In a nutshell
Currently, travel to Myanmar is not recommended. A travel warning is in effect, as the security situation in the country is still considered critical. It is not currently foreseeable when the situation will improve.
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Attractions in Mandalay
A full day is generally enough to visit the most important highlights in Mandalay on your own — though you’ll be on the go the entire time without much of a break. Here’s a closer look at our top picks.
Mandalay Hill
Mandalay Hill is a 236-meter-high hill in the northern part of the city. From the top, you get a fantastic panorama over the entire city and surrounding area — but the summit itself and the climb up are highlights in their own right.
The ascent leads up seemingly endless staircases past vendors’ stalls, Buddha figures, and fun photo props where you can get your picture taken.
Every time we thought we’d finally made it, another staircase appeared out of nowhere, leading even further up.
There’s a more comfortable option, though — a road also leads up the hill, so you can ride a scooter or take a taxi almost all the way to the top.
Kuthodaw Pagoda — or the World’s Largest Book
Very close to Mandalay Hill lies the Kuthodaw Pagoda.
Surrounding the pagoda are 729 small white pagodas, each housing a marble slab inscribed with text.
The texts convey Buddhist teachings and are often referred to as the world’s largest book. Printed on paper, they would fill more than 15,000 pages.
Mahamuni Pagoda
Even if you think you’ve already seen every kind of Buddha figure in Myanmar, the Buddha at the Mahamuni Pagoda will almost certainly still surprise you.
The statue is the most sacred in the entire country. Not only is it richly adorned with gemstones, it’s also decorated every single day with gold leaf by thousands of visitors.
Over the years, those thin sheets of gold have built up layer upon layer, leaving the Buddha completely misshapen. Estimates suggest that somewhere between three and twelve tons of gold leaf are stuck to the statue. Incredible!
One thing to know: only men are allowed to approach the statue directly to apply the gold leaf.
The Gold Leaf Beaters of Mandalay
Speaking of gold leaf — in Mandalay, its production is still done entirely by hand. That’s where the gold beater comes in.
A gold beater’s daily routine consists of striking a small packet of gold over and over with a three-kilogram hammer.
The work is seriously demanding, but just as coveted. A single piece of gold is hammered for a total of 6.5 hours across various stages until it’s just a few thousandths of a millimeter thick.
It’s then cut into small squares and packaged. For just 3,000 Kyat, you can buy a small packet of gold leaf and apply it to the Mahamuni Buddha yourself.
On 36th Street between 77th and 78th Street, there’s a small workshop open to visitors where you can watch the gold beaters at work and follow the entire process from hammering to packaging.
The Royal Palace
The former royal palace occupies a vast, nearly square grounds of 2×2 kilometers right in the heart of downtown Mandalay.
This was once the site of a magnificent palace — the very one immortalized in Amitav Ghosh’s novel The Glass Palace, an absolutely recommended read about Myanmar.
Unfortunately, the palace was completely destroyed, and apart from the surrounding wall, nothing remains of the original structure. Reconstruction attempts weren’t particularly successful. Honestly, you can skip a visit to the palace grounds — there isn’t much to see there.
Our Hotel Tips for Mandalay
Hotel prices in Mandalay are generally lower than elsewhere in the country — you can get a really good room here without spending a lot.
We stayed at Hotel 8 and paid just $23 per night. For comparable rooms elsewhere in Myanmar, you’d easily pay $40. The hotel is well located, has simple, modern rooms, and a fairly good breakfast.
Hotel 8 was fully booked when we tried to extend our stay, so we moved to the Night Sweet Hotel. It wasn’t quite as good, but not bad either. If you’re after a bit more comfort, we’d suggest the Home Hotel.
You’ll find more lodging recommendations in our article on where to stay in Myanmar.
Getting Around Mandalay and the Surrounding Area
First, some good news: navigating Mandalay is a breeze. The streets in the city center all run parallel to each other and are simply numbered rather than named.
That said, Mandalay is quite spread out and not the most pleasant city to explore on foot. Taxis are easy to find everywhere and will get you from A to B without any hassle.
Exploring Mandalay and the Surrounding Area by Scooter
We rented a scooter and can’t recommend it enough. You’re quick, flexible, and can easily make day trips to Amarapura, Inwa, and Sagaing on it.
Traffic is pretty manageable, and since Myanmar drives on the right, one hurdle that trips up many other Southeast Asian destinations is already out of the way.
The easiest place to rent a scooter is your hotel — we arranged ours directly through Hotel 8 and paid 1,000 Kyat per hour.
For a full day out, we consistently ended up paying around 8,000 to 9,000 Kyat total, which is definitely fair. Gas is also very cheap.
