Planning an itinerary for independent travel to Myanmar

[watgate]

For all you seasoned travelers, how would you or how do you plan a trip for several days to another country? Do you reference Lonely Planet and other books for info? What about making reseervations at hotels? Do you have to make advanced reservations and do you need to hold the reservation typically with a credit card? What about making reservations for travel within Myanmar to various cities or attractions? For instance, traveling by train or ferry or flights within Myanmar you would need schedules and/or time tables to plan a trip. How do you plan such a trip or do you just " wing it" so to speak. I like to make prior arrangements beofre traveling but the task seems a little daunting to plan a trip to Myanmar for several days and traveling around. I like to be organized and any tips or info or advice to make the task easier would be appreciated. For the reasons stated previously, at this point I am seriously considering an organized tour although most of my sightseeing and traveling in the past has been of an independent nature.

[phuketrichard]

book first night an go

Lonely planet is a GUIDE and usually everywhere in it is more booked than all the other places as so many use the LP as a MUST book

Have been to Myanmar 2 x last 7 months an heading back next week ( up north)

You need a basic plan but need also to be very flexible there

Check out, http://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/ShowForum-g294190-i9408-Myanmar.html

For Thailand, Laos, Cambodia u can wing it very easy

Only country that is sometimes hard to find a decent room is Singapore if u happen to go during holidays or events as the city/country is booked solid

[Mahseer]

Agree with phuketrichard on keeping plans open and see where the adventure takes. The absolute worse scenario in my opinion would be to commit an entire stay from your armchair.

Just book your flight and the first location hotel only and just see how the remainder of your trip pans out. Personally I love the research phase off a trip and always have an idea on places/sights I want to include in a trip but always open to options. Yes I look at Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Indiamike.com for India and occasionally Tripadvisor but I also seek out local travel agents and travellers when I arrive for finer details and input of other places that have yet to feature in any of the aforementioned.

Just go for it and feel comfortable in foreign lands.

[craigt3365]

IMHO, advanced planning is a must. Nothing like visiting a place only to find out an incredible festival event takes place just before you arrived and you missed it! Or, there was a great place to check out and you didn't know about it. Guide books are just that. Guides. Not bibles. But, they are great for getting an overview of things to do/see and for places to eat/sleep. Again, just a guide as many restaurants/hotels are not listed in these books.

If you've got a lot of time, the just winging it is great. You've got time to hang out for a day or two if transport options are booked. But, if you've got limited time, and there are places you'd really want to see, then I'd book ahead. I'd also book ahead if there is a hotel you really want to use.

We just got back from Chao Lao beach here in Thailand. We figured it was mid-week, so easy to just cruise around and find a room. Wrong. It's summer vacation and the places were absolutely packed. We needed 3 rooms, so that was limiting also. And of course the pics on the internet don't always match reality. We eventually found a brand new resort, but could only get 3 nights as they were booked later in the week. Even then, we had to change rooms after our first night. And driving around from resort to resort for a few hours got really boring.

From what I read, accommodations in Myanmar are a bit tight. Booking ahead might not be a bad idea.

When you're done, come back here and let us know how it went!!! Have fun!!

[phuketrichard]

high season ( Nov-Mid march)

better to book ahead if ur headed to Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan,

but the rest of the year you will have no trouble finding accommodations.

What many do is, arrive somewhere , figure out where ur heading next , ask how to get there & than go online and book a place.to stay

no reason to do it all weeks in advance.

as far as traveling between these 3 places & Inle lake

you have airplanes, boats, bus's & private cars

everywhere else do your research before u head out.just so you know ur options.

[Sputnik699]

I generally wing it when i travel. Have traveled Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand a number of time's and only ever booked a room in BKK when i first arrive in SEA..... after 16 hour's flying its nice to have something booked.....although i did go to Koh Maak (thailand) recently and booked in advance as it was valentine's weekend. Other than one time in Ko san and another in Chiang Mai i never had problem's finding a room. I normally just use a guide book to give me a rough idea where i am and where im going.

However, i did book all my rooms for a recent 10 day trip to Myanmar 2 weeks before i went purely because i'd read about room shortage's, sky high price's..etc. They were pretty much the cheapest i could find and with the exception of one in Nyuang shew (inlay lake ) they were all spot on.

