Top choice in Mandalay
The best hostel in Mandalay by some distance. Comfy dorms with their own bathrooms, free pasta snacks, a rooftop terrace, a busy bar, communal area and solicitous service mean you'll need to book ahead. Activities run the gamut from free nighttime Burmese language lessons on the rooftop to well-priced full-day trips out to Dee Dote Waterfall.
It's part of the Ostello Bello brood, with highly recommended branches in New Bagan and Nyaungshwe.
2.63 MILES
To get a sense of Mandalay’s pancake-flat sprawl, climb the 760ft hill that breaks it. The walk up covered stairways on the hill's southern slope is a…
12.17 MILES
This lovely 1834 teak monastery is Inwa’s most memorable individual attraction. It's supported on 267 teak posts, the largest 60ft high and 9ft in…
2.18 MILES
Every day, thousands of colourfully dressed faithful venerate Mahamuni's 13ft-tall seated buddha, a nationally celebrated image that’s popularly believed…
24.17 MILES
Founded in 1915 and carved out by Turkish prisoners captured by the British during WWI, this lovingly maintained 435-acre botanical garden features more…
4.92 MILES
Staring distantly towards Mandalay Palace, temple-topped Yankin Hill is worth climbing for views of greater Mandalay's rice-field setting and of the Shan…
6.56 MILES
The world’s longest teak footbridge gently curves 1300yd across shallow Taungthaman Lake, creating one of Myanmar’s most photographed sites. In dry season…
2.07 MILES
A meditative departure from the usual Burmese 'douse-it-all-in-gold-and-pastels' aesthetic, this gorgeously carved teak monastery is beloved by tourists…
8.48 MILES
This ‘early offering shrine’ is the most important of the temples on Sagaing Hill’s southern crown and the first you’ll come to on climbing the One Lion…
0.44 MILES
Viewable only from the outside, a 230ft-wide moat and well over 4 miles of crenellated 26ft-high walls form a vast square around the site of the former…
0.74 MILES
This mosque is not a tourist attraction per se, but it has been the site of tense confrontation when anti-Muslim anger has been stoked in the past. The…
0.8 MILES
This temple's colourful, sculpture-crusted gopuram (monumental tower) will excite you if you’ve never been to southern India or Singapore.
0.82 MILES
This dusty, dowdy and poorly lit collection displays archaeological finds, buddhas and a bullock cart. As is the case in many local archaeology museums,…
0.83 MILES
This former fire-lookout tower sits next to the main Mandalay fire station. Unfortunately, it can't be climbed.
0.9 MILES
Founded in the 19th century, this is Mandalay's main Catholic church. It has some historical charm from the colonial period, and is a good place to meet…
0.92 MILES
The 1990s reconstruction of Mandalay's royal palace features more than 40 timber buildings constructed to resemble the 1850s originals. Climb the curious…
0.92 MILES
Within the palace complex, this small, neglected museum holds poorly displayed relics gleaned from the old Burmese royal family. The most intriguing…