Exploring Mandalay and the Surrounding Area with a Guide
For our day trip to Monywa — more on that below — we hired Zaw Zaw as our driver and guide based on a recommendation.
We can wholeheartedly recommend him. His English is excellent, he’s great to talk to, and you can ask him anything you want to know about Mandalay and Myanmar. His prices are fair and he’s genuinely a very warm person.
The best way to reach him is by email at zawzaw21@gmail.com. Zaw Zaw also organizes cycling tours throughout the entire country, so if that interests you, he’s your man.
Day Trip from Mandalay to Amarapura, Inwa, and Sagaing
The area around Mandalay has plenty of standout places to visit. To the southwest of the city, three outstanding attractions can be combined into a single day trip.
Here’s what to expect at each stop, plus our tips for making the most of the tour.
Things to See in Sagaing
The hills of Sagaing stretch out to the west of the Irrawaddy River. You get a great view from the large bridge that takes you across.
The hills are dotted with more than 700 temples and pagodas in total, their golden hues shimmering through the green hillsides. The pagodas themselves aren’t the biggest individual highlights — it’s the sheer number of them that makes Sagaing special.
After four weeks in Myanmar, we were admittedly pretty spoiled and found it hard to get excited about new pagodas. If you’re visiting Mandalay at the start of your Myanmar trip, though, Sagaing will almost certainly be very impressive.
Things to See in Inwa
Inwa was the capital of a kingdom for more than 400 years. That’s hard to imagine today, as only a few ruins scattered among fields and meadows remain.
Many travelers explore Inwa by horse-drawn carriage, which you can rent for about 8,000 Kyat. We explored the area on our own scooter.
Unfortunately, it had rained heavily the day before, so the paths were extremely muddy and completely impassable by scooter.
Even so, we managed to see quite a bit — the leaning tower (under renovation at the time), a crumbling pagoda with truly ominous cracks that looked like it could collapse at any moment, and the beautiful wooden Shwenandaw Monastery.
Things to See in Amarapura
Just a few kilometers from Inwa, another former royal city awaits. Here too you can discover the crumbling remains of a long-gone era — but the real highlight is the U Bein Bridge.
At 1,200 meters in length, it’s considered the longest wooden bridge in the world and carries pedestrians across Taungthaman Lake. At sunset, crowds flock here to photograph the structure with the setting sun behind it.
If you want to avoid the crowds, come earlier in the day. That said, the sunset is really not to be missed. For about 8,000 Kyat, you can hire a small rowboat to paddle you out to the best photo spot in front of the bridge — though you’ll share that spot with plenty of other boats.
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Our Tips for the Tour
We covered all three stops in a single day — starting with Sagaing, then heading to Inwa, and finishing at Amarapura for sunset. The route is totally manageable if you set off early enough. We left Mandalay at around 8:30 AM.
On the way from Sagaing to Inwa, you have to take quite a long detour to cross the bridge over the small Myitnge River. There’s also the option of taking a small boat to cross further up — for two people including the scooter, this costs 2,000 Kyat.
This only works in dry conditions, though. If it’s rained, the mud on the other side is impassable by scooter and you’ll have to take the boat back again. We speak from experience.
Doing the tour by public transportation is technically possible, but it’s cumbersome and hard to pull off in a single day.
Alternatively, you can do the tour with a driver and guide. We’d recommend Zaw Zaw, mentioned above. You can also book a private guided tour online:
Private Tour to Amarapura, Inwa, and Sagaing.
Our verdict on the tour: The trip to Amarapura and Inwa is an absolute must-do from Mandalay — don’t skip it. Sagaing, in our opinion, isn’t strictly necessary, but it’s easy enough to combine with the other two stops.
Day Trip from Mandalay to Mingun
Mingun lies to the northwest of Mandalay and is a monument to absolute megalomania. A former king wanted to build a gigantic temple here — but by the time of his death, only the stump had been completed.
An earthquake then struck the region, construction was halted, and the temple fragment has stood there ever since.
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The sheer scale of this fragment alone is staggering — it’s hard to imagine just how enormous the finished temple would have been. In front of it stand two massive lion figures, though they too have largely crumbled.
The temple was meant to house a giant bell, which had actually already been cast. That bell now hangs a few meters from the temple ruins and is the largest ringing bell in the world.
Only in the Kremlin in Moscow hangs a larger bell — but it can no longer be struck due to a crack.
As a third attraction, Mingun also has a beautiful white pagoda that’s well worth seeing.
