Our 3-weeks Myanmar Itinerary – Mingalabar!
Our 3-weeks Myanmar Itinerary – Mingalabar!
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Myanmar is our absolute favorite of all the beautiful countries we travelled to during the last month. Everything there, every different area, is special and almost magical. When we look on our pictures from this trip, we can’t even believe that we have actually been to all these places.
In Myanmar you can experience a huge variety of things like pagodas, wooden bridges, viewing platforms, incredible friendly and open minded people and there are many amazing festivals throughout the year you can experience, like the light festival. Mingalabar, that means welcome and blessing in Myanmar and you will hear it everywhere.
Yangon, First stop Day 1-2
We took a plane from Jakarta to the biggest airport “Rangun International Airport” in Yangon. At the airport we met another travel blogger couple Maggs and Dan. We didn’t book a hotel in advance and looked for a nice place to plan our day and accidentally we found the best vegan café and yoga studio in the back streets named “Nourish Café”. The next morning we visited the famous golden Shwedagon Pagoda the first time. Be there before sunrise otherwise it will be very crowded.
Everywhere the people prepared candles around the pagodas for the Light festival. We were so lucky to experience this festival, which is held on the full moon of Thadingyut in October marking the end of Buddhist Lent. The three-day Festival of Lights during Thadingyut symbolises the return of the Buddha from heaven while angels are lighting the path of his descent to earth. Most of the time we were surrounded by locals, less tourists, it was just incredible! We were able to help here and there with some candles, the locals were happy to show us everything. We felt absolutely excited for the evening and the first festival day. The Shwedagon Pagoda is the best place in Yangon to experience these days. You will see incredible ceremonies of monks and beautiful looking locals walking around the pagoda in a mediative kind of way while making sounds with their singing bowls. We will never forget this day – that’s for sure!
Things to do
- Shwedagon Pagoda (most famous golden pagoda, Light Festival)
- Maha-Wizaya Pagoda next to Shwedagon Pagoda (walk along Theingottara Park)
- Sule Pagoda (in the middle of a roundabout)
- Colonial Buildings (Strand Road, around the hotel The Strand..)
- street markets (around 30th street)
- Chinatown
Eat at
- Nourish Cafe (incredible yoga and food, friendliest owners)
- Rangoon Tea House (really good Indian food)
Stay at
- Sules Shangri-la Yangon (nice pool at one of the roof tops, amazing food)
- Hotel G (very modern and clean, small but nice rooms)
How to get there?
- Take a Grab from the airport or around the city (there is no taxi mafia)
Hpa-An, 2nd Stop Day 3-5
Our next stop was Hpa-An. We heard so many good things about this place, big limestone mountains, viewpoints on hills and lakes. We weren’t disappointed. We checked in at a basic hotel in the center with a really nice host, who organized us a tuk-tuk driver every day to get around. First we visited Kyauk-Kalat, the crazy looking mountain with a pagoda on top next to a lake. We arrived there for sunset and the pagoda was shining in golden colors.
The next morning we hiked Hpan Pu Moutain for sunrise on the other side of the river, it has a beautiful view and we were completely alone there. Afterwards we asked our driver to stop at Thanlyin River a the food of Hpan-Pu mountain. There we talked to some women working on the fields. Our next stop was Sadan Cave where we walked 800m through the entire cave and took a canoe back to the starting point through some really beautiful rice terraces. In the evening we drove to Kan Thar Yar Lake, a beautiful lake with a bridge and enjoyed sunset at the Thanlyin River. We ended the day eating at Wadee restaurant.
On day five we climbed Taung Wine Mountain for sunrise and we were rewarded with the best view over Hpa-An. It also has a really photogenic wooden walkway! On our way back to Yangon we stopped half way at the Golden Rock.
Things to do
- Kyauk-Kalat (Avatar Pagoda)
- Hpan Pu Mountain (broken ladder at the top)
- Thanlyin River at the food of Hpa Pu Mountain (working women on the fields next to the river)
- Sadan Cave, (800m walk through the cave, buddhas, take a canoe back to the starting point for 6000 Kyat)
- rice fields next to the cave
- Kan Thar Yar Lake (lake with bridge)
- Thanlyin River for sunset near Kan Thar Yar Lake
- Taung Wine Mountain, 45-min hike, photogenic wooden walkway
- Mount Zwegabin, 722-metre, longest and hardest hike, 1,5 hours
- Golden Rock between Hpa-An and Yangon (we had a driver and a car for the whole day for 150 000 Kyat who drove us back to Yangon)
Eat at
- Wadee Restaurant (really good Thai food!)
