Must-see tours in Myanmar

Yangon Circular Railway is the local commuter rail network that serves the Yangon metropolitan area.For less than one US dollar you can experience the true essence of local life in Yangon as you travel for three hours through the city’s rural landscape. While the city is a fast-paced, chaotic city to get lost in, riding the Yangon Circular Train provides a window into the daily routine of the Myanmar people away from the commercial centre of the country. The railway had about 200 coaches and had 20 daily runs. The loop, which takes about 3 hours to complete, is a way to see a cross section of life in Yangon. 

It’s nearly impossible to picture Bagan without hot air balloons beautifully clouding the historic horizon. Bagan’s balloons have become an iconic symbol of the region, and have carried many travelers on soaring adventures of a lifetime. Here’s how to experience an unforgettable birds-eye view of Bagan, Myanmar.

Ballooning season in Bagan runs from the beginning of October to the middle of April. Sunrise is when most rides are offered, as the cooler morning temperatures allow balloons to float closer to the ancient stupas for a more detailed glimpse. Daybreak also tends to bring with it more dramatic layers of haze, dreamily blanketing the landscape for a perfect photo opportunity.

Balloon Ride also available in Inle Lake, Ngapali, and Mandalay

The leg-rowing Intha people, the wooden stilt houses on water and the floating gardens are what make the Inle Lake so different and enchanting. This vast picturesque lake, 900 meters above sea-level, is home to Intha people who live and work on water. The Intha people go about their business on small wooden boats, row along the channels that separate their floating gardens with one leg around a long oar and the other foot firmly gripping the flat stern of the boat. A boat trip through Inle Lake gives you an interesting peek into life in traditional Myanmar.

If you visit Inle Lake in September or October, you may have the chance to witness the grandest event taking place in the region - the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival. 

Bagan is most famous for its thousands of ancient pagodas that offer visitors spectacular sunrise and sunset views. However, in between your morning and evening spent temple hopping, you’ll need to find some way to fill your time. Rather than hiding inside your hotel room all afternoon, consider taking a cooking class with Pennywort Cooking Class.

If food or local culture interests you in the slightest, you’ll love this experience. You’ll start the morning by visiting the local New Bagan market — it’s a smaller, more local market than the popular Nyaung-U Market, so there’s a good chance you’ll be the only foreigner there. You will be guided through the market explaining the produce, preparation of dishes, and cultural significance of it all, as she selects items here and there for your cooking class.

After the shopping is finished, you’ll head over to a nearby tea shop for a break. Sip sweet black tea with condensed milk, accompanied by Chinese-influenced donuts and Indian-influenced chickpeas. May will explain to you about the interesting tea shop culture, where locals come to meet with friends, find work, or hire handymen for the day.

Finally, head back to the kitchen to cook up a feast of traditional Burmese salads, tempura, curries and stews, and sweet treats. Except one of the best meals you’ll have while in Myanmar, made with fresh ingredients, loving hands, and great company.

If you lived in Myanmar and a friend popped in to visit, this is the snack you’d serve. Lahpet, which means “green tea,” and thoke, which means “salad,” is an eclectic mix of flavors and textures that includes soft, pickled tea leaves, crisp, roasted peanuts and other crunchy beans, toasted sesame seeds, fried garlic and, if you like, dried shrimp and chopped tomato. It’s meant to be served with all the ingredients in separate piles so that guests can pick out a combination to their own preference each time they grab a handful.

While nowadays the salad is typically served as a final course at the end of a meal, historically lahpet was an ancient symbolic peace offering that was exchanged and consumed after settling a dispute between warring kingdoms. Letting each person customize his or her salad toppings, sounds like a perfectly democratic way to stop an argument! That way everyone is at least somewhat satisfied in the end.

Lahpet is so important to the culture that when tea leaves are harvested, the best of the crop is set aside for fermenting, while the rest is dried and processed for drinking tea. The freshly harvested tea leaves are briefly steamed, then packed into bamboo vats and set in pits, pressed by heavy weights to encourage fermentation. Packages of prepared laphet thoke ingredients—the tea leaves and all the other mix ins—are readily sold in Burma. Finding fermented tea leaves outside Burma and northern Thailand, however, isn’t very easy.

The other option is to try fermenting the leaves yourself. Since most likely you won’t have access to fresh tea leaves, dried green tea leaves make a perfectly acceptable substitute. In this recipe I used Arbor Teas’ Organic Makaibari Estate Darjeeling Green Tea. It has lemony, vegetal and earthy qualities that align well with the other ingredients in the salad. If you’d like to play around with flavors, Arbor Teas also offers an Organic Darjeeling 1st Flush Black Tea from the same estate. Although the leaves are oxidized during processing, they retain many of the green tea characteristics in their flavor profile, tasting very dry and citrusy.

