Bagan was the second stop on our tour through Myanmar. We read a lot about Bagan when preparing for our trip. From “it is stunningly beautiful” to “it is very touristy and not worth visiting”, we found every opinion. As we basically love inspiration from other people’s opinions but don’t really give a shit about them (yeah, that is us; there is no logic behind this), we of course included Bagan on our tour.
Bagan is definitely one of the most famous places in Myanmar. It is not only popular among international tourists; people from Myanmar also come to visit this highly spiritual place that is important to their religion and beliefs. It is touristy, yes, but not in any way comparable to other places we would call touristy.
Bagan is located on the Irrawaddy River and spreads across 36 square kilometres of steppe landscape. It is the largest and one of the most important archaeological sites in Southeast Asia. It encompasses more than 2,000 sacred brick temples and pagodas. Most of Bagan’s monumental architecture was built during the peak of the Bagan civilisation from the 11th to 13th centuries. Due to its good location on the Irrawaddy River, Bagan used to be the centre of the Kingdom of Burma. The beliefs of Bagan’s rulers were strongly based on Buddhism, which is not only reflected in the urban image but also in the interiors of the temples.
It is a cultural and historic epicentre, and the density of Buddhist monuments is incredible. Bagan was supposed to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site many years ago. However, it had not yet made the list because the requirements regarding archaeological restoration and conservation had not been fully met.
Bagan today
The entire city of Bagan is an Archaeological Zone. In order to enter this area, you have to pay a fee of 25,000 kyat per person for five days.
Bagan is basically divided into three major parts: Old Bagan, New Bagan and Nyaung U. Old Bagan is the centre of Bagan and located between New Bagan and Nyaung U. It is closest to most of the temples and pagodas. New Bagan and Nyaung U feature pretty much all the facilities for travellers with at least some budget awareness.
Arriving in Bagan
There are two major ways to arrive in Bagan: land and water. Of course, arriving by plane is also possible, but it is definitely the most expensive version, so not an option for budget travellers like us. There is also a train passing Bagan from Mandalay and Yangon. The railway system is not very well established, so going by train takes literally forever. Not an option for us either.
Bus
It is pretty easy to arrive in Bagan by bus. Two major hubs are Yangon, 500 kilometres or approximately 311 miles to the south, and Mandalay, 150 kilometres or approximately 93 miles to the north-east. We started our tour in the south, in Yangon, and took the bus to Bagan. It is not really far; however, the ride takes about ten hours as the bus only moves forward at an average pace of 60 km/h or 37 mph.
There are two options available: day bus and night bus. We took the day bus, which left Mingalar Highway Bus Station at 8:00 AM and arrived in Bagan at 5:30 PM, with one lunch stop and a little snack stop in the afternoon. The night bus also takes about ten hours. It is very likely to be the more convenient option, though.
Boat
From Mandalay, you can also reach Bagan by boat via the Irrawaddy River. The boat is more expensive than the bus; however, it is a nice opportunity to spend a relaxing day on the water and enjoy wonderful views along the river. It starts in Mandalay very early, at around 6:00 AM, and takes about ten hours to arrive in Bagan. The bus is the faster option, but you don’t get to enjoy a wonderful sunset on the river.
How much time should you spend in Bagan?
We spent three days and four nights in Bagan. On our fourth day, we took the boat to Mandalay, so we had three whole days to enjoy the wonderful archaeological site. We think three days was the perfect amount of time to explore many temples, pagodas and stupas. We also got to enjoy three wonderful sunrises and sunsets, and for us it was the perfect time frame.
You could also do Bagan in two days if your travel schedule is really tight. At the same time, you could easily spend four days. Still, we think three days is perfect. The ticket for the Archaeological Zone is valid for five days and is also checked at some places inside the zone, for example in front of temples.
The best place to stay
Old Bagan
Old Bagan features many hotels, most of them very upscale and expensive. In order to visit the temples, you will still need some kind of vehicle, such as a tuk-tuk, bicycle or e-bike. There are some temples that can be reached on foot from Old Bagan, but to explore the huge area, you need wheels that get you from A to B.
Nyaung U
Nyaung U is located about five to ten kilometres from the major temples. It is a lot more economical than Old Bagan and not really less convenient, unless you consider it a major inconvenience to drive ten minutes to the sunrise spot in the morning instead of maybe only five. Nyaung U features many restaurants, serving not only Myanmar food but many different cuisines, as well as some souvenir shops and a market.