Stay at
- United Hotel (basic but the best host who organized all our crazy day trips spontaneously! Also when we wanted to start at 5am 😉 )
How to get there?
- From Yangon to Hpa-An, 6 hours Mi Bae Gon Express (booked at hotel in Yangon, Starting at Mingular Bus Terminal, 40-min ride from center of Yangon to bus terminal, basic bus but absolutely okay. Stop at shabby rest area half the way)
- Tuk-tuk from the bus station (pay not more than 3000 Kyat) and for daily tours
- car drive back to Yangon including mountain hike and Golden Rock 150 000 Kyat
Bagan, 3rd stop Day 5-10
We originally planned to visit Bagan, the ancient city with all the pagodas, for the light festival, but every bus from yangon to Bagan was fully booked by locals so we decided to go there after Hpa-An. Unfortunately at the time we arrived in Hpa-An, there was no bus from Hpa-An to Bagan, so we took a car ride back to Yangon and took the famous JJExpress from Yangon to Bagan. I can’t even put it in words how beautiful and stunning Bagan is. All these extremely beautiful pagodas with so much nature around, exploring every corner on your own with a quiet e-scooter felt absolutely unreal. It’s like living in another time there. Also there are some really good restaurants in the city, our favorite one was Indian Hut.
We visited so many pagodas, bigger ones with some tourists and smaller ones where we found ourselves completely alone. Since Bagan became UNESCO World Heritage Site 2019 it’s not allowed to climb on the pagodas anymore. Most of them have locked stairways or forbidden signs in front of them. We found two pagodas, where it’s still possible to climb if you are carefully. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, during kingdom’s height, they built 4.446 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries in this area. 3822 pagodas still remain and can be explored without a guide, you can still enter some of them.
Things to do – our favorite Pagodas
- Secret Pagoda Nr. 843 for sunset (not allowed to climb but really beautiful and remote)
- Soo Lay Gon Group (complex of smaller pagodas, you can climb on them for sunrise, be early because you will not be alone, you will see the balloons there)
- Pagoda Nr. 446 (for sunrise, it’s possible to climb from the entrance, but be careful! We heard they locked the way up with some wood)
- Utrecht Temple (beautiful bigger pagodas, it’s not allowed to climb on the big ones, but if the overseer likes you you might be able to climb on the smaller ones)
- Shwe Nan Yin Taw Monastic Complex (beautiful group of pagodas)
- Let Put Kan Pagoda (beautiful pagoda with a photogenic arc in front of the temple)
- Taung Guni Temple, Myauk Guni Temple (locals took us up for sunrise, I guess it was illegal, but we had the best view)
- Ananda Temple (famous, touristic and big, but beautiful)
- Aureum Palace Hotel (expensive place, but you can ask if you can take some pictures, pool and lake surrounded by pagodas)
- Dhammayangyi Temple (beautiful meadow in front of the temple for a picture, good for sunset)
- Shwesandaw Pagoda (light white tone, meadow in front of it)
- Ashin Arahan Monastery (old ruines, sunset spot, but crowded)
- hidden spot for sunset with small pagodas, golden temple and palm tree (21.1607234, 94.8638042)
- Balloon ride with Balloons Over Bagan (starting at 5am, to spot all the pagodas from above)
- buy a colorful umbrella from one of the street stalls for your picture
Stay at
- Bagan Heritage Hotel (amazing architecture appropriate to the pagodas, nice pool, E-Scooter rental)
- Billeken Hotel (more basic, but very new, clean rooms and good breakfast, E-Scooter available)
Where to eat
- Indian Hut (best Indian food!, we’ve been there at least 3 times)
- The Moon – be kind to animals (mix of Indian and Thai food)
How to get there?
- Yangon to Bagan, JJExpress 10 hours (Vip, AC, break half way, lunchbox, drive over night from 8pm until 6 am, tuktuk to the center don’t pay more than 4000 Kyat)
- Get around with an e-scooter (7 dollars per day)
↠ Read more about our first balloon ride
↠ Read more about our stay at Bagan Heritage Hotel
Mandalay, 4th stop Day 10-13
Mandalay totally surprised us. We thought of a city like Yangon, but Mandalay has so many incredible places and there is beautiful nature around. We stayed at the cute Hotel by the Red Canal, which welcomed us friendly with a lovely sign showing our names. After arriving in the city, we directly drove outside the center with our scooter in the next morning. On a 1.5 hour ride on absolutely scenic roads through mountains we enjoyed the best views and were totally surprised, by this side of Mandalay. At Dee Doke Waterfall we enjoyed the cooling water in the midday heat.
