Myanmar-Has anyone been to Paramount Inle Resort
Sep 4th, 2011, 10:12 PM
#1
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Myanmar-Has anyone been to Paramount Inle Resort
Our first choice at Inle Lake is booked for our dates, so our travel agent wants to book us into Paramount Inle Resort for 4 nights. Has anyone been there? Any thoughts on this hotel?. I am concerned because we will be there for 4 nights, so I want to be sure it is ok.
Sep 5th, 2011, 01:48 AM
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We stayed at the Parmount Inle Lake in Feb and loved it. Very friendly staff who cant do enough for you and a great location. Beautiful little cottages on stilts right on the lake. You can only go to dinner at the hotel, but the food is quite nice. We stayed in the cottages facing the canal and it was beautiful. The drinks are not cheap and its a good idea to bring your own to have on your balcony while watching the sunset.
The website is here :http://www.paramountinleresort.com/index.php
The website is here :http://www.paramountinleresort.com/index.php
Sep 5th, 2011, 08:14 AM
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gmoz-Since you stayed there could you please answer a few more questions?
1-How was the noise from the boats going by? This seems to be the main complaint on TA. Did it wake you in the morning at 6am?
2-Where there many mosquitos when you were there?
3--Did you arrange your daily boat rides, and transfers from/to the airport, with your travel agent or through the hotel when you got there?
3-Any highlights of where to go or avoid on the boat rides. We have 3 full days on the lake.
Thanks so much for your help.
1-How was the noise from the boats going by? This seems to be the main complaint on TA. Did it wake you in the morning at 6am?
2-Where there many mosquitos when you were there?
3--Did you arrange your daily boat rides, and transfers from/to the airport, with your travel agent or through the hotel when you got there?
3-Any highlights of where to go or avoid on the boat rides. We have 3 full days on the lake.
Thanks so much for your help.
Sep 5th, 2011, 09:42 AM
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Shelly, I can recommend my places to go and places to avoid on Inle:
Sankar, the southern part of the lake was a highlight. It's a full day trip, costs extra because of the distance and because you'll need a permit and a Pa-O guide. I consider it unmissable!
InDien was just wonderful. Get there first thing in the morning and you'll have it all to yourselves.
The five day market - as long as it isn't at the floating market.
For me the floating market was simply awful, and we only went by it on a non-5 day market day. It was a circus, and I'd avoid at all costs.
Avoid the workshops unless it is something that interests you. We went to the weaving workshop, watched them making lotus fiber and weaving because I'm very interested in textiles. The usual tours of the lake are basically stops at all the workshops, cheroot-making, etc. If you are interested, fine, but otherwise you'll come away thinking Inle is quite "touristy."
Sankar, the southern part of the lake was a highlight. It's a full day trip, costs extra because of the distance and because you'll need a permit and a Pa-O guide. I consider it unmissable!
InDien was just wonderful. Get there first thing in the morning and you'll have it all to yourselves.
The five day market - as long as it isn't at the floating market.
For me the floating market was simply awful, and we only went by it on a non-5 day market day. It was a circus, and I'd avoid at all costs.
Avoid the workshops unless it is something that interests you. We went to the weaving workshop, watched them making lotus fiber and weaving because I'm very interested in textiles. The usual tours of the lake are basically stops at all the workshops, cheroot-making, etc. If you are interested, fine, but otherwise you'll come away thinking Inle is quite "touristy."
Sep 5th, 2011, 10:05 AM
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Kathie-Would you book the boats in advance. SM is charging $107 to Sankar $41 for a regular tour. Also the airport to/from the hotel transfers seem to be running around $65-$75 each way.
Sep 5th, 2011, 10:50 AM
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I would not book the boats in advance. Your hotel has boats and boatmen they use all the time and from the hotel, the boats will be cheaper. Note that the dollar has fallen about 30% against the kyat from when we were there in 2009. At that time, we paid about $35 for boats in the regular part of the lake and the trip to Sankar was $70. So your prices will likely be higher. To go to Sankar, you'll need a permit and a Pa-O guide, which adds maybe another $10 to the price (you'll carry this cash along to pay for the permit and to pay the guide).
Airport transfers are expensive, as it's quite a drive from HeHo. Our hotel arranged our transfer from the hotel to the airport, and as I remember, it was in the $65 range. So the quotes you have seem reasonable.
