11 Days Best of Myanmar and Laos Tour

After morning breakfast, your tour guide will pick you up at 8:30 am to Yangon Railway Station. Taking the local circular train journey to the outskirts of town (20-30 minutes ride).

1. Circular train journey: observing the lively and colorful life of the rural Burmese people.
2. Kyi Myin Daing Market: a variety of street vendors sell colorful wares, where you can explore the market and meet friendly locals.

Go back to the downtown area of Yangon to enjoy Myanmar cuisine. You’ll continue your tour in the afternoon. You’ll explore:

1. Old City Hall: A well-balanced blend of Western and Burmese architectural styles, listed on the Yangon City Heritage List.
2. Botahtaung Pagoda: features golden decorations inside and houses a sacred hair of Gautama Buddha.
3. Bogyoke Market: sells many Burmese traditional handicrafts including stone, wood, bronze carvings, and much more.
4. Kandawgyi Park: famous Karaweik, a concrete replica of a Burmese royal barge built in 1972, near Chaukhtetgyi Reclining Buddha Image.
5. Shwedagon Pagoda: an important Buddist icon, which has been described as one of the wonders of the world, plays a very important role in old Burmese history.

Enjoy the sunset over the Shwedagon pagoda, and then you’ll get back to the hotel for a good rest.

Enjoy your free time in the morning until transfer to the airport for an onward flight to Mandalay about 1 hour.

Welcome to Mandalay! Upon your arrival in Mandalay, your local guide will meet you at the airport and escort you to the hotel.

Around 5:30 pm, your tour guide will take you to Mandalay Hill to enjoy the stunning sunset. Nearby there are also many remarkable sights like:

1. The Golden Palace Monastery: famous for its exquisite wood carvings.
2. Kuthodaw Pagoda: housing the “Biggest book in the World”.
3. Kyauk Taw Gyi Pagoda: famous for its huge Marble Buddha.

After the tour, you will be escorted to the hotel and have a good rest.

After enjoying your breakfast, your tour guide will pick you up from your hotel in Mandalay at 7:30 am-8:00 am. You’ll take a drive to Mingun, located 11 km up the Ayeyarwady River on the west bank from Mandalay. From here, you will explore the historic sites around Mandalay. In Mingun, you’ll visit:

1. Mingun Bell: the world's largest uncracked bell.
2. PaHTodawgyi Pagoda: the world's largest pile of bricks.
3. Myatheindan Pagoda: It's white and looks like the mythical Buddhist Mountain called Mount Meru.

You’ll then continue to Sagaing, the ancient capital of the Shan and Myanmar Kingdoms. Uncountable white-and-gold stupas are highlights of Sagaing. Sagaing Hill is widely regarded as the religious center of Myanmar. You’ll visit Soon Oo Pon Nya Shin Pagoda on the tranquil Sagaing Hill.

Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant in Sagaing. Crossing a bridge over the Irrawaddy River, you’ll take a horse cart to explore the ruins of the old royal capital.

1. 27m tall leaning tower.
2. Maha Aungmye Bonzan Monastery: built of brick in traditional style with elaborated stucco ornamentations that look like carvings.
3. Bargaya Monastery: a splendid teak wood monastery with wood carving.

Your last destination today is the Amarapura, the royal capital of Myanmar twice. In Amarapura, you’ll visit:

1. Mahargandaryon Monastery: the largest teaching monastery in Myanmar.
2. U Bein Bridge: exploring the local way of life and enjoying the sunset.
3. Weaving Workshop: weaving is the main business of Amarapura people.

After the tour, you will be escorted to the hotel, enjoy your free time, and have a good rest.

This morning, you’ll be transferred by private van to Bagan after enjoying breakfast. The total distance is 112 miles and will take about 3 hours. Upon arrival, you will be escorted to your hotel for check-in.

This afternoon, you’ll explore Bagan. In this ancient city, you’ll visit:

1. Thousands of Buddhist pagodas: over 4000 Buddhist temples and Pagodas sprinkled all across the town.
2. Nyaung Oo Market: locals buy and sell products.
3. Shwezigon Pagoda: the largest pagoda in Bagan painted with real gold.

Then enjoy a fun horse cart ride to a little village called Taung Phi for a view of a teak monastery. Keep riding in the horse cart around temples and winding roads, while the sun moves toward the horizon, making interesting shadows from the temples on the ground. You’ll visit Shesandaw Pagoda and watch one of the best sunsets in Southeast Asia.