For sunset we drove to Mandalay Hill, the famous view point in the center. We drove all the way up and had to take the escalator for the last meters up to the pagoda. We found some beautiful arcs with the perfect view on the city after walking through the temple and taking the stairs down on the left. The next morning we started early at 5:30am and drove 1.5 hours to Hsinbyume Pagoda. The road led us through local villages, we saw monks collecting food in the morning and kids playing on the streets. There are no opening times for this pagoda, so come as ealy as possible and you will be alone there. Directly next to Hsinbyume Pagoda you should visit Mingun Pagoda. It looks completely different with its old portals. On your way back to the city you can visit U Min Thonze Temple for a scooter ride stop.
Our absolutely favorite spot was the U-Bein bridge at sunset. The view of the wooden walkway on the shining lake in front of the sunset is outstanding. You will be surrounded by a lot of locals and monks enjoying the light. We got to know a very friendly 25-year old monk and talked for an hour. Also we highly recommend to visit Kuthodaw Pagoda for sunrise. We arrived at 5:30am and had the place completely for us. also we found some puppies.
Things to do
- Dee Doke Waterfall, 1,5 hour- scooter drive, 15 min hike, at first freeway but then scenic roads through mountains, best views, totally worth the ride, little wooden hut at waterfall, the water was dark not blue like on the pictures
- Mandalay Hill, for sunset!, you can drive all the way up with the scooter (300 Kyat for parking), escalator or elevator to the top, best place for sunset: walk through the temple, on the left you can walk down some stairs to some beautiful arcs with the best view
- Hsinbyume Pagoda, 1,5 hour scooter-ride, on the other side of the river, beautiful ride with monks in the morning, we started at 5.30, come early and you will be alone at the pagoda, there are no opening times like google says!
- Mingun Pagoda, next to Hsinbyume Pagoda, 4 different old portals with big cracks, beautiful from the outside
- U Min Thonze Temple, between Hsinbyume Pagoda and Mandalay center, good for a stop, beautiful wall with golden details
- Mandalay Palace, demarcated palace with 4 bridges surrounded by a river, from bridge 15-minutes walk, like a barrack with sports field, a brass band…several pagodas. nice, but not a highlight
- Shwenandar Monastery, in the center, you can see locals carving wood
- U-Bein Bridge, our absolutely favorite place for sunset!!, there are a lot of monks and locals, 30min-ride with scooter, we met a 25-year old monk who was very interested in taking pictures and share his story to us – he don’t eat fish, meat or alcohol
- Kuthodaw Pagoda, for sunrise! contains the world’s largest book, we arrived at 5.30 and were alone there, we found some cute puppies, beautiful calm photo spot in the morning
Eat at
- Mingalabar Restaurant (you will get a lot of little pots with different traditional food, we payed 10 Dollar for tons of food)
- Nova coffee (air conditioned place in the center with good coffee)
Stay at
- Hotel by The Red Canal (beautiful wooden doors and windows, pool, amazing breakfast and spice garden, cute welcome sign, organized bus transfers for us, Scooters in front of the hotel)
How to get there?
- From Bagan to Mandalay, 4 hours bus ride (booked in our hotel in Bagan, 9.000 Kyat per person, only locals in the bus, monks sitting on the floor, 8:30 pm until 0:30 am, you can also book a taxi for 40 Dollars online but they are often fully booked)
- scooter in front of the hotel of TTBike Rental, 38.000 Kyat for 2 days
Inle Lake, 5th stop Day 13-15
We were so happy that we decided to put Inle Lake on our itinerary. It’s absolutely beautiful. And the fact that you explore everything on the boat makes it to a really special experience. We decided to stay in a good hotel, because of the perfect location directly at the beach and the beautiful architecture. When we arrived at the bus station, a driver drove us to the river. From there we couldn’t believe our eyes, when we rode in a wooden longtail boat over the lake to the hotel between water lilies while the sun set down in front of us.
The next morning we booked a daily boat trip on a long tail boat and we were lucky to get a really good guide who customized our stops. At first we watched some traditional fishermen swinging their fishernet on their wooden boats. Then we visited a local market, which is located in different areas every day. It felt incredible to be the only tourists at the market and to see the families bargain for vegetables, fish and corn. We explored a village of lotus weavers, factories for gold and silver and were able to look at the work of a really interesting boat factory.
