see the river. Was decent for the price.

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

24 Jun 2015

Mahapol

Nice room, superb view

If you want to stay quite in town, this is the place. It's behind the War Cemetery.

Partner

2/10

Poor

21 Mar 2025

Michel

Horrble FUIR

Dans l annonce le titre c est : Chambre Supérieure.
Non mais vous rigoler qui controle les hotels chez Hotels.com. c est du foutage de gueule.... Chambre sale,la porte s ouvre qu'a moitié, la porte fenetre aussi, crasse sur la porte fenêtre,trou dans le plancher sur la terrasse, pommeau de douche qui fuit,apres un douche eau dans la chambre.Pour le personnels nous avons été reçu par un jeune homme qui n'a pas lâché son téléphone une seule fois.... et il dort dans la reception sur un banc enfin reception c est vite dit.!! A l exterieur hamats d ordures et detritus contre l hotel.refrigerateur sale et chaud a notre arrivée, un simple pled en guise de drap. Je termine mes vacances et vous demaderai un dédommagement. J ai en plus utilisé une nuit bonus pour ce taudis. Nous avions réservé une chambre a Ayutthaya dans les meme prix sur agoda puisque pas possible sur Hotels.com et nous avons mis une note de 10. J ai plusieurs photos mais elles ne passent pas,mais je les garde pour vous par mail.
Michel

Partner

8/10

Excellent

22 Oct 2023

preechakorn

วิวดี

8/10

Excellent

24 Jan 2022

Ulf

Great location - have you feet in the river…

Nice location on a raft on water. Also close to lax Al restaurants and bars. You can actually sit on the balcony and have the feet in the river.