There are many amazing spots to admire the sunset in Myanmar, especially at the two places below.

U Bein Bridge is a crossing that spans the Taungthaman Lake near Amarapura in Myanmar. The 1.2-kilometre bridge was built around 1850 and is believed to be the oldest and longest teakwood bridge in the world. It is considered as a symbol of Myanmar and one of the points to enjoy the most beautiful sunset all over the world. In the afternoon, the bridge is covered by a brilliant yellow of the sunset going through the wooden poles. Tourists can rent wooden boats to get closer to the bridge and watch the sunset on the lake.

Moreover, for Bagan, one of the most popular destinations in Myanmar, you will be thrilled with joy when sitting on the highest flight of steps of a temple and seeing the first light of rising dawn. Bagan in the dawn is like a fairyland with hundreds of mysterious and ancient shrines.

Whether you have been to Myanmar during your Indochina tours or just read the travel magazines, surely there will be at least once that you find the image of a woman whose face is covered with the white powder that looks like an art of face painting. People call it Thanaka Myanmar – a unique beauty treatment for Myanmar locals.

Thanaka is a traditional powder derived from the bark of certain trees growing in the Central regions of Myanmar. People grind the tree bark against a flat and wet circular smooth stone then put the paste on to the face, mainly the cheeks for skin care purpose. The Thanaka paste has the slightly yellowish color with the little silky texture and the pleasant smell of tree bark.  

Thanaka becomes a multi-purpose cream/ powder which has all of the positive effects. Thanaka sunscreen to protect your skin from sunlight, makeup, skincare day and night. Furthermore, its active ingredients of coumarin and marmesin account for anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti acne; that help remove dead skin (cleansing) and control excessive facial oil that balance the moisture all day.

For these reasons, from young to old, both male and female prefer use this natural cosmetic rather than any other beauty methods for daily life. As the Thanaka is not aging limitation, they use Thanaka for the kids since very little to protect their skins when they grow up. 

The U Bein Bridge, just south of Mandalay, spans the Taungthaman Lake for a whopping 1.2km. Built around 1850, it is believed to be the longest teak bridge in the world. 

U Bein Bridge is probably the most iconic site in all of Myanmar and it stretches from Mandalay to Amarapura.

The bridge is made of wood and is famous for being the longest teak bridge in the world and is reinforced in places so that it doesn’t collapse.

Even with this in mind, it is still rather rickety and a trip across is not for the faint of heart.

If you don’t fancy walking across, then you can also rent a fishing boat here and drive underneath the bridge to see it from a completely different angle.

As you cross the rickety wooden panels, you can spot the bobbing heads of local fisherman in between the paddle boats below, filled with tourists. Get here for sunset – the views and colours cast across the lake are spellbinding. Just be sure to arrive early, it's popular with locals and visitors alike.

Discover the famous Bagan temples on a horse carriage ride and stop at the most important ones. Learn about the manufacturing of lacquerware, be impressed by the ancient paintings of the Pagodas and finally admire the exquisite sunset view from one of the renowned pagodas.

Explore the gorgeous temples of Bagan in the same way the royals do: by horse-drawn cart! Ride in style through a tour of some of Bagan's most noteworthy cultural stops, giving you a truly authentic experience. You'll marvel at the massive Buddha images that stand proudly within it. At the end of your magical carriage ride, you'll view a spectacular sunset at the rustic watch tower. It's a true panoramic view of Bagan that you will take home with you.

A cheroot factory located on Inle Lake in the Shan Hills where this traditional Burmese-style cigar is manufactured. Cheap to produce, cheroots are found all over Myanmar and were even popular with the British during the days of the British Empire

Women and teenage girls sat cross-legged on the floor of a rickety building, hand-rolling cigars and cheroots.

While anti-smoking campaigns are growing in much of Southeast Asia, local cigars (sometimes, huge ones) remain popular in Burma, particularly among older people in rural areas

Cycle tours these two significant Burmese cities on a three-day adventure from Mandalay to Bagan. On a map, the start and finish points of this ride don't appear far apart, but geography alone cannot explain the significance of Mandalay and Bagan. From the 9th to 13th centuries, Bagan was the center of the Kingdom Of Pagan, the first kingdom to unify regions that would later form modern Myanmar. Mandalay was the last royal seat of power in the country before the British took control and is now a bustling, commercial city.

