Travel Guide and Tour program to page Myanmar (Burma)

if you wish to travel Myanmar, before or after a Burma liveaboard cruise or plan land based travel only, please ontact us at: travel@burma-liveaboard.com

• Please follow this link for sample travel itineraries
• Myanmar Holiday Itineraries (oversea flights not included)
• Myanmar city maps-pictures and general information

     or the additional links below for further Information (it is a loong page):

• Travel Guide and general information

• Getting to Myanmar

• Passport and Visa

• Airport Facilities

• Limousine service

• Airport Tax

• Duty Free Shopping

• Airline Offices

• Tourist Information

• Clothing

• Communication Services

• Media

• Foreign Missions in Myanmar

• Myanmar Embassies and Consulates

• Foreign Embassies and Missions in Myanmar

• Religious Services (Yangon) 

• Domestic Travelling

  • Domestic Flights & Domestic Air Lines

  • Rail Services

  • Road Transport & Highway Bus

  • Inland Waterways

  • Costal Express Boats (Mergui)

Getting to Myanmar

• By Air - Myanmar is served internationally by:

  • Air China 

  • Air Mandalay

  • Bangkok Air

  • Biman

  • Indian Airlines

  • Myanmar Airways International (MAI)

  • Pakistan International

  • Phuket Air

  • Malaysian Air

  • Qatar

  • Royal Brunei

  • Silk Air

  • Thai Airways International (TG).

  Yangon has direct air-links with:

  • Bangkok

  • Brunei

  • Singapore

  • Hong Kong

  • Calcutta

  • Chiang Mai

  • Dhaka

  • Doha

  • Jakarta

  • Karachi

  • Kuala Lumpur

  • Kunming

  • London

  • Osaka and 

  • Singapore. 

  Myanmar Airways International (MAI), Thai Airways International (TG), Silk Air, Biman, PIA, Indian Airlines, Royal Brunei, Air China, operate regular flights to Yangon. Air Mandalay operates Yangon - Chiangmai - Yangon flights.

   By Sea - Cruise Ships call at Yangon Port with Visa on Arrival being granted on prior arrangement.

  By Overland - Overland entry with a Border Pass is permitted at the following Border Check Points: Kyukoke, Namkhan and Muse on the Myanmar-Yunnan (China) border; and Tachileik, Myawaddy and Kawthaung on the Myanmar-Thai border. Tourists can also cross Myanmar Indic Border at ......

Passport and Visa

A valid passport with Entry visa is required for all tourists & businessmen, applicable at Myanmar Embassies and Consulate General Offices abroad. Both Tourist Visa & Business Visa are valid for 28 days, extendible to 14 days for tourists & 3 months for business.

There are two types of Visa called Visa on Arrival and EVT . We encourage you to apply Visa on arrival visa .Please see as follows.

VISA ON ARRIVAL
                This Procedure was specially designed for the tourists who live in the country where there is no Myanmar Embassy. But now everybody can apply. How does it work: Tourists send information necessary to Authorized local Travel Company and that travel company will do all the paperwork in Myanmar. Then the company will send Approval letter which clients have to show  to airlines and immigration officer when entering Myanmar. The information of the clients as follows is necessary:
      1. Clients full name and Passport numbers.
      2. Date of issue and place of issue.
      3. Date of expire.
      4. Father's name.
      5. Date of Birth and place of birth.
      6. Occupation.
      7. Home address.
      8. Nationality.
      9. 2 recent photos size photographs.
    10. Countries for passport valid.
   

Visa-on-arrival takes about 10 working days but in rare cases 3.

EVT 
Tourists can apply EVT visa at Myanmar Embassies & Consulates General offices worldwide. Please refer to our FAQ for more information. Please refer to our FAQ for more information.

Airport Facilities

Yangon International Airport is located 20 km from downtown Yangon. The Arrival Terminal is located separately from the Departure Terminal and the Domestic Terminal and simplified procedures ensure that on arrival and departure, international passengers are processed quickly through immigration and customs.

Limousine Service

A Limousine Service Counter is located in the Arrival Hall. Major hotels provide transfer services; and taxis are also available. Passengers are advised not to use the services of touts for taxi.

Airport Tax

The airport tax is US $10 for international passengers, payable in FEC (Foreign Exchange Certificates). There is no airport tax on domestic flights.

Duty Free Shopping

Duty Free shopping facilities are available in both the Departure and Arrival Halls of Yangon International Airport.

Airline Office

International airlines maintain offices in Yangon. 

Tourist lnformation

Tourist information is available at the Arrival Hall of Yangon International Airport; Head Office in downtown Yangon at 77-91 Sule Pagoda Road (Tel: 95-1-252859); Bagan Office (Tel:95062-252859); Mandalay Office (Tel: 95-2-60356, 02-60357) at Mandalay Swan

Hotel; Taunggyi Office (Tel: 95-081-21611, 95-081-21302) at Taunggyi Hotel; Kawthaung Office; Tachileik Office and Muse Office.

Clothing

Light, casual wear, preferably cotton is suitable all year round. A cardigan or light jerkin, when visiting northern Myanmar in the cold season and an umbrella during the rainy season are suggested. Sandals or slippers are convenient, as the dress code for pagodas and monasteries prescribe decent apparel and no footwear (i.e. removal of shoes and socks).