Also we met the long-necked women, but unfortunately there were only two women for the tourists. If you want to see the authentic long necked women you have to visit the far off Kayah State. We saw massiv floating gardens next to our boat and walked through the arcades to the beautiful small golden pagodas. For sunset our guide showed us the beautiful Maing Thouk Village with the wooden bridge.
Things to do
- sunset boat ride to the hotel
- Day tour on a wooden longtail-boat you will see:
- the traditional fishermen with their iconic fishernet for sunrise
- local markets (every time the markets are somewhere else, but your guide will know where to go)
- lotus weavers, silk and cotton factories, village called “Inphaw Khone”
- factories for gold, silver, cigar and a boat factory, village called “Nam Pan”
- long necked women, village called “Ywa Ma” (unfortuantely only a touristic thing)
- floating gardens, called “Kay La”
- Shwe Inn Dein Pagoda (your boat will stop at a jetty, walk through the arcade to the pagoda per food, a lot of cute little golden pagodas)
- Maing Thouk Village (beautiful wooden bridge on the water, perfect for sunset, only locals)
- Biking tour around the hotel
Stay at
- Sanctum Inle Resort (a little pricy, a beautiful hotel with traditional elements in white and wooden colors, reachable by car and boat along the Inle Lake, available bikes and day tours with the boat, located directly at the lake, really good food)
How to get there?
- From Mandalay to Inle Lake: JJExpress 6 hours (booked in our hotel in Mandalay, started at 9am, break half way, after 6 hours you have to change to another bus for another hour)
Ngapali, 6th stop Day 15-17
After our time on Inle Lake we wanted to see another side of Myanmar, the beach with the tropical palm trees. From Heho airport (Inle Lake), we took a 40 minute flight with a small propeller plane to Thandwe airport, Ngapali. when we visited Myanmar there was no bus connection between Ngapali and Inle Lake or Yangon, but the national flights are save and comfortable and have a stable price.
In Ngapali we had really nice 3 days at Bayview the Beach Resort, directly located at the beach. We spent a lot of time at the beach, swimming in the waves or climbing on perfectly formed palm trees. Ngapali was the perfect place to process all the adventures of the last days and we were happy that we went there.
Things to do
- unfortunately the famous perfectly formed palm tree was broken, but there was another palm tree perfect to climb at 30 meters in the South of the hotel Arts of Sand
- swimming in the ocean and jumping in the waves
- surfing
- biking along the coastline and trying new restaurants
- enjoying your beach resort and the sun
Eat at
- PVI, it’s located on a little island and you will get there by a raft over the ocean (when there are high waves it’s an adventure 😉 )
- Mingalaba, a cute little family-run restaurant at the side of the street
Stay at
- Bayview The Beach Resort (the manager Phillip is from Germany, new rooms, nice pool, directly at the beach, beach bar, surfboard rental, good food, bike rental)
- Arts of Sand (the perfect view from the pool on the ocean)
How to get there?
- shuttle from Inle Lake to the airport Heho around 40 minutes
- From Inle Lake (airport Heho) to Ngapali (airport Thandwe): 40-minute flight with a propeller plane, free seating, check the flights with Mann Yadanarpon, Myanmar Airways International or Myanmar Airways, ticket prices stable including luggage around 100 dollar
- the flights from Ngapali back to Yangon are even cheaper around 60 dollars with the airlines mentioned above (flight duration also 40 minutes)
Yangon, 7th stop Day 17-18
We took a short 40-minute flight from Ngapali back to Yangon. We visit some of the places we hadn’t enough time for when we arrived in Yangon at the beginning of our journey. We went to our favorite restaurant Nourish Café again, had a yoga lesson and enjoyed our time at the amazing Sules Shangri-la Hotel with a nice pool on one of the rooftops.
Things to do
- Shwedagon Pagoda (most famous golden pagoda, Light Festival)
- Maha-Wizaya Pagoda next to Shwedagon Pagoda (walk along Theingottara Park)
- Sule Pagoda (in the middle of a roundabout)
- Colonial Buildings (Strand Road, around the hotel The Strand..)
- street markets (around 30th street)
- Chinatown
Eat at
- Nourish Cafe (incredible yoga and food, friendliest owners)
- Rangoon Tea House (really good Indian food)
Stay at
- Sules Shangri-la Yangon (nice pool at one of the roof tops, amazing food)
- Hotel G (very modern and clean, small but nice rooms)
How to get there?
- the flights from Ngapali back to Yangon are even cheaper around 60 dollars with the airlines mentioned above (flight duration 40 minutes)
Do you have more time left for Myanmar?
