If you have read the descriptions of the other Myanmar tours, but felt you wanted more “outdoor time” with a chance to get out and explore on foot – this is the trip for you. Whilst you will still get to see and experience the major sites of Myanmar, you will also get out to trek for three days, spending the nights at a monastery before heading down into the Inle lake area. If you want even more freedom, just tell us you’d like to bike in your free time, such as the second morning in Bagan, or ask your guide to suggest a local hike in the evenings.
Day 1 Yangon: Arrival and City Tour all day
Arrive in Yangon where you will be welcomed by your local tour guide and transferred to your hotel to drop off your luggage. After lunch enjoy a tour of the city center featuring the National Museum; Chaukhtatgyi, a colossal reclining Buddha; Karaweik Hall, a Royal Barge on the Royal Lake and Bogyoke (Scott) market with hundreds of stalls selling local souvenirs.
End the day at the world famous Shwedagon Pagoda, one the most venerable places of worship in Myanmar. Enjoy all the gold and gems and watch as the giant golden dome lights up as the sun sets. Join the locals who come every night to make offerings before heading back to your hotel.
Meals included: Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Kandawgyi Palace Hotel – Superior Room
Day 2 Yangon: China Town City Tour
Enjoy a walk through China Town and on to the National Museum. Here you will discover different displays showing the culture, the language, the religion, the people, the history and the glory of Myanmar. Then visit the Sule Pagoda, located right in the city centre, a refuge from the hurly-burly of life. Savor the twinkling sound emitted from the pagoda’s summit. After lunch visit Thirimingalar fruit and vegetable market to see a true example of the Burmese way of life.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Kandawgyi Palace Hotel – Superior Room
Day 3 Yangon – Heho – Pindaya
Catch an early flight to Heho. Drive to Pindaya, approximately 2 hours, where you will visit the fascinating Pindaya caves famous for the thousands of centuries-old Buddha images of various sizes, some carved into the face of the rock and some deposited in niches in the walls. Next visit a home based paper and umbrella making industry where you will be able to watch all of the steps from the gathering of local plants to the finished product – beautiful, decorative paper umbrellas.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Pindaya Inle Inn – Superior Room
Day 4 Pindaya: Trekking to Monastery
Start the day with a visit to Pindaya market for your basic supplies, before setting out for a three hour walk to Yasakyi village, home of the Palaung hill tribe. Your walk will start with a gradual but steady climb for around an hour to reach the ridge before an easy descent to the village where you will stay overnight at the monastery.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Yasakyi Village Monastery
Day 5 Trekking all day
Continue walking through fields and villages by an easy trail to bypass Mt. Yasakyi (2,200m); gradually descend using local paths to the villages of Mene Taung Pinsein Pin and Htin-shugon.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Yasakyi Village Monastery
Day 6 Trekking – Pindaya – Inle Lake
Today’s walk is an easy descent through bamboo forests and cultivated small holdings to the villages of Pansit, Inya Kan, and Zawgyi Myit Phya. Return to Pindaya by early afternoon and drive to Ngaungshwe where you will be taken to your floating hotel by boat.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Paradise Inle Resort – Standard Room
Day 7 Day on Inle Lake
Today you will have a full day on and around the lake. You will see the unique method locals use to row their boats, fishermen with their own style of fishing, floating farms and gardens and a handloom weaving cottage with its own showroom. You will visit Phaungdawoo Pagoda which houses the five most revered Buddha Images in the southern Shan States and Jumping Cat Monastery, called that after its trained jumping cats. Also make a stop at a family run business making cheroot by hand.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Paradise Inle Resort – Standard Room
Day 8 Inle Lake: Indein
Your guide will meet you in the morning and you will take a boat to Indein, a small village on the western bank of Inle Lake. To get there you pass through a channel, one of the prettiest boat rides on the lake. You can visit some of the village houses to see their day to day lives. It takes about 30 minutes to walk up the hill of Indein Pagoda complex, as you pass through the bamboo forest where you will see the ruined temples under renovation. Return the way you came, by boat, and once again enjoy the picturesque ride.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Paradise Inle Resort – Standard Room
Day 9 Inle Lake – Mandalay
Fly to Mandalay where you will take a sightseeing tour which includes Mahanumi, a life like Buddha image; visiting a gold leaf making center, to see the gold leaf still being made by hand; marble sculpture and tapestry workshops and Zaycho Market.