Communication Services

Postal Service - The Yangon Central Post Office, located at 39, Bo Aung Kyaw Street, is open from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm., Monday through Friday. Major hotels provide mail boxes; and postage stamps are available at the Reception Counters.

Telephone - International phone calls can be made by International Direct Dialing (IDD) phone or through operators from most hotels in Yangon, and from some hotels at major tourist sites. Teledensity is 0.95.

Internet-E-mail - Internet & email access is possible at Cyber Cafes and some hotels.
Cyber Cafes in Myanmar

Yangon List:

Media

Newspaper - Three morning newspapers Myanmar Ah Lin and Kye mon in Myanmar and The New Light of Myanmar in English are published in Yangon and The Yadanabon News in Myanmar is published in Mandalay. Myanmar Times Journal  (English Version) is distributed every Monday, and the Myanmar Version is distributed  ever Friday. Both journals are published in Yangon.  An evening newspaper City News Myanmar is published in Yangon. The locally published magazines in English; Golden Myanmar, Myanmar Chronicle, and Myanmar Perspective, are available in bookshops. Foreign newspapers such International Herald Tribune, as Singapore Straits Times. and some foreign magazines and periodicals are available at In-wa (Ava) Bookshop, No.232, Sule Pagoda Road.

Reflecting the life style and the daily life of Myanmar people, there are a few magazines in Myanmar while journals in all form come out.

Some magazines are: Mahaythi, Faces, Digharyu, Idea, Living Color, Lifestyle, and Alinkar.

Some Journals are: Ray of Light (A-lin-tan), Achit, Myanmar Thit, Interview, and Internet Journal.

Radio  - Radio Myanmar broadcasts English on the following schedule: 8:30 am to 9:00am 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm; and 9:00 pm to 10:30 pm. The new City FM broadcasts from 07:00 A.M. to 09:00 P.M. daily.

Television - There are two local TV channels: TV Myanmar and Myawaddy with programs running as follows and most hotels also have satellite TV.

TV Myanmar :  (mon - fri) 
                           from 07:00 to 08:45
                           from 16:00 to over 20:00
                           (sat - sun)
                           from 07:00 to 09:00
                           from 11:00 to 15:00
                           from 16:00 to over 20:00

Myawaddy    :  (mon - fri) 
                           from 07:00 to 08:15 A.M
                           from 04:00 to over 08:00 P.M
                           from 07:00 to 08:45 A.M
                           (sat - sun)
                           from 07:00 to 08:10
                           from 16:00 to over 20:00

MRTV 3 - English programs are telecast for viewers in Myanmar from  9:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M. The transmission hours for viewers from abroad are from 13:00 A.M. to 14:00 A.M., 18:00 P.M. to 19:00 P.M., and from 02:00 A.M. to 04:00 A.M.

Domestic Travelling

Domestic Flights

The main tourist centres are located at a distance from Yangon, and it is convenient for visitors to travel by domestic flights. Myanmar Airways, Air Mandalay and Yangon Airways operate flights of major tourist sites including Mandalay, Bagan, Heho, Thandwe, Myitkyina, Tachileik and Kawthaung.

Rail Service

Yangon-Mandalay is the main rail link with four express trains running daily between Yangon and Mandalay. Furnished coaches (Cherry and Padauk) for a group of 4 or 8 persons are available. From Thazi on the Yangon-Mandalay line, a branch line runs to Shwenyaung (the nearest station to Inlay Lake) and to Taunggyi.

From Mandalay, there are rail services to Pyin Oo Lwin, Lashio, Monywa and Bagan. There is also a rail service from Yangon to Bagan which operate on alternate days.

Dagon-man 01-277503

Station Enquiry 01-274027

Malikha-Mandalar 02-21385

San Thaw Tar 01-221460

(GOODS TRAIN) 01-222700

Road Transport & High Way Bus

Most tourist sites are also accessible by road. There are 12 Highway Bus services running between Yangon and Mandalay using air-conditioned coaches. Travelling time is about 14 hours with brief stop - overs at Taungoo and Pyinmana. 

Limousine taxis and mini-buses are available in Yangon for sightseeing and up country tours.

Inland Waterways

Myanmar has many rivers and a large delta in which the Inland Water Transport operates a huge fleet of double and triple-decker boats. There is a regular service between Bhamaw and Mandalay and between Mandalay and Pyay (Prome) via Bagan.

A journey on Burma's Irrawaddy River is one of life's great travel experiences. No vessel could be more appropriate for this than the RV Pandaw. Built in Scotland in 1947, the Pandaw is the same design as the original Irrawaddy Flotilla Company steamers that coped so well with the difficult conditions of the Irrawaddy.

"The Road to Mandalay", a luxury boat operated by E & Q Services, sails from Mandalay to Bagan during the open season. Irrawaddy Princess, a catamaran, operates between Mandalay and Bagan and is also available for charter to Bhamaw and Pyay (Prome). The north and western part of the country are very rugged and mountainous. Three parallel chains of mountain ranges run from north to south. They begin from the eastern extremity of the Himalaya to Hka-kabo Razi (5881 meters), the highest peak in South-East Asia. The mountain chains separate the country into three river systems the Ayeyarwaddy, Sittaung and Than-Lwin.