Welcome to Myanmar! Upon arrival at the airport in Yangon, you will clear Immigration, collect your luggage and exit Customs. A friendly local representative will be waiting to greet you in the arrivals area, holding a sign with your name on it. For a smooth and comfortable start to your adventure, you will be driven directly to your hotel to check-in. (This service is on a private basis.)

Spiritual Shwedagon Pagoda

Interested in discovering what is behind the golden facade of the Shwedagon Pagoda? During this interactive half-day tour, you will be guided through the back door, to reveal what is usually hidden from travelers. Understand the full history of the pagoda, the daily life of the people living in the immediate surroundings, and gain a deeper insight into the Buddhist religion and how their spiritual belief is mixed with the belief in nats – the Myanmar spirits. This intriguing adventure will begin from the bottom of the hill, passing the workshops, markets, and temples - all of which play an essential role in the upkeep and worship of Shwedagon Pagoda. This excursion includes a traditional Burmese lunch, offerings to monks, and the pagoda, a visit to a fortune-teller.

We’ll keep the children entertained with fun stories; an activity sheet with questions and religious items to look out for; tortoises to feed for good luck, and their very own adorable souvenir to take home and get creative with! (This service is on a private basis.)

Yangon

Yangon, also known as Rangoon, is Myanmar’s largest city and most important commercial hub, located at the convergence of the Yangon and Bago Rivers. This former Burmese capital, creatively blends tradition, culture and modernity. It is home to the stunning Shwedagon Pagoda, which dates back more than 2,000 years. From pilgrimages and pagoda festivals, to ubiquitous tea shops and cosmopolitan avenues, you can find it all in Yangon. Often called the "Garden City of the East", nature lovers will enjoy the city’s pristine lakes, verdant tropical trees and spacious parks.

Yangon Explorer

This morning, you will explore downtown Yangon, its charming side alleys, hidden details, and exciting attractions. You will be equipped with a tablet PC and a uniquely developed app featuring fun tasks and questions you need to solve along the way. This interactive tour will allow you to engage with local shop keepers, merchants, and people working in unique professions along the streets of Yangon. Choose your preferred route and take on the fun educational tasks set out for you. This is a perfect team-building exercise, for families keen to discover the city in an enjoyable, refreshing, and challenging way. (This service is on a private basis.)

This morning you will be picked up at your hotel and transferred to the airport in good time to board your domestic flight to Mandalay. (This service is on a private basis.)

Journey to Bagan

Upon arrival at the airport, you will be met by your guide and driver and transferred to U Bein Bridge for a short visit before continuing on to Bagan.

Along the way, you will stop to visit the Minzontaung Wildlife Sanctuary to see the endangered star tortoise, indigenous to Myanmar’s dry zone. Here, you will go on a walk through the forest with the wildlife sanctuary rangers, seeking out the released tortoises in their natural habit. You then visit the sanctuary’s breeding center to see some of the new-born baby star tortoises. A visitor center provides you with all the background information you need about the star tortoise and other endangered tortoises. You can also purchase a variety of tortoise souvenirs, including t-shirts and fabric bags, with gorgeous tortoise designs. Your visit to the sanctuary helps to support funding for the project. A delicious lunch will be served at a nearby restaurant before continuing your transfer to the hotel in Bagan. (This service is on a private basis.)

Bagan

Located on the eastern banks of the Irrawaddy River in central Myanmar, Bagan is famous for its picturesque Buddhist temples, pagodas, stupas and ruins. More than 2,000 of these extraordinary treasures cover an area of 16 square miles, many of which date back to the 11th and 12th centuries. Bagan is the ultimate photographer's paradise. No matter if it's the colorful hour of dawn or the balmy late afternoons, the impressive pagodas that decorate the landscape, is truly picture perfect.

Scary Ghosts, Superstitious Kings & Brutal Conquerors

After breakfast at your hotel, you will set out on a half-day tour that takes you on an adventure to Bagan, where there are some fascinating sites with scary stories of brutal kings, ghosts, and princesses, who once ruled or walked the city’s royal streets. During this half-day tour, the guide will bring you to places linked to these hair-raising myths and anecdotes, like the one about the spirit of Tharaba Gate: Is the spirit found there really the soul of a person buried alive under the huge gatepost? How many construction workers had their arms chopped off while building the Dhammayangyi Temple, the largest in Bagan? Did King Narathu come to the thrown in the 12th century by assassinating his father and elder brother? Your guide will reveal all the secrets of these temples and more! (This service is on a private basis.)

