With 13,000 years of history, stunning natural landscapes and jaw-dropping architectural wonders, Myanmar well and truly deserves a place on any southeast Asia itinerary – and Myanmar travel and tours cover everything you need to see.
Myanmar tour packages feature golden temples, hot-air balloons and quaint fishing villages
Myanmar tour packages start and end in Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan, with numerous options for combinations with Thailand and other parts of southeast Asia. All Myanmar travel and tours include scheduled private and public transport as well as internal flights, leaving you to relax and enjoy your tour under the leadership of the knowledgeable local guides.
Itineraries in tour comparison Myanmar are all about outdoor adventure and history, with sailing tours in Myeik Archipelago, Irrawaddy River boat cruise trips, boat tours of Inle Lake including visits to floating villages and markets, access to local hilltribe treks, visits to toddy farms and cheroot factories, and cycling tours.
History buffs will enjoy the guided tours of the Bagan Archaeological Zone, including organised Bagan bike temple tours, visits to important sites like Golden Rock and Mt Popa, and entrance to Shwedagon Pagoda featured in Myanmar tour packages.
If you still want more, Myanmar travel and tours also offer optional activities such as puppet shows and hot-air balloon rides offering spectacular views.
Ready to plan your trip? Visit our tour comparison Myanmar to find the right tour for you.
Want a taste of that insider Myanmar tourism knowledge we mentioned before? We have collected the best facts from real life tour guides. Impress them on tour with how much you already know.
- Also known as Burma, Myanmar is bordered to the west by the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, while its land borders meet Thailand, Laos, China, India and Bangladesh.
- One of the most popular activities in Myanmar – and the subject of the most iconic photos of the country – is to hot-air balloon ride over the 2,000 plus temples in Bagan.
- Important city-based sites in Myanmar include the spiritual and commercial centre Yangon (Rangoon), the capital Naypyidaw, home to the Peace Pagoda and zoo, the romantic and poetic vision in Mandalay, and the war cemeteries at Mawlamyine.
- Myanmar offers some great trekking trails, such as those in rural Hsipaw and from high-altitude Kalaw hill station.
- There are numerous water-based sites worth visiting in Myanmar, such as the rowing boats on Lake Inlet, the beach towns of Kawthaung, Ngapali and Ngwe Saung, riverside Hpa-an and the 800 islands that comprise the Mergui Archipelago.
- Kyaiktiyo Pagoda on Golden Rock is a spectacular Buddhist pilgrimage site and is one of Myanmar’s most important religious sites.
- The vast Irrawaddy Delta, which empties into the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, is well worth exploring on a river cruise from Yangon to Mandalay.
- Notable Burmese politicians include Nobel Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi, father of independence Aung San, and military leader General U Ne Win.
- Myanmar’s history dates back 13,000 years to the first-known human settlements, and has seen the country pass through various stages of development, states and empires to reach the present day.
- The country was considered a pariah state from 1962 to 2011, while under the rule of an oppressive military junta.
- The Burma Railway is a 415-kilometre-long railway built by forced labour under the command of Imperial Japanese forces toward the end of WWII, providing a link between Bangkok and Yangon, at the expense of hundreds of thousands of southeast Asian civilian labourers and Allied Prisoners of War. Due to the force used in its construction, the railway is also known as the Death Railway.
- The Fire Balloon Festival is part of the annual Tazaungdaing festival of light, and sees home-made fireworks packed inside artistic hot-air balloons lighting up the sky.
- The Saffron Revolution took place in August through to October 2007, when thousands of monks, students and other political activists protested the removal of subsidies on fuel prices, which saw prices increase by 66-100% within one week.
- Notable Burmese kings include founder of the Pagan Empire Anawrahta, Bayinnaung and Alaungpaya U Aung Zeya.
- Myanmar is represented in literature by George Orwell in ‘Burmese Days’, ‘The River of Lost Footsteps’ by Thant Myint-U, and Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘Mandalay’.
- Some of Myanmar’s most important musical and cultural contributions include The Moustache Brothers, music band Side Effect, actor U Thura, and musician Nandashay Sayar Tin.
- Myanmar’s New Year Festival, Thingyan, falls around mid-April, and involves numerous water-splashing activities throughout the streets.
- Other notable Burmese include journalist Ludu Do Ama, UN diplomat U Thant, and the first doctor to graduate from medical school in the USA, M Shaw Loo.
- Thanaka paste is a cosmetic paste made from ground bark commonly used in Myanmar, which has been around for 2,000 years.
Courtney Gahan is a serial expat, traveller and freelance writer who has bartered with Moroccan marketeers, seen the sun rise at Angkor Wat and elbowed her way through crowds on NYE in NYC
