Best of Myanmar & Cambodia 10 Days

 

Trip Summary

This 10-day tour covers the most ancient royal capitals and some of the thousands of unique pagodas and temples that dot the landscape of Myanmar and Cambodia. The tour begins in MYANMAR, with its prominent golden temples, the ancient kingdom of Bagan, and the beautiful floating market in Inle Lake, then travels to CAMBODIA to explore the Angkor Wat temple ruins, and ends the trip in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

 

Brief Itinerary
Day 1 /Yangon, Myanmar: Yangon, Myanmar arrival – City Tour & Dinner if the time permits (D)
Day 2 /Bagan: Yangon – Fly to Bagan – Half Day Temple Complex Tour (B)
Day 3 /Inle Lake: Bagan – Fly to Heho/Inle Lake (B)
Day 4 /Inle Lake: Full Day Inle Lake Discovery Tour By Boat (B)
Day 5 /Mandalay: Inle Lake – Fly to Mandalay – City Tour (B)
Day 6 /Siem Reap, Cambodia: Mandalay – U Bein Bridge – Fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia (B)
Day 7 /Siem Reap: Full Day Angkor Thom Ancient City & Relics Discovery (B)
Day 8 /Siem Reap: Banteay Srey – Angkor Wat – Gondola Ride (B)
Day 9 /Phnom Penh: Siem Reap – Fly to Phnom Penh – City Tour (B)
Day 10 /Departure: Phnom Penh – Departure (B)

 

Trip Includes
  • 9 nights’ accommodations in memorable, centrally located hotels
    01 night Yagon
    01 night Bagan
    02 nights Inle Lake
    01 night Mandalay
    03 nights Siem Reap
    01 night Phnom Penh
  • All airfares used in tours
  • Meals as indicated
  • A/C private transfers
  • Tours and excursions as indicated
  • English-speaking tour guide
  • All entrance Fees
  • Boat trips as indicated
  • All taxes & service charges

 

 

Detailed Itinerary

 

Day 1: Yangon, Myanmar arrival – City Tour & Dinner if time permits

Highlights with photos: Old City HallMaharbandoola ParkBotahtaung PagodaPagoda Shwedagon

You will be transferred to the hotel for check-in upon arrival. Visit the downtown area in the afternoon, including the Old City Hall and Maharbandoola Park. Then, walk along Colonial Buildings until you reach the old Strand Hotel, the adjacent Australian Embassy, Her Majesty’s British Embassy, and the Red-bricked General Post Office.
We proceed to Botahtaung Pagoda, which is distinguished by its golden decoration inside the pagoda. Finish the day by visiting the most important Pagoda Shwedagon, which global scholars describe as One of the World’s Wonders. Shwedagon plays an important role in Old Burmese history, not only as the holiest structure for Buddhists worldwide. Appreciate the sunset over the pagoda.

Overnight: Yangon

Meals: Dinner

 

Day 2: Yangon – Fly to Bagan – Half-Day Temple Complex Tour

Highlights with photos: BaganNyaung Oo MarketHorse Cart Ride

Transfer to the airport to catch a domestic flight to Bagan, where thousands of Buddhist pagodas are spread across the area of the Ancient City of ‘Bagan’, during its prosperous period, these pagodas were owned by individual families. Upon your arrival in Bagan, your local guide will meet you at the airport and transport you to your hotel.
Then, we will visit the Nyaung Oo Market, where locals buy food daily, as well as the Shwezigon Pagoda, Bagan’s largest pagoda painted with real gold, taking a horsecart ride on the off-road treks through the pagodas at dusk is an unforgettable experience to the top of the Shesandaw Pagoda for the sunset before taking the horse cart back to the hotel.

Internal airfare: Yangon – Bagan

Overnight: Bagan

Meals: Breakfast

 

Day 3: Bagan – Fly to Heho/Inle Lake

Highlights with photos: Inle Lake

Spend some time relaxing in the morning. You can unwind in the hotel or cycle to nearby villages, where you will see lovely local children and monks collecting donations from local families. Transfer to the airport for your flight to Heho. Our guide and driver will accompany you to Inle Lake once you arrive in Heho. Check into the hotel and spend the rest of the day at leisure.

