Hintok River Camp
To understand the concept of Hintok River Camp @ Hellfire Pass, it is best to learn what is ‘Glamping’.
Glamping is a brand new kind of hotel / resort. The term comes from Glamorous + Camping. Glamping is still camping but high level of comforts and hospitality services are added. It is camping for all people at all ages. Locations of gaping sites are mostly in wilderness or iconic destinations.
The word ‘Glamping’ not only refers to a living in a tent, but also to livings in a yurt, in a hut or cottage, unusual house like a treehouse or a floating house. It could be either a small size or big scale property. It is a great way to enjoy magnificent outdoors experiences.
Hintok River Camp @ Hellfire Pass aims to get the camp’s guests to live close to the nature. Staying in a primitive style of accommodation, canvas tent, brings people who may have forgotten the first joy when camping. Camping is not everyone’s taste because it lacks of comforts and safety. Arguably the most important factors when we travel. With this through in mind, we then develop Hintok River Camp at Hellfire Pass and serve nature to our worldwide guests in the atmosphere of African safari. Moreover the location we are situated is a historical landmark of WW 2 in Thailand. We found our glamping site is perfect for whom appreciate nature and history.
The camp sites are built with high quality canvas. Unlike some camping resorts you may find in other places, we are using real synthetic canvas giving the intimate feeling to the nature surrounded. Hintok tented camp is made of local woods offers you all the comforts of a luxury hotel. Each tent is equipped with individually adjustable air-condition, an en suite bathroom with hot running water and complimentary toiletries. Furthermore, the comfortable beds and the rustic wooden furniture convey the feeling of pure indulgence. Let’s imagine all of this with the view of the historic river back in WW II, River Kwai.
The tented camp provides a wide variety of outdoor activities and can make you happily busy for few days. If you prefer to relax, do so in with a dip in the natural spring water pool or during a pleasant royal Thai massage. Would you rather get active? Then you could, for instance, go rafting, ride on an elephant, explore the stunning caves in the area or go trekking in the Hellfire pass. Experience the unique culture of Thailand whilst visiting the nearby Mon village and temple or discover the moving past of the Hellfire pass during World War II . Back in the camp you can round off this exceptional holiday experience with a BBQ in the moonlight or a cocktail at the bar with the incredible view of the sun setting over the river Kwai.
Hintok River Camp at Hellfire Pass is a unique tented camp in Thailand founded in 2005. Situated on an incredible spot by the River Kwai and the cliff of Hellfire Pass in the mid west of Thailand in Kanchanaburi province, Thailand. It is a holiday retreat in the dense jungle and overlooks the beautiful River Kwai. It is the only tourist accommodation at Hellfire Pass area. This naturally luxurious Thailand glamping site is hence perfect for nature and historical interest.
The Hintok camp site appoints a resort camping style where the tented accommodations are all air-conditioned and featured with en suite bathroom with hot running water and toiletries. Bedding is like those of international branded hotel and furnished decoration with local wooden teakwood in style. Hintok River Camp @ Hellfire Pass is a great place to be as passive or active as you may like. Some choose to sit back, relax and chill all day long among the fertile nature or in the natural spring water pool. Some choose to go a little bit wild with kayaking in the river, Hellfire Pass trekking, elephant riding, bamboo rafting or even caving.
The original idea popped up when the owner traveled to Kenya and had a chance to stay overnight in a tented accommodation after the enjoyable game drive. The tented camping gave us the feeling of being in tact with the green nature while having plenty of comfort. WHO WE ARE Hintok River Camp @ Hellfire Pass is one of unique properties in our hotel group, SERENATA Hotels & Resorts Group. We do have 15 properties throughout Thailand.
Our group is known as “SERENATA” (www.serenatahotels.com). SERENATA is own by a Thai entrepreneur who has the global vision and passion in the nature. The word SERENATA is not referred to the original meaning of it in Italian but it implies the combination of SERENE + NATURE since almost all of our properties are the resort style where people seek peaceful holidays and experiencing new things. It is also our philosophy and passion to create things differently.
