9-Day Myanmar Highlights Tour with Golden Rock and Inle Lake

• Pick up by your Yangon tour guide from the international airport or the hotel. Yangon is the only city in Southeast Asia with British architectural buildings.

• Visit Sule Pagoda and downtown Yangon, which is suitable for walking, and continue to the Strand Hotel, the first hotel in Myanmar, followed by Botahtaung Pagoda.

• Then proceed to the Chaukhtatgyi reclining Buddha image, and in the afternoon visit the beautiful Kyauktawgyi Pagoda and the white elephants.

• Visit Kaba Aye Pagoda and Scott Market, a shopping paradise for tourists.

• Head to Chinatown to see the Platform Market and take pictures at Karaweik Hall, the royal floating barge.

• In the evening, head to Shwedagon Pagoda, witness its glittering gold stupa, and enjoy the fantastic sunset.

Overnight stay in the hotel.

Meals included: Breakfast

• Transfer from Yangon early in the morning after breakfast to sightsee at Golden Rock Pagoda.

• Drive to Kinmon Base Camp at the foot of Mount Kyaiktiyo, a journey of about 3 hours.

• Arrive at the base camp in the afternoon and transfer to a local truck to reach the terminal near Golden Rock Pagoda, about a 1-hour drive. The pagoda is nestled on a mountain 3,615 feet above sea level and was built more than 2,500 years ago. Legend says it was built on a hair relic of Lord Buddha. It sits on top of a massive granite-shaped boulder balancing on the mountain. It has remained in place through earthquakes, and locals believe it has not fallen because of the power of the hair relic.

• After trekking down from Golden Rock, and on the way back to Yangon, visit Taukkyan War Cemetery. The cemetery is the resting place of over 27,000 Allied World War II soldiers. It is a beautiful landscape and a peaceful getaway from bustling Yangon.

Overnight at Yangon Hotel.

Meals included: Breakfast.

• Arrive in Mawlamyine and check in to the hotel. After that, visit Seindone Minbaya Kyaung, a wooden structure that was once a place where King Mindon's Queen sought refuge and later became a monastery named after the queen.

• Visit Mahamuni Pagoda, built in a typical Mon style with covered walkways linking the various square shrines.

• Have lunch at a local restaurant.

• After lunch, pay a visit to Taung Waing Pagodas to see a Buddha image and 500 statues of holy monk followers.

• Continue to Kyaikthalan Pagoda, set on a ridge overlooking the town and offering a great refreshing view.

• Dinner at a local restaurant.

Overnight at a hotel in Mawlamyine.

• Drive to Hpa An, the capital of Kayin State, after breakfast. The road abounds with rich local life and scenic landscapes. On the way, visit Sadan Cave, with its picturesque slope rock fountains, and Kawgoon Cave, an invaluable cultural heritage site that questionably dates back to the 7th century AD.

• Then visit this small town and continue to KyaukKaLatt, a small rock hill formation that looks like a wine glass.

• Lunch at a local restaurant.

• After lunch, visit Lumbini Garden, with thousands of Buddha images at the base of Mt. Zwekabin. In the late evening, drive back to Mawlamyine.

• Have dinner at a local restaurant.

Overnight at Mawlamyine.

Meals included: Breakfast

• Transfer to Kalaw by AirBus and enjoy the scenic views on the way.

• After an overnight journey, arrive in Kalaw in the morning. Get picked up by the Kalaw tour guide and check in to the hotel.

Meals included: Breakfast

• Pick up from the hotel and head to Kalaw Elephant Sanctuary. Drive from Kalaw to Magwe Elephant Camp, about 45 minutes away.

• After reaching there, start walking to the river and witness elephant bathing. You can also join in feeding and bathing the elephants.

• Explore the forest area and get the opportunity to see butterflies, birds, and orchids around the conservation area. You can also enjoy a short ride on the elephant's back, depending on the weather and the health condition of the elephants.

• Transfer to the hotel.

Meals included: Breakfast

• Transfer from Kalaw to Pindaya in your private vehicle, which takes 1 hour and 45 minutes. It is an attractive drive up into the hills and across the Shan Plateau, passing mountain rice fields.

• Visit the magnificent Pindaya Caves, set in a limestone ridge overlooking a picturesque lake, where thousands of different types of Buddha images are displayed in the various cave chambers.

• Enjoy a short trek through the hills to a village of the Danu tribe. You will pass through farms where the tribe makes cheroots and grows tea, damsons, and mangoes.

• Visit one of the tea plantation gardens to observe how the famous Shan green tea is produced. Enjoy a sip of green tea with snacks with the villagers.

• Transfer to the hotel in Nyaung Shwe/Inle Lake.

Meals included: Breakfast

• Hop onto a private boat to sightsee around Inle Lake. The lake is simply magical, and at 1000 metres elevation, the temperature is pleasant. The calm waters are dotted with Intha stilt houses, floating vegetable gardens, and fishing canoes set against the backdrop of the beautiful Shan hills.

• In the afternoon, pick up from your hotel and travel by long-tailed boat across the lake to Indaing village, at the western end of Inle, for one of the most scenic trips on the lake.

• Pass through the busy village of Ywama, the largest on the lake, with many channels and tall teak houses on stilts. Then enter a long, often tree-lined canal, on either side of which farmers cultivate their land against the backdrop of the Shan Hills.

• Disembark at the jetty and walk for 15 minutes through Indaing village to reach the 14th-18th century pagoda ruins of Nyaung Ohak. Many pagodas here remain charmingly unrenovated, with plants and even small trees growing out of them, making the area especially scenic. A covered walkway, popular with souvenir stallholders, leads up to Shwe Inn Thein Paya, a complex of weather-beaten 17th-18th century zedi and some newly reconstructed structures.

• Return to the river and walk along a lovely shady path for 30 minutes to the Intha village of Sema. From here, continue by boat downstream past Yethar village, watching local life on the banks and birds in the trees until rejoining the lake near Phaung Daw Oo Paya.

• Transfer to the hotel in Inle Lake.

Meals included: Breakfast

• Transfer from Heho Airport to Yangon International Airport, or transfer to Yangon International Airport.