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Affordable Myanmar

Raman Kumar Raman Kumar

How to see Myanmar without breaking the budget.

Best for Culture: Bagan

The temple remains of a 9th century city sprawled over 104km2, Bagan is one of Asia’s most beguiling sites.

Sleep
The Thande Hotel (+95 616 0315; doubles from $28) in Nyaung U, the small village on the outskirts of the archaeological park, has 37 rooms with timber floors, TVs, bathtubs and decks huddled around a swimming pool.
The Hotel @ Tharabar Gate (rooms from $72) has a spa and 84 sumptuous rooms armed with all the mod-cons scattered around a private garden. Situated in Old Bagan, the hotel is a stone’s throw from the temples.

Play
Hire a horse and cart to explore the temples.
The most illustrious include the golden-spired Ananda Pahto with its four standing Buddhas, and Shwesandaw Paya, which offers spellbinding sunsets from its upper levels.
In between, leave the beaten trail for lesser-explored temples where the only people you’re likely to meet are goat herders.
Rising from the flat dusty plains 50km southeast of Bagan, Mount Popa is an extinct volcano believed to be inhabited by nats – or spirits.
It is Burma’s mystical hot spot and has been a site of worship for over a millennium.
Climb the 777 steps to temple Taung Kalat the traditional way – without shoes.

Eat & Drink
The Moon vegetarian restaurant (North of Ananda temple, Old Bagan; +95 6160 481), set in a garden in old Bagan just north of Ananda Pahto, is a good stop mid temple touring.
Order the guacamole with poppadoms, pumpkin soup with ginger and the eggplant salad.
A nod to Burma’s Indian population, who arrived here during the British era, Aroma 2 (Restaurant row, Nyaung U) has good Tamil-style thalis with dahl, rice and curry.
Before dinner, go for beers at Beach Bar and Restaurant (No.12, Youne Tan Yat, 4 Quater, Nyaung U; +95 616 0126), a wooden bungalow perched on the edge of the Ayeyarwaddy River.

 

Best for the Beach: Ngapali Beach

Long off the beaten track, Burma’s stunning coastline is now slowly opening to tourists. Ngapali – an idyllic 10km stretch of sand lined with coconut palms – is the most accessible.

Sleep
Located in Lintha village, a small bay north of Ngapali Beach, Yoma Cherry Lodge (yomacherrylodge.com; doubles from $50, including airport transfers) has a big beachside terrace, plus wooden and thatch rooms with water or garden views.
A few steps upmarket, Pleasant View Resort (pvrngapali.com; doubles from $105, including airport transfers) flanks the edge of another fishing village.
Twenty-six spacious and well-equipped bungalows open onto the beach; the electricity is turned off from 7am to 2pm.
Prices here are directly from the hotels; travel agents in Yangon offer the best deals for Ngapali.

Play
Hire a long-tail boat and go snorkelling off Pearl Island, a picturesque isle just a few kilometres off the coast.
Alternatively, Asia Whale (ngapaliwatersport.com; from $85 per person) organises snorkelling, scuba diving, fishing and kayaking trips off Ngapali with a few more frills – like cold drinks, snacks and all-important life jackets for the more safety conscious traveller.
In the evenings, head to the fishing village at the southern end of Ngapali Beach to watch the tug-like wooden boats pull their anchors and sail off into the sunset.

Eat & Drink
Pleasant View Islet BBQ Restaurant (+95 434 2224; pvrngapali.com) presides over a rocky islet off the beach; you may have to wade through water to reach it at high tide, but it’s well worth the effort.
The prices are relatively high for this neck of the woods, but the views are superb and it’s a top spot for cocktail o’clock. Moonlight Restaurant (Ngapali Rd) near the Sandoway Resort offers a bounty of freshly caught seafood dishes like coconut curry prawns, grilled snapper and fish tempura.

 

Best for Adventure: Inle Lake

This tranquil body of water ringed by mountains deep in Burma’s Shan State has walking trails, stilted wooden villages and hidden Buddhist temples.

Sleep
Next to the main pagoda in Nyaungshwe village, the friendly but eccentric Mingalar Inn (doubles from $18) has spacious rooms in a garden setting. Book one with a veranda, and shower early if you like hot water.
Golden Island Cottages  (doubles from $100), owned and run by an ethnic Pa’O cooperative, has stilted bamboo bungalows in both Thale-U village and Nampan village; each with private balconies with lake views.
On the outskirts of Nyaungshwe, newly built ViewPoint Eco-Lodge (doubles from $70) has 20 stilted cottage suites built in the traditional Shan way, with local limestone, mud and rice straw.

Play
Inle Lake is home to fishermen who use a unique one-legged paddle while dipping their nets into the water.
Arrange for a boat to pick you up at dawn so that you can watch them at work while the sun rises over the surrounding peaks and washes the lake a peachy shade of pink.
While there, visit the Ywama floating market, a bustling local bazaar that springs to life every five days.
You can also stop by the floating flower gardens and Nga Phe Kyaung Monastery, where the monks have trained the resident cats to jump through hoops.
Find a good map and trek to the Koun Soun Taungbo Monastery, stopping off en route to observe life for the local hill tribes.

Eat & Drink
Sleek “Shan nouvelle cuisine" is served degustation-style at the ViewPoint Eco-Lodge, with views over the surrounding paddy fields.
The 12-course meal has, unfortunately, been tweaked for foreign palates, but is a steal  for $18. More authentic is the tasty kauq-sweh – noodle soup – that locals devour for breakfast each day.
The Mingala Market in Nyaungshwe has the best. If you’re tired of curry and rice, Golden Kite (Yone Gyi and Myawaddy Rd; +95 812 9327) in Nyaungshwe has wood-fired pizzas and homemade pasta using imported ingredients.

 

 

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Raman Kumar

Raman Kumar

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These community homestays are changing how travellers experience Nepal

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    After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers? 

    In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.  

    Tharu dance
    Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

    Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?  

    Nepal gray langur
    Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

    The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?  

    How tourism is changing in Nepal

    Bardiya National Park
    Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

    India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.  

    Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.  

    “Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.   

    Local men in Bhada village
    Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

    The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”  

    Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.” 

    CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.  

    A new generation demanding more

    Dalla Town Hall
    Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

    The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”  

    We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”  

    Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels
    Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

    In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you… 

    bouda stupa prayer flags
    Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

    The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.  

    Boudha Stupa vendors
    Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

    A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.  

    A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi
    A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

    Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.  

    Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.  

    Life unfiltered in the Terai region

    tharu woman
    Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

    The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.  

    Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.  

    safari through Bardiya National Park
    Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

    We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.  

    Marigolds
    Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

    “The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.  

    On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.  

    community homestay entrance
    A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

    They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.  

    The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.  

    In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.  

    food at community homestay
    Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

    Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.  

    The power of community homestays 

    community homestay owners in Nepal
    Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

    Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.  

    “I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?” 

    The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed. 

    Sonara community room
    An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

    Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.  

    Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.  

    CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.  

    “Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.  

    Elephant watch
    Elephant watch. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

    In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.  

    Gathering greens
    Gathering greens. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

    “We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.” 

    Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”  

    Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.