What i found with Myanmar was most were cheaper to book online than just walking through the door...the place i stayed in Yangon was $22 online and $37 if you just turned up....another in Bagan was $35 online and $50 if you just walked through the door. Would definitely pay off to plan a trip to Myanmar but if you took a laptop / ipad you could book room's as you go and it would give you alot more flexibility.

Never done an organised tour myself as i prefer the "winging" style of travel but i have meet a few people on my travels that did tours in Myanmar and loved it...having said that Myanmar is a fantastic country and i doubt you'll hear a bad word said about the place by anyone that's been their...tour or no tour..have a safe trip man

[craigt3365]

Great report! How did you book your rooms? Did you use an agent? Website? Multiple websites? Would love to know as I hope to be doing a trip there in a few months.

[Sputnik699]

I booked all my accomadation via agoda, as i said basically just booked the cheapest room's i could find. Did abit or research online before i went ( wiikitravel / lonely planet..etc ) andthen booked a flight with AirAsia...flew into Yangon and departed from Mandalay....think i paid approx $150 total for the two flight's.

I would add if you plan to get your Visa at the Myanmar embassy in BKK get their early...like 6,30 am early !! You can get photo's taken and all necessary paperwork printed at a van just around the corner for about 150 bht ( they are making a fortune ) You can get a visa issued in one day for about 1800 bht ( roughly...i cant remember the exact price ) You hand in your paperwork and passport and then get told to return at 3pm...My advise is get their at 1pm because the queue is huge and you'll be in for a long and very boring wait....i left at around 6,30pm after nearly 4 hour's waiting. And that's on top of the 3 hour's waiting in the morning.

Yeah i'd 100% recommend a trip to Myanmar...it is expensive in comparison to neighboring country's but can still be done relatively cheap with abit of planning...and compared to say Japan, Moscow, the U.K or Oz it's actually dirt cheap.

Really is an intoxicating place, the people are by far the friendliest iv'e come across on my travel's in SEA over the years...and surprisingly with the amount of tourist's now visiting it does'nt actually "feel" that touristy. I kinda wanna go back now

[phuketrichard]

i thought the one day visa was 1,200??
even so for $50 u can get it online so ,no taxi ride, no standing in line, no hassles

I used to book via booking.com for Mandalay as i stay at a very popular /inexpensive hotel

but now they know me so i just send them an email an they hold the room for me.

79 living hotel

great location as right across form the train station and a 10 minute moto ride to the river.

Outside Mandalay never book rooms

Note air asia offers a free bus ride in and out of town an the hotel is a 5 minute walk away

Flying out Saturday!!

[Mahseer]

I have Putao on the radar and certainly won't shell out for that swanky French place so anyone advanced booked anywhere else that they can recommend. For me its just too remote to just turn up and hope.

Cheers

[phuketrichard]

as i understand it ur only allowed into Putato on an organized tour plus the flight in and out,

looks dam expensive.,

http://www.putaotrekkinghouse.com/

MY next trip (after the one this month) will be back to Mogok but this time legally.

http://www.myanmarupperland.com/ruby-land/

Or perhaps south and than land border crossing back to Thailand

[Sputnik699]

i thought the one day visa was 1,200??

even so for $50 u can get it online so ,no taxi ride, no standing in line, no hassles

I used to book via booking.com for Mandalay as i stay at a very popular /inexpensive hotel

but now they know me so i just send them an email an they hold the room for me.

79 living hotel

great location as right across form the train station and a 10 minute moto ride to the river.

Outside Mandalay never book rooms

Note air asia offers a free bus ride in and out of town an the hotel is a 5 minute walk away

Flying out Saturday!!

I stand corrected, thinking about it now i think it was more likely 1200 bht...may be 1250 or 1280bht......iv'e drank beer between now and the time i got my visa

E visa's a good option but i didnt have a return address in Thailand to send my passport back too....alternatively load's of travel agencies in and around Ko San Rd will do everything for you including the 7 or 8 hour's queuing for a fee.

[Mahseer]

as i understand it ur only allowed into Putato on an organized tour plus the flight in and out,

looks dam expensive.,

Don't believe there are any restrictions on flying in but every chance the trekking house is maximising profit by locking in travellers entire stay prior to arrival which I am not interested in but doubt the situation will change until more hotels appear.

