rivlinm

Right now I have 10 days semi planned for Myanmar with 5 days to follow in Sri Lanka. My question is should I switch to 11/4 (like below) in order to visit Inle Lake for just over 24 hours. (or 12/3 if two days)

Day 1: Arrive in Mandalay and explore the city
Day 2: Explore around Mandalay
Day 3: Explore around Mandalay
Day 4: Take ferry to Bagan
Day 5: Bagan
Day 6: Bagan
Day 7: Mt. Popa and overnight train to Yangon
Day 8: Arrive in Yangon mid day and explore Yangon
Day 9: Fly to Heho for Inle Lake
Day 10: Explore Inle Lake and fly to Yangon
Day 11: Explore Yangon before 23:30 departure

Some folks rave about Inle Lake, while I see it as a nothing more than a floating village (touristy) like on the Tonle Sap or in Thailand. I agree the photos look nice and I do enjoy photography, but I'm not convinced spending ~$200 for a quick visit is worth giving up a day in Sri Lanka. I am still early in the Sri Lanka planning so can't exactly say what I would have to give up, beyond a day on the calendar.

N.b.: this is the last 15 days of a 40 day trek across Africa (not Disney Africa) and the Middle East. I.e., not much luxury

CrazyInteg

I've only been to Myanmar once, and I had the same idea as you...why Inle? I ended up not going. How many fisherman photos does the world need?

But your itinerary caught my eye for the following...Bagan/Popa->Yangon->Inle->Yangon

Why not go directly from Bagan to Inle? Again, I have not been to Inle or flown domestically in Myanmar, but why waste time with the multiple trips to Yangon?

And because, why not

rivlinm

I'm struggling to build an itinerary that does Bagan to Inle. That is the longest of the bus rides. Flights are sparse. That was my original plan. M>B>I>Y. Plus I wanted to take the train from Bagan. The train from Inle requires an overnight.

CrazyInteg

I see. It's been a couple years since I was there, and at the time, they would not sell me a train ticket. So I took busses around the country. I imagine the train situation should be better by now.

Also, if you skip the train, you could fly from Bagan to Heho or Mandalay to Heho. Your trip is short enough that it seems like you should try to save time by taking faster transport options. That is just my opinion though.

I'm sure some other people will post replies in here. Inle seems to be a popular place for tourists to go.

glennaa11

Not sure I would have the patience for taking trains.

There are several airlines that fly between all of the major tourist destinations. AirKBZ shows direct flights NYU(Bagan)-HEH(Inle) for about $95 one way. I presume the others are similar (Air Bagan, AsianWings, Yangon Airways, etc). Some will stop in MDL on the way.

I agree that it makes the most sense to go in a circle instead of backtracking. When I went to Myanmar I visited Yangon, Sittwe, Mrauk U, Bagan, Mandalay and Inle Lake. I was surprised that I enjoyed Inle as much as I did. It's in the mountains so it can be much cooler than everywhere else. I found it refreshing to be there with clear air, crisp nights and warm days. The scenery there is beautiful.

Here's a link to a trip report I wrote a couple of years ago
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...ple-weeks.html

YVR Cockroach

It isn't just Inle lake that is interesting but the surrounding towns and their temples (don't have the names off hand but 2 days would be necessary). I think an overnight in Inle lake is too short to see these. Spent 4 nights there in January and that was even a little short if one wanted to see more.

I'd consider flying from Bagan to Heho if the flight exists on the day. Too much time spent trekking to and from RGN otherwise.

SanDiego1K

fwiw, when I was planning my own itinerary to Myanmar, I was advised by several to skip Mandalay and go to Inle Lake. So that's what I did, of course also visiting magical Bagan. I thought Inle Lake was really special. I was fascinated by all the work that is done on the lake including the floating gardens. I'm glad that I didn't miss it.

sooge_sj

That is a very interesting question. I would not miss Inle Lake, but neither would I reduce my time in Sri Lanka. I would change my itinerary in Myanmar. You are not doing Sri Lanka the justice it deserves, if you only spend 4 days there.

I was born in Sri Lanka, but have been living in the USA for over 30 years now. Every December I visit Sri Lanka and also include a different country in South East Asia. In December 2014 I visited Myanmar and the highlights of that visit were Inle Lake and Bagan. If I were you, I would fly from Bagan to Heho, as many people have suggested. Also, I would spend less time in Yangon.

Goldorak

Inle lake is a must-see place in Burma. Do not hesitate. And there are some fantastic hotels there.

Nothing comparable. Much more to do/see at Inle.

Mickidon

I'd cut back (or out) Mandalay if you need to save time. Inle was unique and there was
a surprising amount to do there.