In the afternoon visit the Old Palace grounds; Kuthodaw Pagoda, known as the world’s largest book for its 729 marble slabs inscribed with the Buddha’s Doctrine; Golden Palace Monastery, noted for its exquisite wood carvings; Atumashi Monastery; and Kyauktawgyi Pagoda, where a huge image is carved out of a single block of marble. At sunset enjoy the panoramic view of the city from Mandalay Hill.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Mandalay City Hotel – Superior Room
Day 10 Amarapura – Mingun – Mandalay
Drive to Amarapura where you will visit Mahagandayon Monastery and watch as a thousand monks take their last meal of the day at 10am in total silence. Walk across U Bein, a 200 year old curved wooden bridge with beautiful views out over the lake and then visit a local silk weaving shop where you will learn how the Burmese silk weaving industry makes its fine cloth. Here is also where you can find some toddy juice made by local stall owners.
After lunch take an hour boat ride to Mingun, a village on the west bank of the river (11km). Tour highlights include the huge, but unfinished, Pahtodawgyi Pagoda; Mingun bell which, weighing 90 tons, is probably the largest ringing bell in the world, and Myatheintan Pagoda with seven concentric terraces at its base.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Mandalay City Hotel – Superior Room
Day 11 Mandalay – Bagan by River
In the morning transfer to the Mandalay jetty where you will board your boat for an epic journey on the legendary Ayeyarwaddy River (Irrawardy River). Relax as villages and fields slip peacefully by until you arrive at Bagan in the late afternoon and transfer to your hotel.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Thazin Garden Hotel – Superior Room
Day 12 Bagan: City Tour
You will spend the day exploring Bagan Archaeological Zone Wold Heritage Area. Visit Nyaung Oo Market; Shwezigon Pagoda, the prototype of Myanmar Stupas; Kynsittha Umin; Wet-Kyi-Inn Gubyaukgyi Temple with its exquisite mural painting from the 13th century abd Htilominlo Temple.
After lunch visit a fascinating lacquer-ware workshop before continuing to Manuha Temple built by the exiled King Manuha, then to Nanphaya, said to have been the residence of King Manuha; Ananda Temple, an architectural masterpiece and Oak-Kyaung monastery decorated with multi colored mural paintings. Enjoy the breathtaking view at sunset from a temple overlooking the surrounding area dotted with ancient temples and pagodas.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Thazin Garden Hotel – Superior Room
Day 13 Bagan – Yangon
In the morning you can take a break or you can continue to explore the archaeological sites with your guide. You can visit some of the gigantic monuments such as Dhamanyangyi temple – the most massive temple, and Thatbyinnyu temple – the highest temple in Bagan. Transfer to the airport for an evening flight to Yangon.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight at Kandawgyi Palace Hotel – Superior Room
Day 14 Yangon: Departure
Your driver will meet you at your hotel for your private transfer to the airport, where you will arrive in time for your onward flight.
Meals included: Breakfast
Tour Rate starts at: $2,960 per person based on 2 people traveling
Single Supplement: $2,000
Price includes:
- Air tickets Yangon – Heho – Mandalay / Bagan – Yangon
- Boat tickets as specified above
- Accommodation as specified above
- Air-conditioned car/van with driver
- Licensed English speaking guides
- Tours and admission fees as mentioned above
- Meals as specified in itinerary, including water
Price excludes:
- Personal expenses
- Visa fees
- Airport tax
- Drinks (except water) and meals not mentioned in itinerary
- Tips
