Burmese Wonders

Welcome to Myanmar! On arrival at Yangon International Airport you will be met off your flight and transferred to your hotel for check-in. Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, offers a mix of British colonial architecture, modern high-rise and gilded Buddhist pagodas.
First stop of the tour will be lunch at the Padomar restaurant for a truly home-style taste of Myanmar cuisine. After lunch you will visit the Chaukhtatgyi Pagoda. The Buddha image we see today is almost 66m long and 17m high and adorned with 108 auspicious signs. Our next stop is the iconic Shwedagon Pagoda. Covered with hundreds of gold plates and with the top of the stupa encrusted with 4,531diamonds the largest of which is a 72 carat diamond, it is clearly one of the wonders of the religious world. Shwedagon Pagoda is a repository of the best of Myanmar’s heritage – architecture, sculpture and arts - and consists of hundreds of colorful temples, stupas, and statues that reflect this heritage of the last 2,500 years.
Before returning to your hotel a table is reserved for dinner at Seeds Restaurant and Lounge (a member of Secret Tables) by the Inya Lake, in a lush, green, tropical garden (additional charge applies).

An early breakfast before heading to Yangon domestic airport for your flight to Mandalay. On arrival at Mandalay you will be taken to board your private boat for a 1hr cruise on the Irrawaddy river to Mingun village on the river’s western bank. Here you will visit the Pahtodawgyi pagoda. Never completed and damaged by an earthquake, what remains of King Bodawpaya's planned stupa is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest pile of bricks. You will also see the Mingun Bell, the world's largest ringing bell weighing in at 90 tons. And Shinbume Pagoda, a beautiful pagoda built in 1816 by King Bodawpaya's grandson in memory of one of his wives.
You will return to Mandalay by boat and enjoy lunch at Mandalay Kitchen a local eatery, set within a traditional teakwood building overlooking the river.
After lunch you will visit the Maha Muni Buddha image. Thousands of colourfully dressed faithful venerate Mahamuni's 13ft-tall seated Buddha, a nationally celebrated image that is believed to be some 2,000 years old. Centuries of votary gold leaf applied by male devotees (women may only watch) has left the figure knobbly with a 6inch layer of pure gold. You will visit some handicraft workshops to see artisans at work using techniques that have remained unchanged for centuries before visiting the Shwenandaw Monastery, the most significant of Mandalay's historic buildings. The Golden Palace Monastery remains the sole major survivor of the former wooden Royal Palace built by King Mindon in the mid-19th century. And the last visit of the day is Mandalay Hill, the perfect vantage point for views over Mandalay. Dinner at the hotel

After breakfast, you will take a short 11km trip south of Mandalay to Amarapura (a former capital city of Myanmar). You will visit the Mahagandayon monastery, one of the largest teaching monasteries in Myanmar and home to up to 2,000 monks. Followed by a visit to the U Bein Wooden Bridge – a 1.2 kilometer long wooden bridge – where you can visit a silk-weaving workshop which produces exquisite handmade products.
You will then be heading to Yandabo village, about 3hrs drive, taking in lunch along the way at a local eatery. Yandabo is a small, rural village and you will be able to walk among the villagers' houses, watch them patiently working clay into earthenware pots and enjoy sitting on the river's shore to watch the sunset. Dinner will be prepared at Yandabo Home on the wooden deck overlooking the river.

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast watching the river flow past before taking a guided visit of Yandabo village. It is a very picturesque village, a photographer’s delight, that specializes in pottery and is also the location where the peace treaty of the First Anglo-Burmese War was signed on Feb. 24, 1826. You will have the chance to visit some pottery workshops and to visit the local school and the monastery. Lunch will be served at Yandabo Home.
The afternoon’s visit will be to Pan Nyo Village by boat to see their agricultural way of life. Here they cultivate rice and plant seasonal vegetables and fruit. You will have time to explore the village before returning to Yandabo Home for dinner.