[phuketrichard]

i thought the one day visa was 1,200??

even so for $50 u can get it online so ,no taxi ride, no standing in line, no hassles

I used to book via booking.com for Mandalay as i stay at a very popular /inexpensive hotel

but now they know me so i just send them an email an they hold the room for me.

79 living hotel

great location as right across form the train station and a 10 minute moto ride to the river.

Outside Mandalay never book rooms

Note air asia offers a free bus ride in and out of town an the hotel is a 5 minute walk away

Flying out Saturday!!

I stand corrected, thinking about it now i think it was more likely 1200 bht...may be 1250 or 1280bht......iv'e drank beer between now and the time i got my visa

E visa's a good option but i didnt have a return address in Thailand to send my passport back too....alternatively load's of travel agencies in and around Ko San Rd will do everything for you including the 7 or 8 hour's queuing for a fee.

they send u the visa approval as an attachment;

no need to send them ur passport

i did it for my trip on Saturday

as to Putao

you need pre approved permission to fly in, u cant just go, same like Mogok

"Travellers will need to apply for special permission before being allowed to travel to Putao.

There are only a limited number of foreigner-licensed hotels in the Putao area, and they must be booked in advance as part of a package. There are currently no budget options."

BUt seems this guy did go, http://spytravelogue.com/2014/07/adventure-in-putao-myanmars-most-northern-outpost/

Edited March 25, 2015 by phuketrichard

[Tomtomtom69]

as i understand it ur only allowed into Putato on an organized tour plus the flight in and out,

looks dam expensive.,

Don't believe there are any restrictions on flying in but every chance the trekking house is maximising profit by locking in travellers entire stay prior to arrival which I am not interested in but doubt the situation will change until more hotels appear.

You can travel there independently (by flight in and out only) as the road is largely blocked due to fighting somewhere along the way and then you need to go on organized treks if you want to leave the vicinity of the town.

[phuketrichard]

Just back yesterday from 13 days in Burma

Flew into Mandalay and than overnight train up to Myitkyina ( $23 and 20 hours with sleeper) need to book day inadvance

Spent 3 days trying to get permission to travel by river to Sinbo and on to Bhamo BUT no go

Asked and

They will not allow u to book flight to Putao unless u have the special advance permission which to get u need to book hotels an tour

takes up to 2 weeks, seems very few ever get there.

Flew My to Bhamo for $51 2 flights /week 35 minute flight

Took the express boat down to Kathu $13 7 hours, Its a great river village and well worth visiting.

Nice village but lacking in hotels, had a small room with fan and window with view of river for $6 an electric went out from 10pm to 6 one night but it was still cool.

There is a new air con hotel near the long distance bus station for $25 a double

Note all our hotels so far were $30 for a double with hot water, air con, cable tv an breakfast. You can get cheaper fan rooms

Express boat leaves at 5:30 am and we booked the cabin, ( just a cabin with a mat on the floor) for $30 and took 17 hours,

great trip and stopped often.

Would never take the IWT ferry as its 50% longer

Overall very very few tourists, food is still bad but eatable ( only) it was VERY hot, averaged 34-38 in the day. Mandalay it hit 40 one day

Back up in the rainy season :-)

[Thailand J]

A question for you: How did you manage your money while travelling there?

Can I get by with a US bank issued credit card and a Thai bank issued ATM ?

[phuketrichard]

i used $,

Changed $300 us on arrival into Kyat

and carried my Thai scb atm card ( needed it as I went and brought some very nice jade jewelry for gifts)

was charged 320 baht for a $300 withdrawal OUCHHHHHH

Only Mandalay where i went accepted credit cards but i was NOT on any tourist route.

[Sputnik699]

I took cash with me when i was their...bit risky i guess but i was only their for 10days. I did notice ATM's around in Inlay/Bagan and Mandalay.

Would advise checking international fee's with your bank before any trip abroad....after a trip to SEA in 2013/2014 i got home ( UK ) to find my charges had gone up from 150bht to around 600 per transaction...that was for a withdrawal ( around $300) + the standard 150 bht charge and a new charge of 2.99% for conversion...ending up paying my bank around $120 just to get my own money.