EJS464

I haven't been to Sri Lanka so I cannot offer an opinion on choosing between spending time there and Inle but I can add some insight to our Myanmar experience. We found more convenient flights (avoiding the need to backtrack through Yangon) and frequency by reversing your route and built an itinerary that started in Yangon from where we flew nonstop to Heho before continuing to Bagan (a direct flight with a stop but no change of planes in Mandalay) and finishing with another flight to Mandalay because of international flight options from Mandalay to Bangkok. All intra-Myanmar flights were on Mann Yandarnapon in ATR72s that were delivered in 2013 and pretty cheap although I don't know how much of a budget you have allocated to travel within the country and the meaning of cheap varies from person to person. All of our flights were on time and none longer than 1 hour in the air.

We traveled in mid June 2015 and used a Myanmar based travel agency to help us book the intra-Myanmar flights because many of the airlines do not have an online presence or allow you to book travel from outside of Myanmar because of continuing limitations on financial transactions established by the US and some European countries. There is more flight availability than you will find in online searches and the local agencies can help you find those ... the flights are not as sparse as you may think. Not sure to what extent that is still an issue today after the Myanmar election cycle last Fall.

We combined this trip with a visit to Bhutan so we did not spend as much time in Myanmar as you are contemplating so we skipped Mt Popa and generally kept moving.

Day 1 - afternoon arrival in Yangon in time for dinner
Day 2 - Yangon
Day 3 - morning in Yangon, early afternoon flight to HEH with further travel via car and boat to Inle (sightseeing along the way)
Day 4 - Inle
Day 5 - morning in Inle; early afternoon flight to Bagan (NYU)
Day 6 - Bagan
Day 7 - Bagan
Day 8 - early morning flight to Mandalay (MDY) with lunch and afternoon sightseeing
Day 9 - Mandalay
Day 10 - morning in Mandalay with a mid-afternoon flight to Bangkok

You could build an itinerary that follows our flow but include the ferry ride from Bagan to Mandalay since you have the extra day compared to our itinerary. The ending in Mandalay may not work for you either since you may already be locked into a flight out of Yangon at the end of your itinerary ... however there are frequent flights from Mandalay to Yangon and we counted 8 different airlines flying that route (everyone gets a different color sticker depending on airlines to put on your shirt so that they can sort you out during the boarding process and make sure you get on the right plane)

We enjoyed Inle Lake more than Mandalay but part of that was because we were a bit "templed out" after spending time in Inle and Bagan. In hindsight we would have added a night in Inle and skipped the last morning in Mandalay; we were starting to see the same things and a restful day in Inle with minimal activities would have been nice. Culturally Inle was very different and it is an all around beautiful and relaxing place with a variety of activity options. You should definitely spend time in Mandalay but you can probably cut out a day in your itinerary and still have time to see gold leaf manufacturing, visit a monastery, Yangon is similar to Mandalay whereas Bagan and Inle are very different.

rivlinm

WOW! Such overwhelming feedback. I put a bit more effort and considered a few other airlines I had written off earlier. I tried every order beside Y>I>M>B>Y. (Yes I have to start and end in RGN) It was those Heho flights that kept giving me trouble, but not from RGN!

So here is what I now have (with a few questions still )

Day 1: Arrive in RGN @ 6:25 - Depart for HEH at 8:45
Day 2: Explore Inle Lake
Day 3: Explore Inle in the morning with a 12:10 flight to MDL
Day 4: Explore MDL
Day 5: Explore MDL
Day 6: Take boat (or flight if river is too dry) to Bagan
Day 7: Explore Bagan
Day 8: Explore Bagan
Day 9: Mt. Popa before evening train to Yangon
Day 10: Arrive on train around 12:00 then explore Yangon
Day 11: Explore Yangon before 1:10 flight later that night

Questions:

1. Is 2:20 enough to transfer RGN international to domestic?
2. Am I still short changing Inle Lake with .5 day, full day, .25 day?
3. Am I giving too much time to MDL still? (*see below)

I am still adding a day to Myanmar and taking away from Sri Lanka, but I have a flight back to CMB (Thanks QR J sale) so I'm not as worried about losing a day in Sri Lanka. I was just hoping not to eat too much into my fall trip with CMB days.

*The reason I am hung up on MDL with 2.5 days is these locations seem to take a lot of time: Bridge, Hill, Amarpura, Sagain, Monywa, Inwa (may skip) and the Palace. Where as I don't have a great feel for what to actually do in Inle Lake.

Thanks all!

Goldorak

With a flight at noon, you won't have any time to visit in the morning. Depending where you stay on the lake, reaching Heho airport requires a bit of time.

rivlinm

Thought I could get some sunrise photos. Or visit a site on the way to heh. No?

glennaa11

Depending where you are staying on the lake the boat ride to get back to town can take a while. Then it's about an hour drive to HEH. It's a small airport though so it's not like you have be there hugely early.

I think 2.5 days for Mandalay is about right. Overall I think this is not a bad itinerary. But I think the trains are not comfortable and the ride from Bagan to Yangon is pretty long, no?

2:20 should be way more than enough time to connect at RGN.