4 Must See Cities In Myanmar

My trip to Myanmar in January 2019 only lasted 2 weeks but I could’ve easily spent a month there! When I initially booked the trip I wasn’t sure what to expect, but was blown away by the culture and beauty of the country. This is a super budget friendly country as it was one of the cheapest I had traveled to so far in Southeast Asia. Currency exchange currently is 14,000 Kyat to 1 USD. Known for it’s stunning accent temples, Myanmar is still one of the lucky countries to not be overrun by tourism. Bear in mind when exploring the temples, to respect the culture and wear the appropriate clothing. Make sure to cover your knees and shoulders anytime entering a pagoda or temple as well as take off your shoes. If you don’t have anything of the sort there are toooons of vendors and shops to buy sarongs from in each city. Most of the more popular temples will have people selling sarongs right outside of the entrances. Now let’s dive into the 4 cities that I visited on my trip to Myanmar!

Yangon

The capital and largest city in Myanmar, Yangon is the perfect place to explore incredible Pagodas and rich culture. Make sure to visit Shwedagon Pagoda, shown in the photo to the left. Unfortunately during my visit, the temple was covered in scaffolding while it was being repaired but it was still absolutely stunning! We easily spent over an hour exploring the pagoda grounds .

Be sure to wear something that covers your legs and shoulders, they are very strict about this!

If you’ve had your fix of Pagodas and are looking for something different, be sure to check out Bogyoke Aung San Market for shopping or any of the incredible Burmese restaurants in the area!

This city is also home to a major international airport (Yangon International, YIA) so this may be the perfect place to arrive and start your journey through Myanmar.

Bagan

By far my favorite city in Myanmar. So much so that I had to write an entire separate blog about it, Bagan was absolutely stunning. The town is pretty small but plenty of options for accommodation and restaurants.

You’ll want to rent an e-bike that cost anywhere from $6-$15 a day, the more expensive bike being the new and faster bikes. Make sure to rent of local shops or owners and not hotels, as hotels tend to inflate the prices.

Get ready to explore, there are over 2,000 of temples to in Bagan and tourism (in 2019), hadn’t taken over yet! We woke up every morning before sunrise to find the perfect temple to watch the hot air balloons rise into the sky and fly over us. It was a breathtaking sight.

Not only that, we caught sunset every single night after exploring all day and they were absolute FIRE, shinning over the temple covered landscapes. We stayed 5 days here and to be honest, I would’ve happily stayed way longer just to continue exploring this incredible place.

Kalaw->Inle Lake

So for these two cities i mainly wanted to talk about a trek I did from Kalaw to Inle Lake. This was a 40 mile trek over a 3 day period that was absolutely testing, but so worth the effort.

We heard about Uncle Sam’s trekking company through word of mouth from backpackers we met in Myanmar. This is not a trek made fo the faint of heart. You hike in and out of the mountains, through rice paddies and stop off for food and sleep in small remote villages. In these remote villages you take ice cold bucket showers and sleep on the hard wood panels inside of local villagers houses. To make up for this, hikes everyday had incredible countryside views and what really got me, were the small villages at night. There was zero light pollution. When the sun went down it was like you could see the entire universe. Absolutely stunning.

I’m not going to lie, the 2nd day I almost gave up haha. But fortunately had someone there that motivated me to stay and finish the trek! It was 100% worth sticking it out and getting to experience the raw culture and countryside of Myanmar.

Mandalay

I actually came to Mandalay specifically to see the pagoda in the photo to the right. Unfortunately, I didn’t spend much time exploring the actual city of Mandalay, as we were short on time to get to the next country we were scheduled to visit.

While in Mandalay we were able to visit a couple wood carving shops, gold flattening stores and enjoyed cocktails on rooftop bars like Sky Bar overlooking the incredible Irrawaddy river and sunset. Don’t forget to get there by 4:30, they offer a free happy hour drink until 6pm!

BUT, Mingun is across the river from Mandaly and is a must see. Here you will find multiple instagram worthy archeological sights such as Mingun Pahtodawgyi, aka “The Unfinished Pagoda” and the white temple to the right Hsinbyume Pagoda. Both are absolutely stunning and worth the trip, so make sure to add it to your list!

to see more photos and videos of my trip to Myanmar, check out my instagram highlights on myanmar!