New Bagan
New Bagan is very similar to Nyaung U, just located on the other side of Old Bagan. The distance to the temples is pretty much the same. New Bagan also features lots of accommodation at different price levels and restaurants. Its real advantage over Nyaung U is that it has proper grocery stores with an acceptable selection. In Nyaung U, we also found little stores, but the selection was so limited that we couldn’t find anything we wanted to buy.
Our conclusion
We personally think that Old Bagan is probably the best and most comfortable place to stay, but only if you travel on a high budget. For low budgets, Old Bagan is definitely not the right choice. It has lots of nice, upscale hotels close to numerous temples, pagodas and stupas, but it is also very expensive. A hotel room in Old Bagan can be at least three to five times more expensive than a hotel or guesthouse room in New Bagan or Nyaung U.
Staying in either of those two parts of the city doesn’t really have any disadvantage. It is a little further from the temples, but you have to drive anyway, and it simply doesn’t set you back about 100 to 200 euros per night. We really enjoyed our stay in Nyaung U and can definitely recommend staying there.
Sightseeing in Bagan
Bagan is famous for two things, or better, a combination of two things: pagodas and hot-air balloons. Everybody knows the wonderful pictures with hundreds of temple towers and hot-air balloons flying over them. And yes, it is truly beautiful and looks exactly like it does in the pictures. Well, actually even a little bit better.
However, after an earthquake in 2016, there were new rules in Bagan and it was no longer that easy to find the perfect picture spot.
Earthquakes and the new rules
Several earthquakes have caused severe damage to the monuments in Bagan. In August 2016, a major earthquake hit the area and damaged or destroyed hundreds of temples. For reasons of restoration and conservation, visitors were no longer allowed to enter or climb many of them. Only a few were left that tourists could climb, which was truly a shame because of the great picture opportunities.
Planning your day
The first rule for a visit to Bagan: don’t plan too much. Bagan is just so beautiful that you should go there and enjoy the scenery instead of running from temple to temple according to a tight schedule. The best times to visit temples and take pictures are sunrise and sunset. During the day, it is really hot and temple hopping is not so much fun. As many temples had recently been closed, it was also pretty hard to find good spots.
Daytime
During the day, sightseeing in Bagan is really tough. Between 12:00 and 3:00 PM, it is so hot that the only way to survive is more or less to sit in the air-conditioned hotel room or cool down in the pool, if you are lucky enough to have one.
If you don’t want to sit and relax in your room for three or four hours a day, you can visit the big temples that you can enter, such as Ananda and Htilominlo. It is nice and cool inside, and visiting them during sunrise or sunset doesn’t make much sense anyway.
Our top travel hacks for Bagan
- Visit as soon as possible. Tourism is growing everywhere, and as soon as everybody streams to Bagan, the mystical touch of the place will be destroyed very quickly.
- Always wear a shirt with sleeves and cover your knees when you want to go inside a temple.
Our overnight stay
Motel Zein
We spent four nights in the motel or hotel. We couldn’t really find out what it was, because even the signs were misleading: some of them said “hotel” and some said “motel”. We would say it was a hotel.
In general, we can really recommend staying at Motel Zein. The rooms are very spacious and clean, the location is really good and the breakfast was the best we had in Southeast Asia. DON’T miss the pancakes. They are just sooooo goddamn delicious.
The hotel is also well located for exploring the ancient monuments of Bagan. E-bike rental is available at the motel and costs 5,000 kyat per day for one person and 8,000 kyat per day for two people.
There are, however, two negative points about Motel Zein that we would like to point out, just to make sure you are not disappointed if you decide to stay there. The internet is so slow that it is like having no internet at all. If they would simply offer no internet and write that on Booking.com or their website, it would be better. Generally, it is not a problem to survive without internet for a few days. However, if you would like to book buses, accommodation or tours online, it is just annoying.
When we arrived, the owner welcomed us in very good English. She had obviously spent some time in an English-speaking country. However, we only saw her once. For the rest of the time, her staff were at reception. They were very friendly but spoke really limited English, which was a little annoying when we wanted to book boat, bus or whatever tickets, or gather some information.