Our Tips for the Tour
A ferry departs from Mandalay to Mingun daily at 9:00 AM. The boat returns at 12:30 PM. The time on-site is more than enough to see everything, and all three attractions are within walking distance of the dock.
For an extra special experience, you can rent an ox cart. It’s not much faster than walking — but how many people can say they’ve ridden in an ox cart taxi?
The ferry departs from the end of 26th Street in Mandalay. Just follow the street down to the river and you’ll arrive directly at the dock.
Tickets are sold at the office right at the harbor by a friendly older gentleman who speaks very good English. The ticket costs 5,000 Kyat per person (round trip), and there’s an additional 5,000 Kyat entrance fee in Mingun.
Our verdict on the tour: Mingun is quite fascinating, and if you have enough time, we’d definitely recommend making the trip.
If you’re pressed for time, though, prioritize Mandalay itself and the day trip to Amarapura and Inwa first. Since you’re back in Mandalay early in the afternoon, there’s still time to squeeze in something else afterward.
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Mingun Pagoda
Day Trip from Mandalay to Monywa
Honestly — after four weeks in Myanmar, we started to experience serious temple fatigue. We’d been to Bagan, to Mrauk-U, to Bago — all places with countless temples and pagodas, each more beautiful than the last.
We genuinely thought nothing could top that. And then we arrived in Monywa. First there’s the enormous standing Buddha, rising an incredible 116 meters into the sky.
Only in China is there a larger Buddha statue. In front of it lies a 90-meter-long reclining Buddha, and at the foot of the hill sit thousands of Buddha figures beneath just as many trees.
That alone is deeply impressive — but the absolute showstopper is the Thanbodday Pagoda. Even from the outside, it looks completely different from any other pagoda in Myanmar. It’s very colorful and somewhat reminiscent of a Hindu temple.
Inside, things get truly mind-blowing. We had never seen so many Buddha statues in one place.
In total, nearly 600,000 large and small Buddha statues adorn this temple. Yes, you read that right — not a zero too many. Six hundred thousand! This is without a doubt the most impressive temple in all of Myanmar.
Our Tips for the Tour
By scooter, Monywa is unfortunately too far. You’ll need to either take a bus or hire a driver. We went with Zaw Zaw, whom we mentioned earlier. For the full-day tour including the car, we paid $90. The drive takes about 2.5 to three hours.
Alternatively, you can take the bus, which is of course much cheaper but takes three to four hours. As a day trip, that makes it very tight once you factor in time at the sights.
Spending the night in Monywa is also an option — we’d originally planned to do that ourselves. A solid choice for accommodation there is the Jade Royal Hotel Monywa.
Our verdict on the tour: Monywa is an absolute highlight in Myanmar that, surprisingly, still isn’t on many travelers’ radar. We strongly recommend making this trip from Mandalay, or even spending a night there. You won’t regret it.
Day Trip from Mandalay to Pyin U Lwin
Pyin U Lwin lies to the east of Mandalay at an elevation of 1,100 meters and once served as a retreat for British colonial rulers during the hot months.
Today it serves once again as a getaway for those seeking rest and relaxation — though no longer for the British, but for the more affluent residents of Mandalay.
Pyin U Lwin looks quite different from most places in Myanmar. It’s very green, and here and there, colonial buildings still recall the era of British rule.
The standout attraction is the vast botanical garden — beautifully maintained green spaces with not a piece of litter in sight. That’s truly unique in Myanmar. If you want to escape the heat and hustle, Pyin U Lwin is the perfect place to recharge.
Our Tips for the Tour
The best way to get there is by shared taxi — a taxi shared by up to four people. This costs about 8,000 Kyat per person, and the ride takes just under two hours. Ask at your hotel in Mandalay whether they can arrange one for you.
If you’d like to spend more time in Pyin U Lwin, there are also plenty of hotels on-site. One solid option is the Royal Green Hotel.
Our verdict on the tour: Pyin U Lwin shows you a completely different side of Myanmar. For a first visit to the country, though, it’s not strictly a must — especially if you’re short on time.
Our Video from Mandalay
To get in the mood for your trip, be sure to check out our video from Mandalay.
Our Verdict on Mandalay and the Surrounding Area
Mandalay has a lot to offer, and we were genuinely pleasantly surprised. You could easily spend five days here and discover something new every day. The city itself warrants one to two days, but the surrounding area is where it really gets exciting.
Mandalay is a perfect base for day trips, and was unfortunately also the last stop on our journey. From Mandalay, we flew with Bangkok Airways to Chiang Mai and had to say goodbye to Myanmar after 31 days.
Have you been to Mandalay yourself? Did we miss an important tip? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.
