I am planing a trip to Myanmar in December, I was thinking of using Diethelm travel for an 8 days tour, has anyone on this board have used them for Myanmar and is there any alternative or competition?

The 8 days looks tightly pack only a day a some location, I would like to see Ragoon, Inle Lake, Bangan or Mandalay or both. Would I be able to do all on my own or is it best to go with a tour.

Thank you

We used a local agent in Yangon called Santa Maria Tours & Travel. They were excellent. Reliable, prompt in emailing information to us, helpful when we arrived in Yangon and above all they are a small private non-govt agency so you are not supporting agencies who pay the very awful regime who run the country, commissions to do business in Myanmar.

Santa Maria's website is www.myanmartravels.net and our contact person was Kyaw (common name in Myanmar). We did most of our accom & air bookings by email and paid in US$ cash when we picked up our vouchers & air tickets in their office in Yangon, closeby Traders hotel. Local agents are the best way to get great deals on hotels in Myanmar. You don't pay until you get to Myanmar! No financial risk to you!

Best of luck to you. It is a wonderful place to visit, not such a great place for the down-trodden locals!

Diet. has a very good reputation...

Thank you Lyndie I will give Santa Naria a try and thank you Rhkkmk for the vote of confidence.

I just came back from a two week trip through Myanmar. Quite complex with domestic flights, boats to Mrauk U, etc. Everything was flawless of organisation. Guides were good to excellent too. Our travel agent in Yangon was Orchestra. You can establish a very constructive dialogue with them over the net, in order to have your programme tailor made, exactly as you like it, within the limits of what is practically feasible, of course. Here is their email address. Just try it out and contact them, there is no obligation afterwards anyway.
[email protected]
PS: I have filed a trip report on this board. Trip to Myanmar 26 Oct - 12 Nov.

bouzin2-happy to help, if I can.

cram, good to hear someone else had great service from a local agent. BTW, in Vietnam many bookings are made via Diethelm, even though one has booked through a local agent. They seem to have a monopoly on Asia. Good or bad?

Call me crazy, however it really felt very good to be supporting local agents in Myanmar as it is so hard for them to make a buck under the current regime, unless they are either extremely well connected or pay! This, together with lots of helpful information was given to us by a Burmese-born doctor we met in Thailand.