The territory between the two locations is the subject of this tour, and for good reason. We ride some really lovely landscapes as we pass through the Ancient Court Of Ava, along the Irrawaddy River and stay a night in enchanting Mount Popa. Quiet back-roads, palm trees and friendly villagers working the fields are the images that await you on this compact, achievable and highly enjoyable tour.

From the natural beauty of Inle Lake and the intrigue of the communities that inhabit it, to the scenic views of the Shan Hills, to the ancient ruins of Bagan and a different perspective from the waters of the Irrawaddy, this is a trip that takes in a diverse range of landscapes and includes some amazing riding. This is the ultimate way to immerse yourself in the culture, traditions, and cuisine of Myanmar and a unique opportunity to learn from natives why they remain hopeful for a peaceful and prosperous future. 

With 208 Km riding, you can expect to be on a range of paved roads and unpaved, hard-packed roads with a good rolling surface. The key element to the route is that it is low on traffic which is important in a developing country. We ride through villages, away from the noise and the fumes. Of course, with the weather, what it is and the country in a state of rapid development, the condition of any road can change quickly, but we have detailed knowledge and can always re-route for an optimal ride experience.

Southeast Asia is a very popular area in the scuba diving world, but when it comes to Myanmar it’s easy to say that the country has been rather discreet in the diving industry. Indeed, the country’s waters have only been accessible and dived for a few decades. In fact,  the country that was once known as Burma has only started being on the international tourism map from 1997.

Therefore, Myanmar has plenty of scuba diving sites to discover and is definitely of the most untouched diving destinations in the world. If you have heard of diving in Myanmar, you’ve probably heard of the Mergui Archipelago and the Burma Banks. Undeniably, these are the most famous dive sites of Myanmar, but the country has much more to offer. This page proposes a detailed overview of diving in Myanmar so you can discover all the water fun behind this beautiful and culturally rich country.

Diving the Mergui Archipelago guarantees a colorful and vibrant experience. Indeed, most of this island chain has yet to be discovered, which means you will find both a variety and a certain density of marine life in the area. The limestone and granite rocks islands flow down the west coast of the Malay peninsula and offer a rugged underwater landscape.

Snorkeling in Myanmar is still a relatively new phenomenon with the country only becoming a holiday destination in recent years. This is great news for anyone who wants to go snorkeling in Myanmar, as the low volume of traffic means the reefs are still in pristine condition with plenty of life even in shallow waters. The islets in areas such as Mergui Archipelago, where some of the best reefs can be found are simply beautiful. Sweeping white sand beaches lined with tropical rainforest are the perfect setting for anyone who comes to Myanmar snorkeling.

Some of the best snorkel sites in Myanmar are located in the south archipelago of Mergui and the nearby Burma Banks. These islands were opened to tourists in the 1990's after the civil war was over. The archipelago is still very remote and off the beaten track, the perfect place if you don't want to share the water with too many other snorkelers. If you are lucky you might even, see some of the local Moken people at some snorkel spots. These fascinating people live most of the year on the sea, earning themselves the nickname of 'sea gypsies'.

Myanmar is yet to become as popular a beach destination as Bali in Southeast Asia, and it owes this stardom to its stunning beaches! There are some unbelievably beautiful Myanmar beaches, many of which stay hidden even today. These beaches in Myanmar are known for their gorgeous pearl sands, crystal clear waters, and budget accommodation options. Strolling around these golden beaches, listening to the soothing sounds of waves is what makes the experience special. If you want a rejuvenating experience then these beaches will definitely come to your refuge. And they will take you away from all the hustle and bustle of the city life. Here are our top picks of famous beaches in Myanmar that surely deserves to be visited at least once.Some famous destination: Ngapali; Mergui Archipelago; Ngwe Saung; Chaung Tha Beach; Kanthaya Beach

Irrawaddy River, the longest river in Myanmar, winds its way as a silk ribbon stretching along the north-south direction of this country. Scenery on two river banks and fishermen’s lives still retain the great beauty and go deep into the human heart. If you have an opportunity to experience the Myanmar Tour, you definitely should spend a day sailing the boat on Irrawaddy River.

As you cruise the river, golden temple spires, tiny villages, emerald rice paddies, bustling markets all come into view. The real life of Burmese people is unfolded just before your eyes. A typical Irrawaddy River runs between Bagan and Mandalay with accommodation overnight on the boat and sightseeing in Bagan and Mandalay. So it’s not only a chance to catch a glimpse into real life along the river but also a nice way to get around the two places. There are also many chances to take a short ferry ride across Irrawaddy River and discover life along it.