Day 3 – Bagan | Twelve Days in Myanmar

With only one day to visit all the temples of Bagan, I decided to rent a e-bike from the hotel. Most places I inquired at sold a full-day rental of e-bike for MMK 8,000-10,000. But my hotel (Shwe Nadi guesthouse) had one for MMK 7,000 (approx $5).

After breakfast at the hotel, I headed out to visit the temples of Bagan. There are multiple itineraries on the web (example: WikiTravel) that you can follow – take the north to south route or vice versa, depending on where you are staying. Follow the two main roads that run north-south and you will come across pagodas and temples along the way.

I followed the north to south route (starting from Shwe Nadi Guest House in New Bagan area) and some of the sights I visited (in the order of visit) were:

1. Shwezigon Pagoda
2. Htilominlo Temple
3. Upali Thein Pagoda
4. Ananda Temple
5. Maha Bodhi Phaya
6. Shwegugyi Phaya
7. Thatbyinnyu temple
8. Mahazedi Pagoda
9. Bu Phaya
10. Mingalar Zedi Pagoda
11. Gu Byauk Gyi pagoda
12. Shwesandaw Pagoda (closed for repairs)
13. Shwenanyintaw Monastary
14. Bulethi Pagoda
15. Lunch break
16. Winido Temple
17. Thambula Temple
18. Pyathetgyi Pagoda
19. Sulamani Temple
20. Dhamman Gyi Temple
21. Ta Wet Hpaya temple

 
Here’s a route you can follow:

Notes:

• It is very important you carry your ticket with you. It will be checked at a lot of temples, but not all. If you haven’t purchased a ticket before entering the area, then you will be charged MMK 25,000 mandatory fee. There are not penalties.
• The north to south, and back north loop shown above is the one I took, and you can freely visit most of the sights in one day. I stopped by for lunch at Aroma 2 restaurant, before continuing my south-east loop.
• Sunset – There are quite a few temples from where you can see the sunset, but I picked Ta Wet Hpaya Temple because it was the last on the list and not frequented by a lot of people. The climb up the temple to the dome is not difficult and can be done by kids as well.

Bus from Bagan There are limited buses that travel from Bagan to Mandalay, so it is always best to reserve a seat at least a day before if you are on a schedule. Buses are either 18-seater or the luxury ones.

It was about 7pm by the time I was back at the hotel. After a shower and dinner, I called it a day as I had to be up at 4am for the Balloons Over Bagan tour.

Note: All values in USD, unless otherwise mentioned, are approximate and based on the exchange rate of USD 1 = MMK 1,350 at the time of publishing. Each cost is for one adult.