Before coming to Myanmar we were hearing some rumours and warnings about transportation and safety on the roads in this country. Are the roads as bad? Is it safe to travel overnight? Is the public transport reliable? Let’s answer all of these questions and find out how to travel around Myanmar cheap, easy and fast and what is the best way to travel across the country.
WITH GROWING TOURISM AND INCREASING NUMBER OF VISITORS, THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ARE SLOWLY GETTING BETTER, HOWEVER THERE ARE STILL ISSUES YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF.
Don’t know much about Myanmar? These interesting things will make you think about visiting this country.
Taxi at Yangon airport
Are you flying to Myanmar? Most likely you will arrive to Yangon international airport. Immediately you will be surrounded by taxi drivers offering you drive for the ,,best” price. But what is that price? In order to provide you with more accurate information, we walked around first, rejected few offers and also asked about the reasonable price at the information desk. We were told that the right price would be around 5000 kyat. However none of the taxi drivers agreed to drive us for this price.
Taxi drivers will not give you any information about other ways of transport. They try to get the most from you, so get ready for some haggling. Our first tip is to to exchange your banknotes for local currency. It gives you much better opportunities for bargaining and achieving acceptable price. Drivers prefer to be paid in American dollars, but if you don’t want to loose money you better avoid that.
For example, first offered price for a ride to the main bus station Aung Mingalar was $10 if you pay in USD or 10 000 kyat if you use local currency. For one dollar you should get around 1500 kyat, so the initial price of 10 000 is worth around $6. What is better? Recalculate it yourself how much you have saved already. Anyway after short negotiating we ended up going for 6000 kyat (which is around $4). Going to the city centre would cost more because it is lot further, so taking a bus might be a better option for you. In general people in Myanmar are very kind, so be nice as well. Respect the locals and find a price that would be suitable both for you and your driver.
Yangon Airport to city by bus
Quite new and very convenient option for reaching the city centre from Yangon airport is bus line operating 24 hrs and just for 500 kyat per person you can ride the whole way. The air-conditioned buses leave every five minutes on routes: Pyay Road route (Green) and Kabar Aye Pagoda Road route (Red) both to Yangon Central Railway Station in downtown. It’s not very clear where the stop around Yangon Railway station is. We would recommend to walk a bit further to Sule Pagoda where you can’t miss it.
These are the following routes including all the bus stops:
| Pyay Road route (Green) Yangon International Airport 9 Miles Ocean 8 Miles Junction 7 Miles Hotel AD Junction Lotte Hotel Inya bank University of Yangon Junction Square Dagon Centre Taw Win Centre City Mall (St. John) Yangon General Hospital Junction City Yangon Railway Station | Kabar Aye Pagoda route (Red) Yangon International Airport 8 Miles Junction Yangon Hotel Nawaday Cinema Kabar Aye Pagoda Parami Myanmar Plaza Hnin Si Gone Shwe Gone Dine Shwedagone Pagoda Zoological Garden Parkroyal Hotel Thamada Cinema Sule Square Sule Pagoda Yangon Railway Station |
INTERESTING FACT IS THAT MAJORITY OF CARS HAS THE DRIVER SEAT ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ALTHOUGH DRIVING IS ON THE RIGHT AS WELL.
Taxi in Yangon city centre
As expensive is to get taxi from the airport, that much cheaper it is in the centre. For one ride (around 3km) you should pay approximately 1500-3000 kyat. There are so many drivers around and we can guarantee that the waiting time for catching a taxi will not be more than 5 minutes. If you don’t like the car or you can’t agree on the price, it is easy to get another one in a matter of seconds.
If you have internet connection it is very useful to download “Grab” – an application used for calling a taxi which works in many asian cities including Yangon, Taipei or Hanoi. The application shows the price before the ride which will help you avoid all of the hassle caused by looking for a taxi on the streets and discussing the price. Interesting to note is that all the motorbikes and scooters are banned in Yangon! However the roads can get very busy and you might get stuck in traffic for longer than just walk to your destination.
