Josie Travels

I have a thing for visiting places that I learn about from songs, books, TV shows or movies, and Mandalay made the list thanks to Frank Sinatra (who I was slightly obsessed with during the summer I lived in Australia). However, it’s mostly famous for being the old royal capital of Myanmar, and there are some amazing spots to visit here.

Unfortunately, we took the advice of a few other travellers who said it was a boring city with nothing going for it and decided to minimise our time there, immediately booking a night bus to Hpa An, which we soon realised was a huge mistake. We had very little time in the city itself after a long day trip to some waterfalls so we actually missed out on all the highlights, but what we did see was pretty cool.

As with Bagan and Inle Lake, you’ll need to buy a “Mandalay Zone ticket” for entrance into most sights, however, we arrived on a night bus at 2am and no one asked us to pay, and the only places we visited that wanted to see a ticket was Sutaungpyei pagoda at the top of Mandalay Hill and Shwenandaw Monastery near the base. I think the more famous places would ask, but we never made it that far.

Mandalay Hill

This popular pilgrimage site has quite a few temples and monasteries to visit, and it’s worth the 40-minute climb to Sutaungpyei pagoda at the top where you’ll find incredible views over the city and surrounding countryside. You have to pay 6000 kyat (£3.40) to enter that one but the rest are free so we chose to find a quiet temple away from the crowds with equally good views to watch the sunset in peace, it was a lovely end to our busy afternoon. If you don’t want to walk you can take a tuk-tuk to the top.

Mandalay Palace

This huge walled complex in the city centre was originally built in the 1800s but was mostly destroyed during WW2. It has been rebuilt and is open to visitors, and you’ll need the Mandalay Zone Ticket to enter. It’s worth climbing the tower for a better view of the complex. The reviews weren’t very inspiring for this place, so we skipped it.

Kuthodaw Pagoda

Here you’ll find a large golden stupa surrounded by 700 small white stupas. Apart from being especially pretty, it’s here where you can find the world’s largest book, each of the white stupas holds a stone tablet ‘page’ from the Tipitaka, the traditional term for the Buddhist scriptures. Nextdoor is the smaller but equally stunning Sandar Mu Ni Pagoda. Neither place asked for a ticket, so they were both free to explore for us.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple

This incredibly ornate temple is another famous pilgrimage site and home to a huge golden Buddha statue. People pay their respects by applying gold leaf to the statue which has distorted it over time. It’s another 6000 kyat (£4.30) entrance fee, and I would have liked to see it but we ran out of time before we got that far south in the city.

Hsinbyume Pagoda

Without a doubt the most Instagrammable temple of them all, and another one that we had to skip. It’s an absolute mission to get here as it lies on the other side of the Irrawaddy River, you can either take an expensive taxi or an hour-long ferry which leaves from the Gaw Wein Jetty at 9am every morning and costs 5000 kyat (£2.85). The return journey is included, and the boat leaves Mingun at 12:30pm. You’ll also need to buy the 5000 kyat (£2.85) “Mingun tourist pass” to enter the temple.

U Bien Bridge

Another famous sunset spot, this rickety wooden bridge (the longest teak bridge in the world) spans the width of Taungthaman Lake. We barely made it to the north shore of the lake for sunset after getting stuck in the most insane traffic jam and almost crashing the scooter, and we could barely see the bridge from there. From what I’ve seen in photos it’s worth planning properly and making the effort to get there in time for either sunrise or sunset! You’ll need the Mandalay Zone ticket to cross the bridge, but you can see it from the lakeside for free.

Dee Doke Falls

Although we missed some amazing temples in the city I have no regrets about what we did with our free time instead. We rented scooters from our hostel, 8000 kyat (£4.50) for half a day plus gas, and went on an adventure! It’s a 48km drive from the city centre to the parking area of Dee Doke, and that takes a lot longer than we anticipated on scooters (hence why we missed out on so much), but it was worth it.

Once you’ve paid the parking fee to leave your scooter at the bottom of the hill you can start the climb. There are three waterfalls and swimming areas here, and we made the mistake of stopping to swim at the first one we came to, which meant by the time we reached the top we ran out of time. The first area is huge and very peaceful, the second area had two large pools for swimming and plenty of shade along the banks, and both areas are quite close together.

The third waterfall and swimming hole is right at the top of the hill and trust me when I say: skip swimming at the other two and just climb on up there straight away. It’s a small waterfall that flows into literally the most vivid turquoise pool I have ever seen, it’s so impossibly pretty. There’s a little shop up there selling food and drink if you didn’t bring any, chilled music playing, and plenty of shade, you could easily spend the entire day there. If it’s too busy you can always walk back down to the quieter ones.

Where to eat and sleep

We took a chance on a positive TripAdvisor recommendation and got lucky with the Pan Cherry Noodle House & Cafe. It’s got a nice vibe, serves great food (try the Shan noodles or fried tofu), and it was a five-minute walk from our accommodation. We stayed at KAUNG Hostel, a modern place that offered a small complimentary breakfast and small dorms with incredibly comfy beds. The best thing about this place was the fact they let us in when we arrived at 2am so we could sleep on the beanbags in the lounge until we could check-in!

Getting in and out

Myanmar’s pubic transport just seemed like a massive headache at all times, which meant it was always easiest for us to get the tourist buses, easily booked online or through your accommodation. The night bus from Inle Lake to Mandalay was awful, arriving at 2am is a terrible idea and meant we were all exhausted while trying to explore the city. We then got an insanely long night bus all the way south to Hpa An which would have been much more pleasant if two of us weren’t coming down with DENGUE FEVER!?

Yes, seriously. What we thought was the flu from too many air-conditioned night buses turned into a disgusting, painful, rashy case of dengue fever from an infected mosquito. It’s bad guys, just wear the damn bug spray. We’re lucky it wasn’t malaria, but if either of us gets dengue again we’re at a much higher risk. Fun times!

If you’ve been to Mandalay and have anything else to add (I’m sure I’ve missed a lot) then please leave a comment below!

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