Rangoon Travel Forum

Hi friends!

I & my husband are now planning a trip to Myammer. (Yangon & Bagan)

We definitely would like to visit Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.
Now we have 2 questions...

1. When can we enter Shwedagon Pagoda?
From 9:00 am to 17:00 pm??

2. We will arrive at Yangon at 11:00 in the morning.
And we will leave Yangon for Bagan at 16:30 on the same day.
Is it possible to visit Shwedagon Pagoda during our short stay at Yangon??

We appreciate any advice... Thank you very much in advance.

Thank you very much
Ayurin, Osaka Japan

Hi Ayuri & Hiro

1. Shwedagon is open from 6:00am - 10:00pm.

2. Yes you will, although a bit tight for time. Let's say you arrive 11:00am & get downtown by 12:00 noon. I'm estimating that you'll have to leave Shwedagon by 3:00pm as it takes about 30 - 40 minutes from downtown back to the Mingaladon Airport. That leaves you about an hour or so to check-in for your 4:30pm flight. If an earlier check-in is not required then I suppose you can leave Shwedagon later. Please double check on this though as I can't confirm.

Don't get the taxi from the airport counter unless their fee to downtown is about US$4, which is what the taxi guys outside charge anyway. It's US$4 per taxi and NOT per person! If you can find someone else to share the taxi with, then it's cheaper for all of you per person. :O)

Hope that helps!
Take care
T

Hello,Terence!

Thank you very much!
Yes, it helps a lot! :-)
I put your reply into my "Custom Travel Guide".

>1. Shwedagon is open from 6:00am - 10:00pm.

Wow, it is open from early morning till late at night.

2. Yes you will, although a bit tight for time.

Hmmm, yes, tight schedule...
Now it seems better to stay longer to see the Shwedagon Pagoda.
Now we are planning to stay half day in Yangon on our way from Bagan to Yangon.

Thank you very much!
Ayurin :-)

Hello Shweyoo and Terence(ecuriosity)

Thank you very much for your information :-)

Now I'm still working on my Myanmar trip plan.
I'm trying to stay longer in Yangon (I'm looking for good flight connection)

We will definitely visit Shwedagon Pagoda.

I heard, it is very beautiful not only in the daytime (shining under the sunshine), but also at night (illuminted beautifully).

Thanks again!

Ayurin

Dear Ayurin,

I've just returned from Myanmar. Flew from Yangon - Bagan - Inle - Yangon. All done on Air Mandalay.

Do note that the flights published on their website does differ from reality. Best to book your internal flights closer to your departure and confirm timings before you leave for your trip.

Bagan-Inle was rescheduled to depart 15 minutes earlier on the day we were there. It was not a problem as the general advice in Myanmar is to arrive an hour before departure time. Scheduled flight times on Air Mandalay is trustworthy once tickets are confirmed.

SooEng

SooEng

Hi,
Thanks much for your infomation.

I did speak with a travel agent in Bagan on my last trip there and it was mentioned that the domestic airlines won't fly if there are not enough passengers. Which brings us to 2 scenarios:

1. The flight will be delayed for the day until they get their quota; or

2. Postponed indefinitely until quota is met.

This applies to the foreign tourist off-peak season of March - Oct. I was told. Did you come across such info while you were going through your enquiries?

Anyways, hope you had a great trip & will be posting them here.

Thank you
T

P.S. Ayuri & Hiro, please watch out for SooEng's reply as I believe it will help tremendously with your tight schedule! :O)

Hello,all!

Soo, thank you very much for your feedback. :-)
I've already booked our flights.... so I will check their schedule carefully. Thank you.

Terence, thank you for your information. :-)
Yesterday morning, our travel agent emailed us to inform us that he had booked the flights.

Our shcedule will be as follows....
March 18
After working, rush to the airport
March 19
Leave Osaka at 01:25, Arrive at Bangkok 08:20,
Leave bangkok at 14:20, Arrive at Yangon 15:00,
Leave Yangon 16:30, Arrive at Bagan at 18:40
March 20
Staying in Bagan
March 21
Leave Bagan at 12:45, Arrive at Yangon at 14:45
March 22
Leave Yangon at 03:00, Arrive at Bangkok at 04:45
Leave Bangkok at 11:10, Arrive at Osaka at 21:00

Oh! What a tight schedul!!
I really hope there are enogh passengers on our flights to avoid the cancellation...

By the way, Terence, are you coming to Myanmar in March??

Thanks !
Ayurin :-)

Ayuri & Hiro

You're welcome. Yes, very tight schedule but hoping that everything will work out like clockwork for the both of you. :O) It's a beautiful place & I'm 100% sure that you'll enjoy yourselves & be planning for a revisit even b4 you board the plane out of Myanmar! No, sorry, no refund if you don't! Ahahaha.

Am not sure at the moment about visiting Myanmar in March as I'm hoping to meet Scott in Thailand, and he's not sure as yet if he can make it over at the moment. I gotta go bug him some more! There's a high chance though that I'll be in Myanmar if the Thailand trip is not possible... it'll be funny, VT Japan - M'sia meet in Myanmar! I'll keep u posted on this....

Take care
T

Sorry for late reply. I don't check this site frequently. I have every intention to write up my trip. Sorry, be a little patient with this procrastinator.

I didn't hear anything about whether flights will be postponed indefinitely if it doesn't meet quota in March. The domestic flights are very full at the moment, so I didn't think to ask.

A fantastic thing about Myanmar is that the standard of English is very good! You can call the reservation numbers posted on their airlines and check directly. Or if you have a good travel agent in Osaka, they should be able to help too.

Hey SooEng

No worries & thanks for the info.

Yes, the level of English in Myanmar is pretty good, especially the older generation. Even if they couldn't speak well, they'd muster up something to convey the message and as it gets closer to China, they speak Mandarin as well! And sometimes even Cantonese although not the Hong Kong type. I suspect it's Cantonese from the Sun Ling region of China as my mom used to speak a smattering of it with great-grandma!

Take care
T

Hi,everyone!

Thank you very much for your info :-)

I'm still working on our Myanmar trip.
We have found better flights connection :-)

Thanks again

Ayurin, Osaka Japan