From Yangon to Mandalay by bus
There are many ways how to travel around Myanmar and they are not always cheap. Distance between these two cities is more than 600 km. Maybe it doesn’t sound as far but get ready for a very long overnight drive which lasts between 9 and 14 hours. For booking a bus ticket we recommend to use 12GoAsia We booked all of the bus rides while travelling in SE Asia by using this service. The price for a single ticket varies in a range between $10 – $25. It is obvious that for a higher price you will get much better services and more enjoyable ride and this applies twice as much in Myanmar. Don’t save few dollars and get a better bus from a more reliable company.
Our first bus was booked with Mann Yar Zar Express company and you can trust us that it was far from express. The most torturing 14 hour drive with one hundred stops at many weird locations followed by extremely loud music which goes without stopping for the whole night. We saved few dollars and felt very bad after the road. Isn’t it worth to pay little higher price for much better comfort? As a long distance bus company in Myanmar we can recommend JJ Express. They have more comfortable buses, use the fastest roads and sometimes even offer free hotel pickup!
PRO TIPS for traveling by BUS in MYANMAR
- Check your booking company before buying the ticket
- Ask if your selected bus uses the highway and not the old road (5 hour time difference)
- Always bring headphones or ear plugs as the driver might play very loud music
- Get supplies of food and drinks as you might spent long hours on the way
Domestic flights
If you don’t like siting on the bus for the whole night or if you are in a hurry to see all the beautiful places around the country, you can also use domestic flights as the fastest way of traveling. But they are lot more expensive as well! The price ranges between $80 – $120. However the only airline matching all the airline safety ratings in Myanmar is Myanmar Airways International (MAI), which usually charges higher prices as well.
Taxi in Mandalay
Same story like on Yangon airport applies at Mandalay bus station. After a long night spent on the bus you will arrive at the bus stations which is quite far from the city centre. The moment you step out of the bus there will be many taxi drivers offering rides. Depending on your bargaining skills and patience you will sooner or later end up in a taxi on the way to the city centre.
We were lucky and got nice looking car, with very friendly English speaking driver who knew his job and the city very well. We were very happy with our driver who shared his local knowledge with us, so we actually ended up asking him to show us around the city the next day. It is very common here, that the drivers will offer you another trip for later or the next day. If you like your driver and feel comfortable in the car don’t hesitate to accept his offer. In most cases it will be cheaper option than booking a tour online or through the hotel. Be aware that you can’t move around Mandalay without a car anyway! So it’s easy and comfortable to get a taxi driver for a whole day to have the chance to see most of the places in the shortest possible time.
Mandalay to Bagan
On this route you can also use bus or taxi as well as train or even a flight. The cheapest option is to go by train, which cost around $10 but as we explained in our article Before you go: Myanmar the railway conditions and safety standards are quite low. The distance between these two cities is only 180 km but the train ride takes approximately 8 hours, which is very slow. Bus will be couple of hours faster and cost pretty much the same price. But still, we decided to take a taxi. You pay around $20 per person but get a hotel pickup and drop off at the exact location, maximum comfort and the whole drive is done in 3 hours!
A last option is to use plane with only half an hour flight time. But if you include transport to the airport and time spent at the security checks. This option might take even longer than the taxi ride with a price of a single flight ticket at around $70 per person.
Bagan E-bike
At last but not least you will be looking for a way how to see the most of Bagan. If you don’t want to bother with planning there are many taxi tours to Bagan temple area. But if you make your research and find out the most exciting places you want to see by yourself, you will have another two options.
Either you can book a private taxi driver and show him where you want to go or you can explore the ancient temple area on your own by renting an e-bike, which according to us is the best option. You have complete freedom, you can go wherever you want on a cool electric bike without any engine sounds and smoke. It is very enjoyable option and the bike is easy to ride even without previous motorcycle experience. The rental price is around $6 – $8 for a day which makes it very cheap as well.
We hope that you have your way sorted by now and this article helped you to find all the best solutions for your travels around Myanmar. Make sure to check out the list of most important things you need to know before you go to Myanmar. And if you want to know some interesting facts about this country you might like our article Interesting things about Myanmar.
With love,
Jelena and Luke
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