Internal airfare: Bagan – Inle Lake

Overnight: Inle Lake

Meals: Breakfast

 

Day 4: Full-Day Inle Lake Discovery Tour by Boat

Highlights with photos: Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda

Full-day tours of Inle Lake begin with a morning traditional market in a lakeside village or on the lake’s shore. The markets come to Inle Lake every five days. Aside from the Inthars, some tribal ladies, such as Pa-O and Pa Laung, can be seen at the market selling their farm produce before returning to their mountain villages with what they need for the household, you can take photos at the market.
Then visit the Phaung Daw Oo pagoda, the holiest religious stupa housing five Buddha images, the Silk Weaving village (lotus fabrics weaving technique can also be seen unique only here! ), the Cheroot or Myanmar Cigar factory, the nature of Inthars, and Lake Residents with their Floating Garden, the Long Neck ethnic people, who migrate from the Thai border to this village, can also be found here.
We also visit the oldest monastery, Jumping Cat, which has antique Shan-style Buddhas and Buddha alters and take in the monastery’s cat show. Continue by boat to Indein Ruined Pagoda Complex in the afternoon, along a small river that feeds Inle Lake. Passing through large green Myanmar bamboo forests, you will arrive at the Ruined Indein pagodas, which stand on the hill slope and provide a panoramic view of the lake.

Overnight: Inle Lake

Meals: Breakfast

 

Day 5: Inle Lake/Heho – Fly to Mandalay – City Tour

Highlights with photos: MandalayMahamuni BuddhaGold Leaf BeatingKuthodaw PagodaGolden Palace MonasteryMandalay Hill

Following breakfast, you will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Mandalay, upon your arrival in Mandalay, your tour guide and driver will meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel. Following check-in and a brief rest, you will embark on a half-day tour of Mandalay to get your first impressions of the country.
You will first visit the Mahamuni Buddha Image, which is located on the outskirts of Mandalay City and is highly revered and adored by Mandalay residents. Then go to the Handicrafts Workshops, where you can see Gold Leaf Beating, Stone Carvings, Bronze Casting, Marionette and Wood Carvings, and other activities.
In the afternoon, visit Kuthodaw Pagoda, known as the world’s largest book, and Golden Palace Monastery, which has the best wood carvings, was originally located within the Palace City wall, but 5 years before British annexation, it was dismantled and relocated to its current location to be donated to the venerable monks, the Golden Palace is so named because the interior and exterior surfaces of the wood structure have been gilt with millions of Mandalay-made gold leaves. Finally, ascend Mandalay Hill for a panoramic view of the city at sunset.

Internal airfare: Inle Lake/Heho – Mandalay

Overnight: Mandalay

Meals: Breakfast

 

Day 6: Mandalay – U Bein Bridge – Fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia

Highlights with photos: AmarapuraU Bein BridgeCambodian Apsara Dancing show

After breakfast, drive to Amarapura aka the Southern City, the ancient Royal Capital before Mandalay to visit one of the biggest monasteries with more than 1200 Buddhist monks where under the strict tight-scheduled Rules the monks study very hard the Buddhist Canons Day and night to able to carry on the Buddha’s teachings verbally as the Noble Theras did after the Buddha’s demise in the 6th Century B.C.
Then visit the Silk-Weaving workshop, here, Amarapura hand-weaving silk Designs are very famous as Lun Yar Kyaw Cheik, More-than-hundred Loom Design, in which many small colorful silk threaded looms wave through the weft creating the unique Myanmar Ceremonial silk longyi, depending on the designs, finishing a longyi with a hundred or so looms can take at least a month!
Then drive to U Bein Bridge believed to be the longest wooden bridge in the world that spans Taung Thaman Lake to take a walk on the bridge and enjoy a photo opp! Then transfer to the airport onward flight to Siem Reap. The city where the famous world wonder Angkor Wat Temple is located.Upon arrival at Siem Reap airport, you will meet your local guide then escort you to the hotel. In the evening, enjoy dinner with a traditional Cambodian Apsara Dancing show.

