Jim0884

Myanmar travelers....any advice? I have a mere 5 days/nights for a trip to Myanmar early January. Love temples, so of course have to see Bagan. Would you suggest:

1 day in Yangon or longer?
2 days Bagan?
Go to Inle lake for 1 day or is that crazy...wondering how to use that last 1.5 days.

thanks in advance for any guidance

Craig

I've researched this for our February trip - Yangon and Bagan is all you will have time for. It takes an entire day just to get to Inle Lake and another day to return to Yangon from there.

Jim0884

thanks Craig...i'm hoping to be able to add another day on to this. Although one tour company suggested that we go to Mt Popa as a Bagan extension.

Are you using a tour company? I'm tempted to, but on the other hand, it's nice to be "guide free" sometimes, and be allowed to explore.

laurieco

Actually, you can get to Inle Lake pretty early in the day. I flew there from Bagan. We were on a morning flight and got to Helo fairly early in the morning and were checked into our hotel (Lake View) by 11am. That gave us a full day to go exploring on the lake. We had an afternoon flight to Yangon the following day and were able to spend about another 4 to 5 hours on the lake going to different villages. So, we only spent one night there but saw a lot and never felt rushed. Of course, I would have liked 3 nights there but it wasn't possible. Check Air Mandalay. Unless their flights have really changed, (and they may have as Craig has looked into this), you should be able to fly from Bagan and get to Inle Lake fairly early.

laurieco

Air Mandalay has a flight leaving Bagan at 9:15am and arrives Heho at 9:55am. The drive to the Lake View Hotel is about an hour. This flight does not fly every day so you may have to play with your dates. Price if pruchased overseas, which you can do on their website, $58 US; In Myanmar $118

http://www.air-mandalay.com/

Craig

Jim, We are using a tour company - they seem to know the ins and outs - just less hassles - with your short trip, it would probably be a good idea - just be sure to spell out your likes and dislikes. We are using Santa Maria Travels but there are many others. We are actually doing Yangon, Bagan and Inle Lake over 10 days so you can see where I'm coming from. Our itinerary gives us almost 2-1/2 days in Yangon, almost 3 days in Bagan (with the Mt. Popa trip) and 3 full days at Lake Inle which includes getting there via Pindaya Caves and a day trip to Taunggyi and Kakku.

As Laurie says, you can get to Inle lake by late morning (if you don't stop at Pindaya) and I'm sure that the late afternoon flight to Yangon is still available the next day - seems very rushed to me. From everything I've heard, nobody ever spends enough time at Inle Lake - I can't imagine just doing an overnight there.

If you do any shopping, you need more time in Bagan. If not, 1 day is fine. The same with Bagan - how many temples do you really want to see? It really depends on what you want to do. We want to take a slow pace, meeting the Myanmar people, taking photos and shopping so it may be different than your plan. As with anywhere in SE Asia, things don't always go as planned and you should allow time for that.

However, based on my research, if everything was to go according to plan, you could do this itinerary:

Day 1 arrive early am in Yangon and tour for the rest of the day.

Day 2 fly to Bagan and tour for the rest of the day

Day 3 Bagan - touring (Mt Popa if all templed out)

Day 4 fly to Heho (Inle Lake) - afternoon tour

Day 5 Inle Lake morning tour - late afternoon to Yangon

Day 6 fly to ?

Jim0884

thanks laurieco and Craig...this helps a lot. Wish i had 10 days but alas