We are proud to tell you that we started our first hotel in 1976 with a floating hotel, River Kwai Jungle Rafts (www.riverkwaijunglerafts.com) and now this floating paradise has become 4 of the best floating hotels in the world honored by Daily Telegraph UK and many other awards. Please visit www.serenatahotels.com to see more about our unique hotels.
2) How long is the preparation in setting up this place? After the idea got more tangible, it took around half a year for the tent design and finding the right materials, and another 1 more year to set up the camp site. We spent time with this camp site a lot because it was not as easy as you build a hotel in the city. We tried out many things to see which ways work most in our tropical conditions. Due to humidity and humidity in Thailand, we could not just leave the tent on the ground for safety reasons. Inside the tent is hot during the noon, so we put air-condition in it. Yes! We do have air-condition and private semi open-air bathroom and other facilities for our guests comfort.
3) In your view, what are the differences between glamping site and other holiday/spa resorts? The most important to us is the concept or theme which must be right. The tent and landscape contribute to this immensely. The tented accommodation is one of the major keys to success for this glamping since it gives the feeling of the glamping experience. The surrounding shall offer a lot of open space and of course a campfire. Glamping site shall not be 5 star of comfort. It makes people lazy and demanding for non-stop comfort. It should let people down to a local and nature level where they gain true experience. Guests must be able to feel the coziness from our services, facilities, accommodations and activities.
4) What are the unique features of your glamping site? Location, Location , Location. Our camp site is set right on the pinnacle of Hintok mountain. In Thai, “hin-tok” means falling rocks. We are very fortunate the we have lush green mountains range at the back and the famous River Kwai at the front. Nestled upon the cliff, the wild breeze flows through the site all day long. The site is right in the area of renowned Hellfire Pass. The passageway that cut through a mountain by hands of the slaves back in WW II. There is a lot of historical memories out there. Another highlight of Hintok River Camp @ Hellfire Pass is our Natural Spring Pool by the river. Nowadays people who come to our site tend to go down the the pool before going in the room. The view from the pool is stunning with the fast-flowing river against the rocky mountain ridge. The water in the pool is purely natural. The source of the water comes from underground water. It is a mini and cozy waterfall I would say. We use real high-quality canvas for the tent. Other luxury brands use more durable canvas which the tradeoff with the feeling and texture of real canvas. Also the mild smell of it brings you the sense of peace and nature. Also we have some sheeps to welcome our guests. They are friendly and whenever you try to look for them, you will find one.
5) Are most of your clients European and Americans? Any Asians? If there are Asians, which country do they come from? Is the number increasing? We have been serving all the market regions e.g. Europe, Australia and American / Canada. Most of our guests are Europeans and then Australia. We do have a great number of Taiwanese groups which tend to travel more in nature , not only in the city for shopping. Japanese mostly comes as families. I believe this is also the right product for Singaporean. Not only this camp site but many of our hotels are suitable for discerning Singaporeans who not seeking 5 star comfort.
6) In your views, what will be the future trend of glamping? The trend of Glamping is rising for sure. People sick of city life and want to getaway to somewhere different where they can breath freely. One day human being will be brought back to the nature I believe. Glamping serves their need to be part of nature and give the standard comfort and security – the fundamental need of human.
Hintok River Camp @ Hellfire Pass, one of the most unique properties in our SERENATA Group. It is truly a glamping site where always satisfies visitors who interest in experiencing different style of taking holidays. We understand that you would like to know our start rates, how to get to our tented camp and whether there is a hotel transportation service from Bangkok to our tented camp in Kanchanaburi.
It is our recommendation to travelers who never come to this area to select one of our guarantee daily departure tour packages. Packages are available from 2 night to 3 night stay. We pick up right from guest’s hotels in Bangkok city and bring back to their hotel upon return from the trip. Our tour will show you major attractions in Kanchanaburi city and other attractions such as Thailand–Burma Railway Center, War Cemetery, River Kwai Bridge, Hellfire Pass Memorial, Death Railway Train and etc.
Not only the tented camp travellers can experience, some of our packages are featured with our floating resort or others which are under the same hotel group e.g. River Kwai Jungle Rafts (www.riverkwaijunglerafts.com) , The Floathouse River Kwai (www.thefloathouseriverkwai.com) and River Kwai Resotel (www.riverkwairesotel.net) .