Visitors must wear a longyi (a traditional Burmese sarong-type wrap) to enter Shwedagon Pagoda. Longyis are available for rent or purchase with a ticket. Tickets cost 8000kyat (about $8). The temple is best visited just before dusk, when you can watch the sunsets shining off of the golden pagoda. The temple complex is so massive, that one of the best ways to get the full experience is to hire one of the many local guides to show you around.
2. Visit Sule Pagoda
Not many cities have a street plan built around a golden 2,200 year-old pagoda, but that’s just one more reason that Yangon is so special. Sule Paya, the city’s second most important temple, is located downtown, surrounded by Yangon’s colonial Old Town.
You can easily enjoy a few hours exploring and admiring the old colonial architecture that has really left its print on the character of Yangon. After a long walk, though, you might be getting thirsty…
4. Enjoy a Beer at the Strand Hotel
Costing around $600 USD per night, the Strand is one of Southeast Asia’s most famous grand hotels. A night may be way out of the price range of someone traveling on a budget, but a draught of Dagon Beer at the hotel’s famous and historical Sarkies Bar is one of the city’s most iconic experiences.
It’s not uncommon to come upon a red-robed monk sitting and meditating in one of the corners of the glittering golden halls. At the reliquary, people pray and toss money into the zedi’s center in offering.
6. Visit the Aung San House Museum
General Bogyoke Aung San, 5th Premier of British Burma, national independence movement leader, and father to current State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi, is one of the most important historical and political figures of 20th Century Burma. Although assassinated shortly before Burmese independence, General Aung San is remembered as one of the most important leaders of the national independence movement. The Aung San House Museum is an excellent site for anyone who is interested in history.
As an English teacher, I was happy (and surprised) to see that many of the books were in English!
8. Eat Noodles at a Local Tea House
You can’t visit Myanmar without stopping in for lunch at one of the ubiquitious tea houses. A delicious bowl of Shan noodles and a small glass of famous Burmese milk tea will only set you back a dollar or two! Most tea houses in Yangon are family owned, and the children who work with their parents can usually speak enough English for your order. Don’t be surprised if they want to chat and practice their English with you!
It also may or may not be a well-known location for black market currency exchange and a way to get around the high government exchange rates and strict local rules about which banknotes are accepted in the country, but you didn’t hear that from me!
10. Ride the Circle Line Train around the City
The night train from Yangon to Mandalay may be… well…
but there is no better way to enjoy the Burmese countryside and the rural neighborhoods surrounding Yangon than by taking the city’s Circle Line Train! The Circle Line is the city’s public rail service, which circles the city on a 46 km (28 mi) loop, leaving and returning to Yangon Central Train Station.
As cheesy and cliche as it may sound, Myanmar really feels like a land of magic and mystery. It is still relatively undeveloped and extremely un-touristed, and we recommend visiting before the first major wave of tourism comes to change the country forever.
Read
If you are interested in Myanmar, please check out my second book, Across A Golden Land, my travelogue of a journey by land across the country from Yangon to Bagan. Available on Amazon.com
Watch
“Golden Land” – our travel vlog about our recent adventure in Myanmar.
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