10-Day Myanmar Cultural Tour from Mandalay with Bagan and Inle Lake

• Your Myanmar tour guide will pick you up from the airport in Mandalay and transfer you to your hotel.

• After checking in, visit Mahamuni Pagoda, home to a spectacular Buddha idol covered with thick layers of gold leaves.

• Stop at local workshops to see Kalaga tapestries being made and gold leaf being beaten into paper-thin pieces.

• From here, go to Kuthodaw Pagoda, where the Theravada Buddhist scriptures are inscribed on 729 marble slabs, giving rise to its nickname, 'the world's largest book'.

• Next, visit the beautiful teak-carved Shwenandaw Monastery, the only Royal Palace building to survive the World War II bombing.

• Travel to the top of Mandalay Hill to see glittering glass-studded temple walls, which reflect the evening glow as you watch the sunset.

• See U Bein Bridge, which is believed to be the longest teak bridge in the world at over a kilometre.

• Return to your hotel in Mandalay.

Accommodation: Hotel in Mandalay

Meals included: Breakfast

• In the morning, drive to the former royal capital of Innwa, Ava, located on an island between the Ayeyarwady and the Myitnge Rivers.

• Catch a local ferry to the island, where your horse cart and driver await you - no cars are allowed here.

• Pass through the ancient city walls to visit the brick-and-stucco monastery of Maha Aungmye Bonzan, also known as Ok Kyaung, before continuing to the impressive wooden monastery of Bagaya Kyaung.

• In the afternoon, visit picturesque Sagaing, known as the living centre of the Buddhist faith in Myanmar today. The hills here are dotted with numerous pagodas and monasteries.

Accommodation: Hotel in Mandalay

Meals included: Breakfast

• Transfer from your hotel to the jetty. While cruising along the river, see local life and the natural beauty of the area.

• Reach the village to observe everyday life and see pottery made from riverbank clay.

• Roam around the village by bicycle and come across the Independence Monument.

Accommodation: Hotel in Yandabo

Meals included: Breakfast

• Depart from Yandabo village and board a boat to Bagan. On the way, see local children swimming in the river and fishers looking for their catch.

• After watching the sunset on the boat, transfer to your hotel.

• Enjoy a free evening in Bagan.

Overnight at the hotel.

Accommodation: Hotel in Bagan

Meals included: Breakfast

• In the morning, visit a selection of the most important monuments, such as Shwezigon Pagoda, the first and most important architectural pagoda.

• Proceed to Ananda Temple, a masterpiece of 11th-century architecture. Most of the artifacts are still original and preserved in the temple, and Myinkabar Gubyauk Gyi is the best mural painting temple in Bagan.

• See several other monuments.

• Enjoy the sunset at one of the monuments.

Overnight at the hotel.

Accommodation: Hotel in Bagan

Meals included: Breakfast

• Go on the 46 km drive to Mount Popa. On the way, take an hour-long break to taste toddy, plum juice, and oil.

• Reach Mount Popa, home to Myanmar's intriguing 'Nats' (spirits).

• Climb the 777 steps to the top of Mount Popa and behold fabulous views from the summit.

• Observe the local culture and the spirit of the surrounding area.

• Head back to Bagan and, en route, make a stop at a small traditional village.

Accommodation: Hotel in Bagan

Meals included: Breakfast

• Take a bus to Kalaw.

• Follow a local trekking guide from Kalaw to the Elephant Camp. The route through the forests introduces you to the ecology of the land.

Overnight stay in a hotel.

Accommodation: Hotel in Kalaw

Meals included: Breakfast

• The guide will pick you up from the airport. Then, visit Shwe Yaunghwe Kyaung Monastery and Kan Gyi Kyaung Monastery in Myaung Shwe.

• Drive through pine-clad hills to Taunggyi, about 1 hour and 31 km away, the capital of southern Shan State and a former British hill station.

• Continue for approximately 2 hours from Taunggyi to the countryside inhabited by the Pa-O people. Here lies the 'lost' ruins of Kakku, a pagoda encircled by dozens of small stupas. Little is known about the origins of this unusual place - the Pa-O believe that the original pagoda dates back some 2,000 years.

• Wander through the stupas, decorated with fine stucco work and Buddha images - some in good repair, others not.

• Visit a Pa-O village and a large monastery on the way back to Taunggyi.

• Continue from here to Nyaung Shwe, where you board your boat and transfer to your hotel.

Overnight at the hotel.

Accommodation at hotel

Meals included: Breakfast

• Arrive at Yangon domestic airport in the evening and then transfer to the hotel to relax. The city has several British buildings, more than most South-East Asian cities.

• Visit Sule Pagoda and downtown Yangon, which is suitable for a walking tour.

Overnight at the hotel.

Accommodation: Hotel in Yangon

Meals included: Breakfast

• Transfer to Yangon International Airport to catch your flight.