What Are the Best Places to Visit in Myanmar in 2025?
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Myanmar is a hidden gem. Very few tourists go there right now due to conflict, although that takes place a long way from the tourist spots. I’ll cover safety more later.
The best places to visit in Myanmar in 2025 are Yangon, Bagan and Mandalay. These three cities, alongside Inle Lake, make up the “tourist kite” of safe places for tourists. Crucially, you can also visit them easily without any need for permits.
I really enjoyed my trip to Myanmar, and only ever felt in danger due to the environment (rats, stray dogs and electrical blackouts). Never once did the people feel like a threat, including the infamous Tatmadaw, the army propping up Myanmar’s military junta.
Below I will explain in more detail what you should check out in this magical country.
Yangon
Yangon is the former capital, and I found it to be the most interesting city in Myanmar. It has lots of cool attractions, as well as a very authentic feel. There are no tourist traps here. Very few tourists can be found in Myanmar.
Unlike neighbouring Thailand, this is a place that showcases Southeast Asian culture at its very best, without all the tourists.
I found locals to be curious when they saw me. After all, they don’t really see foreigners here now. One memorable encounter came when a man tried to convince me to pay him. He had a cage full of birds, and would release one if I gave him enough money.
Can’t say I’ve ever experienced that in any of the other countries I’ve been to.
Yangon has many interesting characters living their lives and working around the city.
Shwedagon Pagoda
The best thing to do in Myanmar is to visit Shwedagon Pagoda. A truly spiritual place.
The pagoda is believed to be over 2,500 years old, and attracts worshippers from all over the country. You will see many monks with shaven heads and red robes here.
I spent a couple of hours walking around the pagoda, admiring the awesome Buddhist architecture, and listening to the chants of local people with their hands clasped in prayer.
It’s hard to say how much anything costs in Myanmar due to the black market economy and rapidly-changing value of the kyat. However, I paid just under £4/US$5 to get in here, so you can use that as a ballpark figure.
Sule Pagoda
Another cool pagoda in Yangon. This one isn’t as good as Shwedagon Pagoda (none of them are, Shwedagon is truly special), but it’s still a fun place to check out.
Sule Pagoda is located just a few blocks from Hood Hostel, which is where I stayed. The staff were friendly there, although I wouldn’t quite recommend it as I found rats outside my room, requested to move to another, and found rat droppings all over the beds…
Sule Pagoda is like an oasis of serenity, right in the middle of a busy roundabout. Worth checking out.
Chaukhtatgyi Buddha Temple
This temple is a little different to the others. It is home to a giant reclining Buddha which lies across the length of the temple.
The walls of the temple are covered in colourful patterns depicting Buddha’s life and journey to enlightenment.
In front of the Buddha is a bowl full of incense sticks. Locals burn them as they believe it purifies the surroundings.
After Shwedagon Pagoda, this is my second-favourite place in Yangon. It’s fun here, you won’t see any other tourists, and it’s really interesting to watch the locals in prayer.
Kandawgyi Lake
This giant lake is fun to walk around.
My particular highlight is Karaweik Palace, a giant golden ship with two gold dragons at the front. This is Southeast Asian architecture at its best.
The palace actually has a restaurant inside. You can go in, try some traditional Burmese food, and even be treated to a cultural show.
Walk further around the lake and you will find further highlights including a lotus flower pond, and even Yangon’s zoo.
Mahar Bandula Park Street Market
I love markets because they showcase what a country is really like for locals living their everyday lives.
Some markets become famous such as London’s Borough Market or Seoul’s street markets in Myeongdong. As this happens, they attract large numbers of tourists and are in danger of turning from authentic local spots to tourist traps.
There’s no danger of that happening here. Myanmar is so closed off these days (not in the literal sense, as you can still get here pretty easily if you wish), that locals go about their lives without expecting to see a single tourist.
You can find all sorts of Burmese street food here for really cheap prices. Myanmar is a strong contender for the cheapest country I’ve ever been to.
Bagan
After Yangon, I took a long bus all the way to Bagan, a magical city which would be absolutely packed with tourists if people weren’t dissuaded from coming by the civil conflict.
It’s incredibly remote. Take a taxi from the bus station, and you are heading off into the middle of nowhere. There are almost no shops and restaurants around here.
I found a handful of Chinese and Thai restaurants. But none of them were open for business. Business has really suffered since the junta overthrew the government in 2021.
Even shops were very hard to find, with just a small convenience store near my hostel open for business.
The Temples of Bagan by Land
The most beautiful places in Myanmar are the 2,000 temples of Bagan, spread across a never-ending plain.
This plain is so vast, that some of these temples haven’t been entered in years, and others don’t even have names.
Some have even been taken over by nature, and are now home to bats and deadly snakes, of which there are many across the grassy plains. Trust me, you don’t want to get bitten here. Medical facilities are awful in Bagan and you’re in big trouble if something happens.
The best way to see the temples is by renting a motorbike for the day. You can generally do this through your accommodation. I stayed at Ostello Bello hostel and they were able to lend me a bike for under £4/US$5 across the entire day.
Now things didn’t quite go perfectly. I had never been on a motorbike before arriving in Bagan, and they don’t come with instructors for that price, which means you have to work it out alone.
I stuttered and stumbled my way through the day, before eventually losing control as I approached a puddle, and smashing my leg with the bike as I fell off.
Luckily, I only picked up a small bruise from that incident. It could have been a lot worse given the weight of the bike. I was lucky.
