tripplanner001

Considering a trip to Burma in February or March. Right now, I'm thinking:

2 nights in Rangoon
4 nights in Bagan (excursion to Mt. Popa on one of the days)
4 nights in Mandalay
3 nights at Inle Lake
2 nights in Rangoon (excusion to Golden Rock on the second day)

This would be my first trip to the country. Am I allocating enough nights for each place? Too much? Other thoughts?

Thanks.

Craig

What do you want to get out of this trip?

Too much time in Rangoon.

Can't comment on Mandalay as we have not been there.

With the amount of time you have, spend another night at Inle.

Don't bother doing Mt. Popa and spend one less night in Bagan.

Others will chime in on where else to spend your time. Where are you coming from?

Kathie

I'd save all of your Yangon time for the end of the trip unless you are flying into Yangon in the afternoon, in which case I'd spend the night there then fly to Bagan. If you fly into Yangon in the morning, fly to your first destination right away.

For us, three full days (4 nights) in Bagan was the right amount of time for us for our first trip. We love temples and even returned to bagan on our second trip. We did not go to Mt. Popa.

IMO, 4 nights in Mandalay is a long time. The ancient cities outside of Mandalay, particularly Sagaing, are interesting, but there isn't much in Mandalay. We were glad to have the chance to see the Mahamuni Buddha, and we enjoyed a visit to a gold-leaf workshop. But two full days in Mandalay is plenty. The "Palace" is a total reconstruction which apparently has little to do with reality.

Like Craig, I'd recommend adding a day to Inle.

At the end two or three nights is enough for Yangon, depending on your interests.

Hanuman

For Bagan I really enjoyed the balloon ride there.

http://www.easternsafaris.com/balloo...agan_home.html

tripplanner001

Thanks to everyone for your input and recommendations so far. And let me say thank you for the wealth of information you provide in your trip reports. It really helped me think about some of the places I'm reading about in guidebooks. Plus it's just fun to read!

Craig, I enjoy temples, history, culture, hiking, and cities. I spent 4 nights in Kyoto last year, and felt I barely scratched the surface (did I mention that I love Buddhist temples!). I would be flying from either NYC or DC into Singapore, where I plan on spending a few nights before going on to Rangoon. I originally thought a couple of nights there would help me acclaimate to Burma but it's just a thought.

Kathie, I believe the flights from S'pore arrive in Rangoon in the morning. And actually your trip report from 2009 convinced me to dedicate 4 nights to Bagan! Based on your advice, though, I think I'll take off one night from Mandalay, leaving 3 nights (2 days, I plan on taking the ferry from Bagan to Mandalay, which won't put me into town until the evening).

Hanuman, thanks for the link.

So now I'm thinking:

4 nights in Bagan
3 nights in Mandalay
4 nights at Inle Lake
2 nights in Rangoon

Are there any other must-sees? I thought about Mrauk U, but will put it off for a future trip due to the situation in the area.

Thanks again.

Kathie

If you love Buddhist temples, there are fascinating temples and stupas at Inle. Make suer you spend one day going to the southern part of the lake - Sankar - and do visit InDien in the main part of the lake. Also, the side trip to Kakku is well worth it, IMO.

In Bagan, you may want to utilize our friend, MinThu who is a horsecart driver/guide. You would need to arrange for him in advance [email protected]

Mrauk U is fascinating, but as you point out, it is off limits now.

tripplanner001

Thanks again Kathie. I've jotted down MinThu's email and will contact him as soon as my dates are finalized. Noted your suggestions for Inle as well. Is there a guide that you would recommend for Inle also?

Kathie

No need for a guide at Inle. You will have a boatman. When you go in Pa-O territory (Sankar and Kakku) you will get a mandatory Pa-O guide.

I have a post on my long-neglected travel blog abut Inle:
http://www.travelindependently.com/r...-for-inle-lake

tripplanner001

Thanks for the link, Kathie. Just read your post on Inle and will try to get to the rest of your posts about Burma this week.

tripplanner001

Hi again. Thanks to some suggestions on this site, I contacted Santa Maria Tours to begin putting together a possible trip to Burma. I emailed SM using its form on its website this past Friday, and received a response last night. SM recommended the Thiripyitsaya for Bagan and the Aureum Inle Resort for Inle Lake.

Kathie, I noticed from your trip report that you stayed at the Thiripyitsaya. What did you think of the hotel, and how did it compare to Tharabar Gate? I believe the Tharabar is available for my dates as well.

Also, is there anyone here who's stayed at Aureum Inle and can provide some feedback of what the place is like?

Thanks again for your help.