Airport transfers are expensive, as it's quite a drive from HeHo. Our hotel arranged our transfer from the hotel to the airport, and as I remember, it was in the $65 range. So the quotes you have seem reasonable.
Sep 5th, 2011, 11:13 AM
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The $107 charge was for the boat only. The permit and guide were extra. I think I will wait and get the boats from the hotel.
BTW, we were able to book Min Thu for the 3 days we are in Bagan. We are so looking forward to meeting him and having him drive us through the temple area. He certainly has gotten a lot of business based on your recommendation.
BTW, we were able to book Min Thu for the 3 days we are in Bagan. We are so looking forward to meeting him and having him drive us through the temple area. He certainly has gotten a lot of business based on your recommendation.
Sep 5th, 2011, 11:23 AM
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Shelly, I will be interested to hear what the boat prices are now, given the decline of the dollar, but I think you will do better with the hotel arranging the boat.
I think you will love touring with MinThu. We are looking forward to touring with him again in November (alas! just a day and a half). It is a pleasure to recommend him and to know that he is getting lots of new business.
I think you will love touring with MinThu. We are looking forward to touring with him again in November (alas! just a day and a half). It is a pleasure to recommend him and to know that he is getting lots of new business.
Sep 6th, 2011, 01:23 AM
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Shelly sorry to take a while to reply anyway to answer your questions
1. the boats didnt worry me at all but we are always awake by 6am also I am not too worried by noise anyway.
2. We were there in Feb and I dont recall many mozzies. We use repellent if needed and there are mozzie nets that go over the beds. When you are having dinner the staff put out the nets over your beds. The staff are so nice here.
3 We had the tours, boats transfers etc all included in our price. I am surprised by how much you guys are paying for tours, transfers etc. Did you ask for an all inclusive price? We did and we were very happy with the price although we used a different company who gave us excellent service.
4. Kathy has given you some great advice on places to see and i cant do better than that.
Actually when we went to Paramount Inle they gave us a free dinner one night . I think this free dinner came from our tour company.
The only down side of the Parmount is that by staying on the lake is that you cant go anywhere else for dinner or shopping.
1. the boats didnt worry me at all but we are always awake by 6am also I am not too worried by noise anyway.
2. We were there in Feb and I dont recall many mozzies. We use repellent if needed and there are mozzie nets that go over the beds. When you are having dinner the staff put out the nets over your beds. The staff are so nice here.
3 We had the tours, boats transfers etc all included in our price. I am surprised by how much you guys are paying for tours, transfers etc. Did you ask for an all inclusive price? We did and we were very happy with the price although we used a different company who gave us excellent service.
4. Kathy has given you some great advice on places to see and i cant do better than that.
Actually when we went to Paramount Inle they gave us a free dinner one night . I think this free dinner came from our tour company.
The only down side of the Parmount is that by staying on the lake is that you cant go anywhere else for dinner or shopping.
Sep 6th, 2011, 05:47 AM
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Thank you for the information.
I think the costs have increased considerably because of the falling dollar. The hotel and flight costs have not increased as much as the transport costs.
I think the costs have increased considerably because of the falling dollar. The hotel and flight costs have not increased as much as the transport costs.
Sep 6th, 2011, 10:40 AM
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Shelly we booked all our boat stuff once we got to Inle including the trip to Sankar. We would decide the night before where we wanted to go & then get the hotel to arrange it. It worked out perfectly doing it that way.
Sep 7th, 2011, 05:51 AM
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gmoz, what transport costs seem out of line to you? The boat costs are high, but I think if you arrange boats through an agency they are always high. The car transfers are actually less than I would have expected, given that in Nov 2009 we paid (to the hotel) about $65 for a transfer from the hotel to the airport. The dollar has fallen more than 30% since that time (from 1000 kyat to the dollar to now about 650 to the dollar). I'm interested in your comments since we are headed to Burma again in November.
Sep 7th, 2011, 05:09 PM
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Kathie
As I mentioned previously I dot have a breakup of transportation costs as we received an all inclusive price. However when the transport costs are compared to the all in price then the prices dot seem to line up.
For example while we didn’t use Santa Maria we did receive a quote from them. The SM quote was for a 14day 13night tour including hotels, internal plane fares, transfers, private tour car and all other transportation, private boat in mingun, trekking guides and Sagar tour and the total price equated to around $140 per day for a couple. This price was for Feb 2011.
