Myanmar's classic loop — Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay, Inle Lake — has been the backbone of backpacking here since the country first opened up, and it still delivers something no neighbouring country quite matches: the scale of Bagan at dawn, and the walk from Kalaw down to Inle Lake through villages that see foreigners on foot and almost nothing else. A quick, honest note first: check the current security and travel-advisory situation carefully before planning this trip, as conditions in Myanmar have changed a lot in recent years and access to some regions varies.
Yangon: gold at dusk
Start with two nights in Yangon. The city's crumbling colonial blocks, street-side tea shops, and circular train make for a good jetlag-recovery day — a sweet milky tea and a plate of mohinga (fish noodle soup, the national breakfast) costs about a dollar. Save Shwedagon Pagoda for the last two hours before sunset, when the marble underfoot stops scorching and the 99-metre gold stupa starts to glow. Entry is around $8; go barefoot, clockwise, slowly. Dorm beds downtown run $10-15.
Night bus to Bagan
The JJ Express-style VIP night buses are one of Asia's better transport surprises: reclining seats, blankets, and a 9-10 hour run to Bagan for $15-20. You'll arrive at 4-5am, which sounds brutal but is actually perfect — drop your bag, rent an e-bike ($5-8 a day, the only way foreigners can ride here), and get to a temple terrace for first light. Bagan's plain holds over two thousand brick temples spread across roughly forty square kilometres, and at sunrise the mist lies between them in ribbons while hot-air balloons drift overhead in season (October to March). The archaeological zone fee is about $18-20 for several days. Two full days is the minimum; the joy is getting lost on sandy tracks between the famous names.
Mandalay and its ancient satellites
A morning bus or shared van covers Bagan to Mandalay in about five hours ($10). Some travellers do this leg by slow boat on the Ayeyarwady instead — a full day on the river for $35-40, best downstream from Mandalay if you reverse the route. Mandalay itself is a workmanlike grid, but its surroundings are the draw: the teak U Bein Bridge at Amarapura stretching 1.2 km across a shallow lake (go at sunrise, not the crowded sunset), the ruins of Inwa reached by a two-minute ferry, and Mandalay Hill's covered stairways. A shared taxi day-loop of the ancient cities costs $12-15 split between a few of you.
The walk that makes the trip: Kalaw to Inle
From Mandalay, take a bus toward Kalaw (6-7 hours, $10), a cool former hill station at 1,300 metres. This is the launch point for the three-day, two-night trek to Inle Lake — for many of us, the best thing in Myanmar. Guided treks cost $40-55 including all meals, a guide, and nights sleeping on mats in Pa-O and Danu village homes or a monastery. You walk 18-20 km a day through chilli fields, tea terraces, and trainside villages where kids sprint alongside yelling hello. Dinner is whatever the family cooks, eaten by candlelight, and it's consistently the best food of the trip. The final morning you descend to the lakeshore and a boat carries you across to Nyaungshwe, your pack arriving separately by road.
Inle Lake
Give Inle two days: a full-day boat tour ($20-25 per boat, split it) past the famous leg-rowing fishermen, floating tomato gardens, and stilt-house villages, then a cycling day to hot springs and vineyards on the shore. The lake entry fee is about $10.
From Nyaungshwe, night buses run back to Yangon in 10-11 hours. Go November to February for cool, dry weather. Budget $30-40 a day, carry crisp US dollars as backup, and remember that a longyi and a ready mingalaba will open more doors than anything else in your pack.