International airfare: Mandalay, Myanmar – Siem Reap, Cambodia

Overnight: Siem Reap

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Dance Show

 

Day 7: Angkor Thom Ancient City & Relics Discovery

Highlights with photos: Ta Prohm, Bayon TempleBanteay Kdei

After breakfast, you’ll begin your explorations of the remains of an ancient civilization that once ruled much of Southeast Asia. Today, you’ll be visiting the ancient capital city of Angkor Thom, on your way to Angkor Thom, you’ll catch a glimpse of the front of Angkor Wat as you pass by, which will leave you with a tingling feeling on the back of your neck as you take your Tour first glance at the enormity and wonder of the largest religious complex to ever exist.
Then, we visit some other equally impressive structures of Ta Prohm Temple, Bayon Temple, Banteay Kdei, Baphoun, Elephant Terrace, Leper King Terrace, and the Royal Palace. First on the agenda is Ta Prohm, which is worn by time, and rain, and overpowered by the jungle, this immaculate structure hidden under the canopy will leave you feeling like you’ve stepped into the movie set of a treasure hunt adventure. Your private tour guide will give you the history and stories passed through oral tradition.
After you’ve had lunch, your exploits will continue as you visit Banteay Kdei (“Citadel of Chambers”), the Victory Gate, the Terrace of the Leper King, the Royal Palace, Baphuon, and Bayon, which sets itself apart with its almost 200 smiling faces, sure to make you feel welcome on your second day in the Kingdom of Wonders, with its winding tunnels, chambers, and daring climbs, Bayon will give you many picturesque moments to keep your camera busy. As the sun approaches the horizon, you’ll enjoy a sunset from the top of the pyramid-shaped temple of Pre Rup.

Overnight: Siem Reap

Meals: Breakfast

 

Day 8: Banteay Srey – Angkor Wat – Gondola Ride

Highlights with photos: Banteay Srey TempleAngkor Wat

Today, you’ll experience the temple relics in a way that will let you feel like you’ve escaped the 20th century and traveled a thousand years back to a time when life was simple and nature was surreal. After breakfast, you will visit the Banteay Srey Temple which is famed as a pink stone temple, it is famous for its beautiful stone statues.
Then you’ll go for a gondola ride through the moats of Angkor Thom to see the vast ruins of the Khmer Empire at its peak, close your eyes, and smell the sweet perfume of the Romulo flowers growing wild on the shore mixed with the scent of lotus flowers bobbing in the water. Finally, be prepared today to enjoy one of the Seven Wonders of the World: Angkor Wat, where you most probably have gotten glimpses of the towers over treetops and the gates in front in passing, but now you’ll finally get to satiate that curiosity that’s grown in the last few days.
Enter Angkor Wat and learn about the stories and amazing architecture that has stunned archeologists leaving more questions than answers. Angkor Wat possesses some of the most intricate and longest stone carvings in the world, this complex is four times the size of the Vatican City making it the largest religious site in the world, adventuring through the many passages, and levels, and exploring chambers that once housed many treasures of the ancient world, it will be an experience you won’t forget.

Overnight: Siem Reap

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch What not to miss in Cambodia

 

Day 9: Siem Reap – Fly to Phnom Penh – City Tour

Highlights with photos: National MuseumRoyal Palace

Enjoy the morning at leisure before being transferred to the airport for your flight to Phnom Penh, upon your arrival in Phnom Penh, you will be met by your local guide at the airport and transferred to your hotel. After checking into your hotel and taking a short rest, you will visit the National Museum, which houses a large collection of Khmer history, arts, and architecture, followed by a visit to the Royal Palace, where the Khmer royal family departs. The rest of the day is free.

Internal airfare: Siem Reap – Phnom Penh

Overnight: Phnom Penh

Meals: Breakfast Southeast Asia travel Southeast Asia travel Southeast Asia travel Southeast Asia travel Southeast Asia travel Southeast Asia travel Southeast Asia travel

 

Day 10: Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Departure 

Enjoy a relaxing time until transfer to the airport for your onward international flight to your home.

Meals: Breakfast