Shwesandaw Pagoda wasn’t great, as locals pestered me with items for sale that I didn’t want. And they decided to follow me regardless…
Aside from that however, the temples were amazing.
I visited Shwezigon Pagoda, Ananda Temple, Shwe Gu Gyi Temple, That Bin Nyu Temple, Htilominlo Pahto, and much more during my day on the plains.
I recommend you research any specific temples you want to see, mark them down on maps (offline, don’t expect the internet to work well in Bagan), and ride between them.
Alternatively, ride wherever you want with no set plans and see where the day takes you. Sometimes the best adventures are the unplanned ones!
Seeing the Temples From the Air
Perhaps the most famous image of Bagan is from the skies. Unfortunately, Myanmar’s tourism industry has been ravaged, firstly by Covid, then by the military takeover which has dissuaded visitors from coming.
This means, only one company offers air balloon rides over the temples at sunrise, and they don’t come cheap.
That company is Balloons Over Bagan, a name that gets straight to the point, so it should be pretty easy to remember.
Flights run from October-April and are 45 minutes in length. Prices start from US$230, making this the one thing in Myanmar that will dent your bank account.
However, this country is so cheap that your total spending in a week here with a balloon ride included will probably be fairly similar or even lower than a week in Thailand with no major activities, and much higher day-to-day travel costs.
The Irrawaddy River
Once you’re done temple-hopping, I suggest heading to the banks of the Irrawaddy River to see the sun set.
I rode over here and saw locals heading down the river on modest wooden boats. You shouldn’t try to cross the river however, as it acts as a border between safe Bagan and some of the country’s no-go zones, in this case the Magway Region.
Many areas in Myanmar are off-limits and you require a permit to access them. You can find where you need permits to access here.
Be aware however that the list of places changes regularly, often with little or no warning.
Anyway, there was something pretty awesome about watching the sun set here. It’s a fun way to end your day in Bagan.
Mandalay
The final place worth visiting in Myanmar right now is Mandalay. That’s not to say that other places aren’t worth seeing. But many popular spots such as Ngapali Beach are now off-limits.
The general rule of thumb is that only junta-controlled areas are both safe and possible to visit right now.
One of these is Mandalay, despite being on the borders of the no-go areas. Let’s look at what Mandalay has to offer.
Kuthodaw Pagoda
This place is known as “the world’s largest book”. That’s because there are 730 giant slabs within the pagoda, each with Buddhist teachings written on both sides, making a total of 1,460 “pages”.
Now I didn’t understand a single word, as it’s all written in Burmese script. But the “book” is a unique thing to see and it certainly puts Mandalay on the map.
Also, I found this pagoda to be a great spot to shelter from the punishing July heat.
Mandalay Palace
The palace is the last one built by Burma’s royal family in the mid-1800s.
You can still visit today and admire more cool Southeast Asian architecture.
Don’t be intimidated by the large numbers of military officers around the outside. They don’t have anything against tourists. In fact, they want tourists to come here to boost the economy they control.
Just don’t start taking pictures of them, because they won’t take kindly to that. I cover photography in my guide on all you need to know before visiting Myanmar.
I recommend visiting early, because Mandalay gets pretty hot and uncomfortable as the day goes on.
Elsewhere, there are many more pagodas in the city, but nothing unique compared to what you’ve already seen in Yangon and Bagan.
Is it Safe to Visit Myanmar as a Tourist?
When you mention going to Myanmar, there’s usually one question that comes to everyone’s lips. Safety.
I can assure you that Myanmar is safe in the tourist areas. To minimise risk, this means you should stick to Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay and Inle Lake.
Outside of those four areas, there are a lot of dangers. In some places, civil war rages and brutal attacks occur without warning. In others, you cannot enter without permission. And ending up in one of these places by accident can land you in big trouble.
Would You Recommend Travelling to Myanmar Right Now?
Myanmar is a country that has an awful lot to offer. However, I would only recommend it to people who have a fair bit of travel experience under their belt.
There are lots of pitfalls in Myanmar which make it a harder country to travel in than the likes of popular Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia.
You need to be aware of the rules concerning what and who you can or can’t take pictures of. You also need to know where you can or cannot go.
It can be difficult to ask people for help, because English is rarely spoken in this country. And even if you speak many languages, they won’t help here unless you can get by in Burmese.
The environment poses challenges at times. Stray dogs are common, and rabies is a possibility here. Dangerous snakes live all over the plains of Bagan and other grassy areas. Rats are often found running around the streets and (budget) hotels alike.
You may need to splash the cash on accommodation that comes with a lower rat risk here.
Electrical blackouts are frequent. You will experience several each day. And no one knows how long they will last for. Sometimes minutes, sometimes hours.
Unlike Malaysia or the Philippines, a trip to Myanmar takes a lot of planning. You can’t just hop on a plane here and enjoy a nice relaxing holiday without a care in the world.
This is not one of the region’s safest countries, despite the tourist spots being low in crime and conflict.
Money is also a hassle in Myanmar. Cards will rarely work, ATMs likewise. You should take lots of US dollars with you to exchange for kyat on the black market where you will receive favourable rates.
I found a good exchange place at this spot in Yangon.
I wrote previously about my own experiences in this country. So you can read that and learn about the rewards and challenges you may face.
Overall however, if you’re used to visiting more rugged countries, I strongly suggest visiting Myanmar. It’s one of my favourite countries in the world, and really feels special to explore.
If you’re fairly new to travel, I suggest spending a bit of time in other Southeast Asian countries, get a feel for this corner of the world, and come to Myanmar a few months down the line when you’re ready for a new challenge.