So when I compare the transport and tour costs with our daily rate which included everything it doesn’t seem to line up. Thats why I was suggesting to get an all inclusive price.
At the end of the day we didn’t use SM or their suggested itinerary however I dont think there is a great difference between the tour companies.
As I mentioned previously I dot have a breakup of transportation costs as we received an all inclusive price. However when the transport costs are compared to the all in price then the prices dot seem to line up.
For example while we didn’t use Santa Maria we did receive a quote from them. The SM quote was for a 14day 13night tour including hotels, internal plane fares, transfers, private tour car and all other transportation, private boat in mingun, trekking guides and Sagar tour and the total price equated to around $140 per day for a couple. This price was for Feb 2011.
So when I compare the transport and tour costs with our daily rate which included everything it doesn’t seem to line up. Thats why I was suggesting to get an all inclusive price.
At the end of the day we didn’t use SM or their suggested itinerary however I dont think there is a great difference between the tour companies.
Sep 7th, 2011, 08:32 PM
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Shelley that was around US70pp or US140 per couple. As I said we didn’t end up using SM but not for price reasons.
I think sometimes buying bits and pieces can work out expensive and/or time consuming and thats why I suggested finding out an all inclusive price. I normally don't travel through an agent but as we all know Burma is an exception.
Also I have found that getting transport from drivers who are waiting near hotels, bus station and airports can be quite expensive as some (not all) of these drivers hang around hoping to make a big score from some unlucky tourist (like me).
Shelley I wouldn’t get too involved over the price but rather aim to have as easy going trip as possible so you can enjoy what you are experiencing rather than having to think about organising details. Burma is such a wonderful place as kathie and everyone have said and you will long remember the wonderful time you have there. The people are so nice and laid back and I admire their attitude to life. I have posted before of the incident with Min Thu's horse, su su, and the umbrella and how in the West this would have ended in litigation but in Burma it was regarded as fun. I hope you enjoy your trip as much as we did. We are going to Sri Lanka next year and we are rading kathie trip report for there.
The spell checker in my previous post seems to have changed " don't" to "dot". Sorry about that.
I think sometimes buying bits and pieces can work out expensive and/or time consuming and thats why I suggested finding out an all inclusive price. I normally don't travel through an agent but as we all know Burma is an exception.
Also I have found that getting transport from drivers who are waiting near hotels, bus station and airports can be quite expensive as some (not all) of these drivers hang around hoping to make a big score from some unlucky tourist (like me).
Shelley I wouldn’t get too involved over the price but rather aim to have as easy going trip as possible so you can enjoy what you are experiencing rather than having to think about organising details. Burma is such a wonderful place as kathie and everyone have said and you will long remember the wonderful time you have there. The people are so nice and laid back and I admire their attitude to life. I have posted before of the incident with Min Thu's horse, su su, and the umbrella and how in the West this would have ended in litigation but in Burma it was regarded as fun. I hope you enjoy your trip as much as we did. We are going to Sri Lanka next year and we are rading kathie trip report for there.
The spell checker in my previous post seems to have changed " don't" to "dot". Sorry about that.
Sep 8th, 2011, 08:53 AM
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gmoz-I did originally get an all inclusive price from SM and it seemed very high to me. So I then asked for a price breakdown of that all inclusive trip. This is where I saw how much the individual components of the trip were costing-ie. transfers, boat rides,etc. So I decided that some of those things I could arrange easily on my own, leaving most of the trip for SM to take care of. SM has such a good reputation, and are so nice to deal with, that I would like to use them as my TA, if possible.
You are lucky that you went last year, because based on what you paid, the price seems to have almost doubled. Some of the increase is due to the dollar dropping 30% against the kyat, but some of the increase may be due to supply and demand. I think a lot more people are travelling to Burma this year.
Sri lanka is on my "to do list" so I'll be interested to follow your travels there. Thanks so much for all your postings concerning my trip to Burma. I am so looking forward to going there,
You are lucky that you went last year, because based on what you paid, the price seems to have almost doubled. Some of the increase is due to the dollar dropping 30% against the kyat, but some of the increase may be due to supply and demand. I think a lot more people are travelling to Burma this year.
Sri lanka is on my "to do list" so I'll be interested to follow your travels there. Thanks so much for all your postings concerning my trip to Burma. I am so looking forward to going there,