Today, you need to get up early at 5:00 am to experience a beautiful hot air balloon flight over Bagan’s temples. 

Drifting over a panorama of a thousand ancient pagodas, silent in the shadow of low-slung mountains and against the banks of the mighty Irrawaddy River, you will have a wonderful overhead perspective of Bagan. It's a fantastic and interactive experience.

The entire experience will last about 2.5 hours. On landing, our fully trained Myanmar ground crew will pack the balloon whilst passengers enjoy a glass or two of celebratory champagne. You’ll receive a flight certificate signed by the pilot.

After enjoying a delicious breakfast, you have free time on your own until your tour guide picks you up at 1:00-1:30 pm to Mount Popa.

1. Mount Popa: a dormant volcano in central Myanmar and the highest point of the Pegu Range.
2. Popa Taungkalat Monastery: a special monastery high up on a big rocky hill, offering beautiful views of the fields nearby and Mount Popa.
3. Nat Shrine: mannequin-like figures representing the 37 Nats, which is dedicated to animist spirits.

Note: You need to climb 777 steps to get to Popa Taungkalat Monastery, if you don’t want to do that, you can choose to visit the sandalwood forest and medical herb garden with plenty of flora and fauna.

After touring Mount Popa, a stop will be made at a palm tree plantation on the way back to the hotel in Bagan. Villagers earn money from these palm trees. It's a nice break where you can watch them work with palm trees.

After breakfast, you will be escorted to Mandalay for a nearly 3-hour drive. In the afternoon, you will take a flight to Yangon for about 1 hour.

Welcome to Yangon!

The rest of the day is at leisure. In the evening, you can wander around the city and the night market to discover the local life of Yangon.

After breakfast, you will be escorted to the airport in Yangon and then take a flight to Luang Prabang for about 6 hours.

Welcome to Luang Prabang! In this small town, you'll find lovely old French-style buildings, amazing temples and monasteries, and the big Mekong River, making it a really beautiful place you won't forget. Don't miss out the stunning sunset over the Mekong while enjoying a cold Beer Lao.

The rest of the day is at leisure. In the evening, you can wander around the city and the night market to discover the local life of Luang Prabang.

After breakfast, your tour guide will meet you at 8:00 am – 8:30 am to start the day of the Luang Prabang city tour. In the morning, you will visit:

1. Royal Palace Museum: once served as the residence of King Sisavang Vong and was designed in the French Beaux-Arts style with many interesting artifacts of traditional Lao culture.
2. Wat Sene: the oldest temple of Luang Prabang.
3. Wat Xiengthong: its roofs sweep low to the ground and represent classical Laotian architecture.
4. Wat Visoun: the oldest Buddhist temple and the city’s museum of religious arts.
5. Wat Aham: the monastery of the blossoming heart.

After eating a delicious Laotian lunch, you are going on a tour in the afternoon.

1. Arts and Ethnology Center: learning about Laos’ many ethnic cultures.
2. Weaving villages of Ban Xiengkhong and Ban Xienglek: known for their arts and crafts including saa paper and silk.

You can watch villagers making paper and weaving traditional textiles. After visiting the villages, you will return to the city for a visit to Wat Mai, which is one of Luang Prabang’s largest and most richly decorated temples.

After the tour, your tour guide will escort you to the hotel for the rest.

After breakfast, your tour guide will meet you at the hotel around 8:00 am – 8:30 am. The day begins with a boat ride up the Mekong River, which gives you a breathtaking view of the tranquil countryside. Along the way, you'll stop and visit:

1. Ban Xanghai village: the place where Laos' rice wine and rice whiskey are produced. You'll have the opportunity to try some and learn about the process used to make it.
2. Pak Ou Caves: two linked caves filled with thousands of gold lacquered Buddha statues of various shapes and sizes left by pilgrims.

Lunch will be served near the caves. You'll try a local Laotian dish called "Orlam" which is a soup with vegetables and features a spicy wood that is partially edible. After a short rest, you’ll continue on your half-day tour to the beautiful Khouang Si Waterfall.

1. Bear Rescue Sanctuary: three bear houses were built with a capacity for 25 rescued bears. 
2. Khouang Si Waterfall: the most beautiful in Laos. You can cool off with a refreshing swim in the pools or walk along the forest trails.

After the tour, your tour guide will escort you to the hotel for the rest.

Enjoy your breakfast and free time in the morning until your tour guide picks you up to the airport. Tour service ends here.