Explore the ancient cities of Mandalay

Day 1: Mandalay Sightseeing

Your tour will start to visit to Mahamuni Pagoda. This pagoda is home to one of the country’s most revered Buddha images, covered with gold leaf. Mandalay is well known for its skilled craftsmen and you will tour traditional workshops to observe the production of wood carvings, kalaga tapestries, and gold-leaf using centuries old techniques.

Continue your tour with a visit to Kuthodaw Pagoda, “the World’s Largest Book”, with 729 marble stone slabs of Buddhist scriptures’.Then take a lunch break(your own account).After having lunch, continue to the teak Shwenandaw Monastery, the only remaining building from the 19th century Royal Palace. And then, climb to the top of Mandalay Hill to watch the sunset. And take back to the hotel.

Overnight in Mandalay

Day 2: Mandalay – Ava – Sagaing – Amarapura – Mandalay (B,-,-)

 After breakfast at the hotel, depart for an excursion around Mandalay to explore the former capitals of Ava, Sagaing and Amarapura. This morning, drive to Ava, the capital from 14th to 18th centuries, where a short ferry ride will take you across the river for a horse and carriage tour. Visit the old wooden Bagaya Monastery and the remains of the Royal Palace and Fort. There are many small villages located amid Ava’s ruins and as you travel by horse and cart you’ll get a glimpse of local life in the Burmese countryside.

Then cross a bridge over the Irrawaddy River to Sagaing, the religious center of Myanmar. Covered with 600 white-painted pagodas and monasteries, it is home to 3,000 monks and 100 meditation centers. You will visit pagodas such as Swan Oo Pon Nya Shin and U Min Thone Sae. You’ll also visit Sagaing’s market, for a range of items for sale including locally made pottery, silver and other handicrafts. We will also stop at a small pottery village to see the process of making the water pots found throughout Myanmar Return toward the city and stop at Amarapura, the ‘City of Immortality’. Visit a silk weaving workshop which produces exquisite handmade products and Mahagandayon monastery, home to over one thousand monks. Then, continue on for a stroll across the 200 year old, teak U Bein Bridge. 1.2 kilometers in length, it is the world’s longest teak span.

Overnight at the hotel.

Day 3: Visiting Mingun and departure (B)

After breakfast, transfer to the Mandalay jetty and board a private local boat for a 1-hr cruise on the Irrawaddy River to Mingun. Visit the unfinished Mingun Pahtodawqyi, left as such after an astrologer predicted the King’s would die should the temple be completed. Continue your visit at the white Hsinbyume Pagoda, meant to resemble the mythical Mount Meru.  Then, see the Mingun Bell the world’s largest uncracked bell, which weighs 90 tons. Return to Mandalay by boat and depart from the city.