Kathie

We did stay at the Thiripyitsaya in 2011. We had a riverfront suite which was really fabulous. It is huge and has a covered patio facing the river. We loved it. The regular rooms are apparently tiny, and since they accommodate lots of tour groups, that impacts on you in the regular rooms. The food was pretty awful - even breakfasts, but there really isn't another option. The location is not as good as Tharbar Gate, but still good in terms of being in the midst of the temples. If you can get the Tharbar Gate, I'd go with that... better location and the breakfasts were good and I was able to find edible food on their a la carte menu.

The Aureum Hotels are all owned by Tay Za, so I try to avoid them, but this year you kind of have to take what you can get. The Aureum hotels are very nice, but at least the one in Bagan has serious wiring problems. Another newer hotel at Inle is the Villa Inle Resort and Spa.

tripplanner001

Thanks Kathie. I appreciate your advice.

LuciaP

Kathie, thanks for all your help about Burma. Your comments have inspired me and my husband and I have decided to go in November.
We have 7 days and this is our itinerary with the hotels that were listed as options:
1. Yangon: Hotel options (Clover, Central Hotel, East Hotel)
2. Bagan (Amazing Bagan, Kumudara)
3. Bagan
4. Inle Lake (Inle Lake Resort, Princess - Princess seems difficult to get to)
5. Inle Lake
6. Inle Lake
7. Yangon

Would you change anything ? I debated between 2 nights in Bangan / 3 Inle Lake or 2 Inle Lake / 3 Bagan.

Santa Maria has helped us a lot. I have asked for a car, driver and hotel only. I initially included Park Royal for Yangon and the price was so much higher (by about 300 per person and we are two, so 600 seemed a lot!) I thought it was way too much, but I don't really know what's reasonable.

Does anyone know an easy way to get to Burma from USA (NY) ?
I found a flight with Korean Air (NY/ Seul / Burma) that's a bit pricy (1850).
I am wondering if we can connect through Bankgok (there are more flights) or Cambodia. Any suggestions are very much appreciated.


Thank you all !

Kathie

Lucia, if it were me, I'd fly to Bagan the first day, then spend three nights there, fly to Inle spend three nights and fly back to Yangon for one night.

The greatest number of fights to Yangon are through Bangkok. You have a choice of Thai Air, Bangkok Air and Air Asia.

I'm a bit confused about the hotel pricing... most hotels are quoted either single or double, but not per person. No question, hotels prices have gone up a lot. But unless they were quoting you for two single rooms rather than a double, that sounds like the price is wrong.

Are you not having Santa Maria book your flights? I would do that.

And where are you requesting a car and driver?

LuciaP

ok, thanks Kathie. As of now, our international fly gets in late so I thought spending the first night in Yangon was easier but I will keep you comment in mind if we choose a different international flight.

SM has been quoting me price per person (we are two -husband and me) for the whole trip and that includes hotels, flights and driver with car. Your comments about how hotels may charge more if we deal with them directly made me think about just using SM but the quotes I am getting are per person. Did you get the same ?

Kathie

No, SM quoted all of our hotel prices pre night, dokluble, including breakfast. Ask SM about your price quotes. Tell them others have been quoted perices per room per night, not per person. The air tickets, of course, are per person.

I'd spend the night before flying to Yangon in Bangkok and take the early flight to Yangon, meet the agent in the airport and pay for your tickets and voucher, change some money, then head to the domestic terminal.

LuciaP

ok, thank you so much Kathie !

tripplanner001

Lucia, I'm in contact with SM as well and they also quoted me per person rates. I'm going to ask about a per room per night quote as well, as the price seems a bit higher per person. The hotel rooms seem to be going fast though. For example, in Bagan, the Tharabar Gate was available for my dates yesterday, and it's gone today. And our first hotel options for Inle are sold out as well.

Kathie, when you worked with SM, did they give you the flight information when you booked or did that come later?

LuciaP

what are your first hotel options in Inle ?

What I learned is that you have to agree to a price first and then they book hotels. I think there is not way for them to guarantee a place until is it booked and we run the risk of not getting our first choices.

But I think the quotes I am getting are high per person. I have asked Zaw about getting different quote.

Lucia

Kathie

The flight info will come later. The airlines change flight times all the time. When I got my "final" itinerary a couple of weeks before my trip I thought those would be the times, but they had changed by the time I got Yangon.

Your experiences will, no doubt, be different from mine as things have gotten so crazy this year with everyone wanting to go to Burma. It's true that you have to grab the rooms when you can find them. They may also be able to wait-list you - I don't know if hotels will take wait lists this year or not.