- From Inle Lake take a 2 or 3 day trip with the boat or car to Kayah State and visit the authentic long necked women in their villages. We will definitely do this when we revisit the country
- Kalaw (trekking)
- Mrauk U (like Bagan, but smaller and more remote)
- Hsipaw (train ride)
- KyaingTong (trekking, native villages, various hilltribes)
What about a visa? How to get to Myanmar?
Arriving at the airport you will need your printed E-visa! Apply for your visa online at least 2 weeks before you want to go to Myanmar. Better as early as possible, although you normally might get the visa really fast. You will also need a return or onward flight ticket, but they didn’t check it when we entered. Most international flights will fly to Yangon and it’s a great starting point.
Also we had our little drone in our chek-in lugage and hadn’t any problems with it. But we didn’t used the drone at all in Myanmar, because it’s forbidden there. We heard there aren’t any problems with drones in the luggage for international flights or bus rides. But sometimes drones get confiscated at national flights, therefore we left it at the hotel in Yangon when we travelled to Bagan, Mandalay, Inle Lake and Ngapali and picked it up when we were back in Yangon. We didn’t see any drones around the pagodas in Myanmar, only in Hpa-An.
Yangon 
Hpa-An 
Bagan 
Mandalay 
Inle Lake 
Ngapali
SIM card and money exchange?
We bought a SIM card of MPT, because we read that it has the best signal around Myanmar. There is a ATM in the airport terminal as well as a cash dispensing with people who will be happy to help you. Strangely enough there is a fee of 6.500 Kyatt for withdrawing money from your credit card.
How to get around in Myanmar? Grab and busses
In Yangon you can easily use Grab, just install the app on your smartphone. There is no taxi maffia like in Bali, because the Grab drivers are official taxi drivers. In Hpa-An we could only rent a tuktuk driver. In Bagan we explored everything with an e-scooter and in Mandalay we drove around with a normal scooter. Inle Lake can primary be explored by longtail boats or a bicycle. And in Ngapali you can rent a bycicle as well.
Between the stops, Yangon, Hpa-An, Bagan, Mandalay, Inle Lake and Ngapali, the best and cheapest option is traveling by bus. On some connections you can get comfortable VIP JJExpress buses, on other connections you have to take more basic buses. You can see a lot of bus connections at the website www.myanmarbusticket.com. But we booked most of the tickets spontaneously at the hotels, they often have more bus connections available or get a better price. You can book the tickets 1 or 2 days in advance, but if there are some public holidays like the Light Festival, they might be sold out long before.
What about the temperatures? What to wear?
Myanmar has two seasons, dry season from October to May and wet season from May/June to early October when the south-west monsoon starts to blow. May and June usually being the hottest months of the year. Although you can visit the country throughout the year. It’s not recommended to visit the coast (Ngapali) in the wet season, because of high winds and heavy rainfall. The colder months are from October to December/January. The driest regions of the country, avoiding much of the annual rain, are the plains surrounding Bagan and Mandalay. The very best months to visit Myanmar are from November to February but you will meet more tourists.
In October we experienced no rain in Myanmar. In Yangon and Mandalay we had up to 35 degrees, in Ngapali up to 32 degrees. In Bagan and Mandalay it felt hotter and drier then in Yangon. In Inle Lake it felt a lot fresher. The heat is bearable, because of the low humidity.
In and around pagodas you have to cover your knees and shoulders as in most Asian countries. We tried most of the time to stick to this rule and dressed respectfully also in the cities but sometimes it gets so hot that you have to pull of your scarf on your shoulders. You don’t need any headscarf.
Is it reasonable to travel to Myanmar? Is it save?
Take a look if there is any current travel warning for Myanmar. When we decided to travel to Myanmar there was only a warning for the North of Myanmar but it wasn’t even possible to travel to this area at that time. We felt absolutely save the whole time and nothing dangerous or strange happened. Myanmar felt even saver than Bali or Thailand.
Because Myanmar still isn’t flooded by tourism, the locals there are so friendly and lovely everywhere. They are totally interested in you and open minded. We always felt very welcomed. Of course there are very poor areas, but the values of the people felt completely equal to ours. We know that Myanmar has a difficult background and still big problems, but we wanted to experience the welcoming warm hearted people in this country irrespectively of that. In the next years, also with appointing Bagan to UNESCO World Heritage, there will be a lot more tourists. If you want to travel there, go now!
*Ad/Anzeige On our journey through Myanmar we collaborated with Sules Shangri-la in Yangon, Heritage Bagan Hotel, Hotel by the Red Canal in Mandalay, Bay View the Beach Resort in Ngapali and Balloons over Bagan. This article represents our own and honest opinion.
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