Today you leave the slow life of Yandabo and after breakfast make the 2-hour drive to Bagan. Morning sightseeing begins with Shwezigon Pagoda, a prototype of Burmese stupas consisting of a circular gold leaf gilded stupa surrounded by smaller temples and shrines, followed by a visit to Wetkyi-in Gubyakkyi Temple famed for its fine mural paintings and before lunch, Htilominlo Temple noted for its fine stucco plaster.
Lunch in a local restaurant beside the river, before visiting a lacquer-ware factory - Bagan is the centre for traditional lacquer-ware in Myanmar. You will then visit Ananda Temple, an architectural masterpiece and Thatbyinnyu, the tallest of Bagan’s temples, from where you will enjoy the spectacular sunset. Dinner at the lodge’s open-air restaurant, serving authentic Myanmar cuisine.

A slow boat ride south of Bagan after breakfast to visit Salay, a vibrant religious center. Active since the 12th century, ancient monasteries stand beside 18th century teak wood monasteries and a scattering of British colonial era buildings all making for a very interesting and attractive assemblage. You will also visit the Yoke Sone Kyaung monastery, a teak wood monastery built in 1882 which is now a museum. From here you will visit the ancient Shin Pin Sar Kyo Hla pagoda, a 10 minute drive from Salay.
Lunch will be served at Salay House which is situated on the riverside on Salay’s historic strand, a heritage site from the British colonial period. On the way back to Bagan by car, you will pass through Chauk City where the Burma Oil Company was established in 1886.
Dinner at Nanda Restaurant, famous for its Myanmar Marionette shows accompanied by a live traditional Burmese orchestra.

Start the day with a short morning flight from Bagan to Heho where you will be transferred by car from Heho Airport to the lakeside town of Pindaya, a scenic 1hour’s drive through farmland. Pindaya is a sleepy Shan town set against the beautiful Ponetaloke lake and famed for its Shan handicrafts and the limestone Buddhist grottoes that overlook the town.
Lunch will be served at the Green Tea Restaurant in their open-air dining room which is set over the lake (a gastronomic picnic lunch can be prepared by Pindaya Farm House’s chef for an additional supplementary charge). After lunch you will check-in to Pindaya Farm House, a traditional Shan farmhouse located just outside the town. After check-in, you will visit the famous Shwe Oo Min Natural Cave pagoda (Pindaya Cave), an enormous limestone cavern filled with thousands of gilded Buddha statues. Dinner at the Pindaya Farm House.

After your breakfast at the farmhouse you will head to Inle Lake by car. It’s a scenic 2hour drive through country that has been called the Tuscany of Myanmar. Inle Lake is located in the heart of the Shan plateau, 900 meters above sea level. The lake is 22km long and 10km across and inhabited by many different ethnic groups. The Intha people live on the lake and are renowned for their unique leg rowing. Leg rowed traditional boats are one of the main attractions of Inle Lake.
Lunch will be served upon arrival at Inle Heritage Foundation. Check-in and free time to visit the activities and works of the foundation if you like (vocational school, Inle endemic species museum, organic garden…) or enjoy the pool and relax. Dinner at leisure.

After breakfast, the program today if for you to decide, together with the team of Inle Heritage. You can hire a boat and a guide to visit places around the lake (temples, markets, floating villages...) join a cooking class and learn Intha recipes, visit the town of Nyaung Shwe. No arrangement in advance, you can decide directly with the team at the property

Departure day, heading to Heho Airport by car after breakfast to take the short flight to Yangon. On arrival at Yangon you will head to downtown Yangon for lunch at the Monsoon restaurant, set within a beautifully remodeled colonial building. After lunch, a visit across the river to Dala for a trishaw tour to see local life in old Yangon and a chance to visit the Chi Chu workshop where plastic bags are recycled into useful products. Then you will return back across the river heading to Yangon International Airport to meet your evening departure flight.