Boutique Myanmar: 10 days and a very short hotel list
There is a version of this page on other websites that lists a dozen luxury hotels. We are not going to do that, because it is not true any more. The number of properties in Myanmar we would describe as genuinely good is small, several closed or reduced operations after 2021, and standards at some o
- Duration
- 10 days
- Pace
- Slow
- Hotel changes
- 3
- Best months
- Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb
- From
- $3,000 per person
Available on request and subject to conditions on the ground. We assess every Myanmar enquiry against the situation at the time and for your specific dates before we quote, and we decline regularly. Several regions are not available to us and are not in this route.
This route uses that short list, and it spends the rest of the budget on private boats, private guiding and time rather than on a fifth hotel.
Who it suits: experienced travellers who care where they sleep, couples, and anyone who would rather have three excellent bases than five adequate ones.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive Yangon. Met and driven to a colonial-era property in the city rather than a modern tower, of which Yangon has two worth using. Nothing scheduled. The Shwedagon Pagoda in the last hour of light and into the evening.
Day 2: Yangon. A private guided morning downtown, focused on the architecture rather than on the sights: the commercial blocks, the courtyards, the buildings that are being restored and the ones that are not. Lunch, then the afternoon free. Dinner at the best Burmese kitchen in the city rather than at the hotel.
Day 3: Fly Yangon to Bagan. Afternoon among the temples, with a private guide and a car that can reach the tracks the coaches cannot. Sunset from a mound chosen for being empty rather than for being famous.
Day 4: Bagan, first light and a slow day. Out before dawn, back by mid-morning, nothing in the middle of the day. Late afternoon on foot among the smaller temples with the guide, which is the best two hours in Bagan and which almost nobody does.
Day 5: Bagan, the river. A private boat on the Irrawaddy in the late afternoon, two hours with the temples on the bank and the light going. A second option, if the dates work, is a full river day upstream towards Pakokku, which is a slow and genuinely good use of a day.
Day 6: Fly Bagan to Heho, drive to Inle. An hour to the lake and into a hotel built over the water rather than in Nyaung Shwe, which on this lake is worth the difference and is a short list of three. Private boat for the rest of the stay.
Day 7: Inle, early and late. Indein at seven in the morning, an hour before the day boats, which is the single largest benefit of a private boat here. Middle of the day free. The southern end of the lake in the late afternoon, where the villages are quieter and the water is emptier.
Day 8: Inle, free. Nothing scheduled. The vineyard on the eastern hills, a walk into the villages behind the western shore, or a full day on the balcony.
Day 9: Fly Heho to Yangon. Afternoon free. A last dinner, and a hotel night rather than a rushed connection.
Day 10: Fly home. With a long buffer, and the room held until the afternoon where a night flight requires it.
What is included
Nine nights across three properties, each chosen for a specific reason we will explain in writing, all domestic flights with buffer, private car and driver throughout, a private English-speaking guide on the days that benefit from one, a private boat at Bagan and a private boat at Inle for the entire stay, entry and zone fees, restaurant bookings, a full written cash briefing before departure, and a WhatsApp group with your consultant here, our Hanoi office and our partners in Yangon.
How we choose the hotels
We do not use star ratings in Myanmar because they mean very little there. What we look at is whether the property is privately owned rather than state-linked, which matters to us and to most clients; whether it has been maintained since 2021, which several have not; whether the location saves you an hour a day; and whether the food is good enough that you will want to eat there on the free evenings.
That leaves a short list and we will show you all of it, including the properties we think are overpriced for what they now are, which is not a short list.
Honest notes
The top of the Myanmar market is thinner and more expensive relative to quality than it was, and thinner than the equivalent in Thailand or Vietnam. If you are used to the best hotels in Bangkok or Hoi An, calibrate downwards. We would rather say that now.
Three hotels in ten days means Mandalay is not in this route. It is the right decision for a trip built around staying still, and if you want the old capitals we will add two nights and a flight, at the cost of the pace.
Everything is cash, including hotel bills at this level in some cases. The briefing covers it.
Myanmar under current conditions is not a soft destination even at this budget. Power supply, internet and service standards are all less consistent than the room rate suggests.
Related
Shape this trip around us All Myanmar, on request and subject to conditions trips