Going To Burma From Thailand

[hoffer]

hello

was wondering if anyone knew if i can fly from Tachilek (burmese town bordering Mae Sai in northern thailand) to heho or yangoon being a westerner. i will have a visa of course (hopefully!).

thanks for help

[Svenn]

Tachilek is a tiny run-down town I don't think has a commercial airport... most westerners go on to Kengtung from there, which may have an airport, I don't know. Tachilek has the dubious distinction in my memory of the place where a begging kid grabbed my gf's breast, and I almost pushed him over the bridge railing into the river...

[Bastian]

tachileik has an airport and there is a small office that sells tickets, it is on the southern side of the road leading east from the bridge at the border, not cheap.

theoretically it should be possible, not sure about the visa though, i.e. where you can enter, where you can go and where you can exit. lots of restrictions. ask at the myanmar embassy.

[Briggsy]

NO.

You can only enter through Mae Sai/Tachileik on a temporary pass which will only allow you to visit Shan State at most. You cannot enter there using a Burmese tourist visa.

If you have a Burmese tourist visa, you must fly in to Yangon from outside Burma.

[Tomtomtom69]

@briggsy, are you sure? I remember meeting a guy a few years ago in Yangon who did exactly that, he flew from Tachileik to Yangon on a tourist visa. I believe you are forced to fly from Tachileik to reach the interior of Myanmar anyway so flying would make sense but I wouldn't recommend it due to the poor safety record of internal air travel in Myanmar.