TedStell

Hello All:

I ma travelling to Yangon in January. I want a smaller mid level/mid-sized hotel I was thnking of Hotel Alamanda at 60b, Shwe Taung Kyar Road (Golden Valley Road)Superior Room. something with a garden.

Is this a good choice? Any other suggestions? $65-$75 per night range.

cheers.
TedStell

TedStell

I also found the

CLASSIQUE INN at No. 53 B, Shwe Taung Kyar Street (Golden Valley Road), Bahan township, Yangon, Myanmar.

Thoughts?

Kathie

A friend of mine stayed at the Classique and felt it was a good choice for the price.

Are you working with an agent? They can give you good recommendations and can usually get you lower prices than you can get yourself.

TedStell

Oh Kathie, if I could only get Santa Maria to ans my 14 emails. Not taking it personally. Will keep trying but sooo frustrated. Trying other travel agents. Someone said I could ask CLASSIQUE INN to help with with intra-flight. Advisable?

TedStell

Some success! I got a reply from Shan Yoma travel and offered a r/t flight (YANGON to Bagan)on Yangon Airways for $250+gov't tax.

Is Shan Yoma reputable?

Does this price sound normal/reasonable?

Thanks all

TedStell

Kathie

Shan Yoma is reputable. $250 for that flight is double what it was last year. But given the situation in Burma, that might be the new price.

Keep at it. Arranging a trip to Burma is work.

TedStell

Thanks for the encouragement. I just went to YANGON AIRWAYS site. I did a "sample" flight r/t YANGON TO BAGAN in June (Jan 2014 is not available as of yet) and I got a price of $416. Ouch!! Rack rate?

I guess this SHAN YOMA price is a steal!?!?

whiskey

Ted i just returned from almost 2 weeks in burma (lovely country and even lovelier people) & we used Shan Yoma and found them good to deal with - albeit we used them only for arranging internal flights - we took care of the rest of our arrangements.

We actually stayed at the Classique Inn - it was just for one night as we then went on to Bagan, so frankly we did not spend a lot of time hanging out at the hotel. They had limited staff while we were there, as it was during Thingyan, but the one guy who was working there at the front desk was very helpful. The Classique Inn apparently does have travel services as well - as I left it late to book my flight back to Yangon at the end of my trip and I emailed them to ask if they could do so (they said they couldn't given the water festival holiday - the people there who take care of the travel services would not be around - but otherwise it seems that they can assist with those types of arrangements). Hope this is helpful

Kathie

As whisky says, the Classique or any other hotel/guesthouse can make flight arrangements for you. But given that you are going in January, you will want to have Shan Yoma do it for you in advance.

whiskey, would you please write us a report about your trip? Thanks.

mareeS55

Rangoon to Bagan $250+tax? One way for a few hundred miles?

That is serious gouging.

When we were in Burma Dec/Jan prices were escalating, but that is ridiculous.

Here in Australia we can fly return to anywhere in SouthEast Asia over thousands of air miles for less than $500, including stopovers and one-ways.

Last year we flew Perth-Jakarta-Perth-Darwin-Brisbane (close to 11,000 air kms) for less than $800AUD.

Friends who have just returned last week from Burma loved the place, as we did, but thought it was excessively pricey compared to the prices we suggested.

whiskey

Hi Kathie, yes I will put a few thoughts together and post - I am travelling again shortly but will definitely do so when I return if i don't get to it beforehand. Not sure I have much new or insightful to add, as we covered a lot of the same ground as most other first timers, but I also understand people like to hear from recent travellers. And we cannot thank you (and others on this forum) enough for your own trip reports/comments - they were so useful to us in planning our trip!

maree, I do believe that Ted said the figure quoted was for a return trip? Anyhow, FWIW (as I mentioned we did one way flights to each of our destinations & so I have no idea if that has any correlation to what a r/t flight ought to cost in Burma) the price Ted quotes seems to line up with what we paid (eg my one way flight back to Yangon from Mandalay was $125).

Kathie

Oops, Ted, I may have mis-read your post as the flight being $150 one-way. If it is roundtrip, that is the same price as last year.

TedStell

Kathie, I fear $250 r/t! It seems Burma is the new Paris of pricing. Still can't wait to see it all.

Waiting for Shun Yoma to reply. I feel the $$ is excessive but, at this point, I just want a intra-flight.

Classique Inn just confirmed my room request. I went for the fancy private terrace bamboo room on the second floor. I justified this expenditure by staying at the PEARL INN at the beginning of my trip ($25 per night). It's verrrrry basic but free airport transfer -- YAHOO!

Still disappointed at Santa Maria "snub". (no email after 9 attempts to communicate via gmail.)

Hey, it's only money! LOL

whiskey

Ted/Maree, my bad, I also read the price Ted quoted as return. That does seem high based on what we paid - and I just returned a week ago, and we didn't book our flights until relatively late, so I assumed the prices we paid were somewhat recent?

As others on the forum have pointed out, don't be discouraged if you don't hear from the agent in a day or so - we did find the response times a bit slower than we are used to, but they came through in the end. I contacted a couple of agents at the beginning of our planning and several email replies from them either ended up in my spam or got bounced back.

TedStell

Thank you, whiskey.