Minnanthu Temple Tour & Picnic Lunch

This afternoon, you will visit Minnanthu Temple. A favorite among frequent Bagan visitors, this historic temple is set in a quiet area, that is often entirely deserted. In this enchanting forgotten part of Bagan, your guide will lay down a blanket for a nice picnic lunch surrounded by the ancient ruins. After lunch, you will have time to visit a few other ancient temples in the area before heading back into the city. (This service is on a private basis.)

Markets, Monasteries & Hidden Cave Temples

An ideal excursion in Bagan if you feel like you have seen most of the temples (or at least enough) and also want to discover a bit more of the Myanmar countryside. Start the day by driving to the Kyauk Gu Ohnmin cave temple that rarely sees foreign visitors. Next, continue to Pakkoku to visit a local slipper factory and the market to see where the famous Pakkoku blankets are made. A private boat will be waiting for you at the jetty in Pakkoku for a leisurely boat trip downriver while lunch is being served on board.

In the afternoon your guide and driver will show ypu local village life in the dry zone with a stop at a lacquer ware workshop in the Myinkaba village later in the day. After your tour you will be transferred back to your hotel. (This service is on a private basis.)

E-Bike & Temple Viewing

Bagan's stunning landscape of ancient temple ruins seems to be spread around randomly between toddy palms and bamboo huts. During this half day electric biking tour, your guide will show you some of the most spectacular ancient lesser- known temples and the best of all is that you can stop any time to take gorgeous photos. At the end of the trip, enjoy a ride on a large swing situated between palms trees facing Dhammayangyi Temple, sip on healthy juices, and taste some traditional snacks. (This service is on a private basis.)

This morning, you will be picked up at your hotel in Bagan and transferred to the Nyaung-U airport for your flight to Heho. Upon arrival in Heho, you will be met and transferred to Kalaw. (This service is on a private basis.)

Elephant Encounter in the Forests of Kalaw

Today, a specially trained elephant conservation guide will take you on a rewarding adventure in the Kalaw forest, to encounter elephants, their mahouts, and locals from the surrounding areas. Young tourism professionals from Kalaw town decided to set up Green Hill Valley Elephant Camp, a project that is focused on protecting nature, providing care for elephants no longer fit to work, and preserving the traditions of local people living in and around Kalaw – a former hill station that today is popular for trekking. In a large part of this privately protected forest, a natural habitat has been set aside for animals that would otherwise be vulnerable to hunting and poaching. The tour begins with a private car ride to the main camp where the specialized staff will explain the project and the camp's daily activities. A delicious lunch of Nepalese food will then be served to you. In the afternoon, you will be introduced to the resident elephants! You will learn about the elephants and their individual stories while having an opportunity to feed them a variety of specially prepared foods. You can then assist a local mahout with bathing one of these incredible creatures in the nearby river. After this unforgettable experience, you will be invited to plant a tree before saying goodbye to your new friends and heading back to your hotel.

Kalaw

Sitting at an elevation of 4300 feet, the peaceful hill station of Kalaw offers a lush, cool respite from the heat of the plains. Known for its trekking, Kalaw is also interesting culturally with a diverse population of Shan, Indian Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims as well as Nepali Gurkhas who came to Kalaw to build the roads and railway line under British rule. Kalaw is the main setting of the novel “The Art of Hearing Heartbeats” by Jan-Philipp Sendker.

Trekking, Tribes & Train Journey

At 8:00 AM this morning, you will depart from your hotel in Kalaw and embark on a three-hour scenic trek. On this hike, you can observe the Danuand Taung Yoe tribes and their daily routines. See the mix of forests and fields, where products such as sesame, tea, cauliflower, and rice are cultivated.

By 11:00 AM, you will reach Myinmahti Village. You will have around 30 minutes to explore the Myinmahti natural cave. After enjoying your packed lunch, you will be transferred to Aung Ban train station for a train ride to Heho. This picturesque 1.5-hour journey will bring you over the mountains and through the valleys towards Inle Lake. This is a unique experience that offers excellent views and a glimpse into the untouched lifestyle of the Shan Hills. Upon arrival into Shwe Nyaung, you will be transferred to your accommodations on Inle Lake. (This service is on a private basis.)

Inle Lake

Magical Inle Lake is a vast natural freshwater lake located in the heart of Shan State, part of Shan Hills in Myanmar bordering Laos and Thailand. It is the second largest lake in Myanmar with an estimated surface area of 44.9 square miles, and one of the highest at an elevation of 2,900 feet. A wonderful watery world of floating gardens, stilted villages and crumbling stupas, Inle Lake is a place to be savored. Watch the unique leg-rowers of the Inthas, the native lake dwellers. Revel in colorful floating markets, meditative monasteries and interesting hill tribe villages in the surrounding mountains.

Intha Villages Kayaking Trip

Today's adventure includes a fascinating kayaking trip through rural villages in this part of the Shan State. Depending on the location of your hotel, you may take different modes of transportation, including a motorboat ride across the lake to In Phaw Khone. This is the famous weaving center of the Intha people in the middle of Inle Lake. Light kayaks will be waiting at the starting point of your excursion. With 2 people in each kayak, you will take off on your 2 hour gentle paddle through Inle Lake's most rural treasures and best kept secrets. The picturesque scenery includes a landscape of remote villages, flourishing nature, rolling Shan Mountains and floating gardens. Along the way, you will stop to explore a variety of traditional Intha villages.

One hour into your ride, you will stop to visit a local village, where you are invited to meet the Intha people and take a walk through their town. The villagers will welcome you into their home, where you can learn more about their life in rural Inle Lake and discover some of the region's locally produced food. From there, you will continue paddling until lunchtime, when you will be taken to your next Intha house. The lovely villagers will invite you in for a delicious home-cooked lunch. Enjoy a relaxing meal together, before taking a motorboat ride back to the hotel. If there is time, your exploration of the lake may be able to continue by boat and guide. (This service is on a private basis.)

Bamboo Walks & Boat Rides

Explore the enchanting scenery between Inle Lake and Samkar Lake by boat and on foot on during this full-day excursion. Your guide will pick you up at your hotel on Inle Lake and take you for a leisurely boat ride passing fishermen, floating gardens, and some of the traditional Intha villages built on stilts. As you head further south on the lake, you will reach the starting point of today’s trek, a beautiful bamboo forest. Walking through the forest, you can sometimes gatch a glimpse of the canal connecting Inle Lake to the Samkar Lake, which often has a mysterious feeling. Along the way, you will pass the famous Taung To pagodas. Here, you will stop to recover and catch your breath before continuing on. After about 2.5 hours, you will get back on board for a ride through a creek to the picnic lunch spot among the fields. After lunch, you will then head to Samkar Lake by boat to visit the Samkar temples and village. At the end of your tour, a leisurely boat ride takes you back to your hotel. (This service is on a private basis.)

This morning you will be picked up at your Inle Lake hotel and transferred to the Heho Airport in good time to board your domestic flight. Upon arrival at Thandwe Airport, you will be picked up and transferred to your hotel in Ngapali Beach. (This service is on a private basis.)

Ngapali Beach

Ngapali is an idyllic, charming village with pristine beaches on the Bay of Bengal where you can relax under palm trees, snorkel, cycle lazily in the rural surrounds and enjoy the quietude of a magnificent sunset. This beach has not quite developed into a tourism hot spot yet, but that's a good thing. After slogging through temples, hiking through mountains, and generally running around Myanmar's busiest areas, you will be more than ready to have a white sand beach to yourself for a few days.

Ngapali Beach is a unique beach destination with charming sightseeing, fisherman boats, and long walks! You can walk along the beach in silence and peacefulness while taking in all the local traditions. There are many things to do such as recreational activities, sightseeing, and simply getting some much-needed beach time.

Half Day Snorkeling

The traditional fishing village of Maung Shwe Lay, which lies about an hour south of Ngapali, is ready to welcome you for a relaxing, fun day in the beautiful sparkling waters of Andrew’s Bay. You will be picked you up from your hotel and transferred to the jetty for a leisurely boat ride to this peaceful, perfectly shaped bay. On arrival, the boat drops anchor so you can go snorkeling in the crystal-clear waters. Here, you will see plenty of coral and stunningly colorful fish. You then continue on to the little fishing village of Maung Shwe Lay where it’s as if time stood still. Walk around the village and visit the local monastery and village library – enjoying the scenes of rural community life. A delicious home-cooked lunch is served at the Lalay Lodge restaurant overlooking the beach. After lunch in the afternoon, climb aboard the boat for your journey back to Ngapali. (This service is on a group basis.)

Please wear your swimwear underneath clothes and bring along a beach towel with you. Snorkeling gear is provided.

Although your adventure must come to an end today, you will be leaving with new friends, amazing experiences, and memories to cherish for the rest of your life. Once you have checked out of your hotel in Ngapali Beach, you will be met by your driver and transferred to the Thandwe Airport in good time to board your domestic flight to Yangon, where you will connect with your international departure flight. (This service is on a private basis.)

We wish you safe and happy travels home!