Bagan 

Overview: 

The land of thou­sands of Pago­das, the mag­i­cal gold­en city of Bagan stands as one of the most mys­te­ri­ous, his­tor­i­cal and sim­ply beau­ti­ful ancient cities on the plan­et, with this deeply reli­gious and spir­i­tu­al com­plex being home to not only 3822 Bud­dhist tem­ples, pago­das, and monas­ter­ies which date back to the 9th Cen­tu­ry, but also being home to some of the planet’s most breath-tak­ing and awe-inspir­ing sun­ris­es and sun­sets, as explor­ers watch the ancient city come to life in blind­ing light for one of the most increi­d­ble earth­ly expe­ri­ences at this unique won­der of the world.  

Blessed with thou­sands of gold­en pago­das, Bagan has earned a rep­u­ta­tion as one of the world’s most pre­mier sun­rise hot-air bal­loon des­ti­na­tions, as explor­ers take to the ear­ly morn­ing skies to soak in the sea of tem­ples below them and gaze at this incred­i­ble open-air muse­um. Yet along­side this thrilling expe­ri­ence, Bagan is also rich in his­to­ry and cul­ture, with the city, which was once known as ‘pagan’ being both the for­mer cap­i­tal of present-day Myan­mar and being one of the most cul­tur­al­ly sig­nif­i­cant Bud­dhist sites on the plan­et.  

His­to­ry: With the first Pogo­das with­in Bagan believed to have been con­struct­ed in the 9th cen­tu­ry and over the fol­low­ing 4 cen­turies a fur­ther 10,000 Pago­das and tem­ples believed to have been added across the Bagan plains under the direc­tion of the first Burmese King Anawrah­ta, Bagan was once a tru­ly mes­mer­iz­ing gold­en par­adise, that served as a cul­tur­al­ly and intel­lec­tu­al par­adise, and thanks to its close prox­im­i­ty near the riv­er Ayeyarwady (Irrawad­dy) Riv­er sus­tained life serv­ing as the first main civil­i­sa­tion of the pagan peo­ple that we know today as mod­ern-day Myan­mar.  

Yet despite sur­viv­ing attempt­ed pil­lag­ing towards the end of the 12th cen­tu­ry, the city of Bagan was ran­sacked and fell to Mon­go­lian invaders in 1287 which slow­ly led to the aban­don­ment and neglect of the city and com­bined with a series of nat­ur­al dis­as­ters – includ­ing the 1975 earth­quake – the peo­ple of Bagan aban­doned the city and almost 70% of the gold­en tem­ples and Pado­gas fell to ruin.   

Since its redis­cov­ery towards the start of the 20th cen­tu­ry – and helped in no small part by the open­ing up of Myan­mar to tourism in 2010 and a restora­tion effort by the Myan­mar gov­ern­ment the 26 square miles of plains of the ancient city of Bagan are explorable and appre­cia­ble once again, with trav­ellers able to step back in his­to­ry and wan­der in awe at the 2,200 gold­en tem­ples and pago­das that still remain on this his­tor­i­cal site.  

Explore: Offi­cial­ly the largest and grouped col­lec­tion of Bud­dhist tem­ples on the plan­et, explor­ing Bagan is a true thrill and the plains of Bagan lend them­selves to explo­ration – with the jew­els of this ancient city lend­ing itself to not only dis­cov­ery from the air, but also by bike, on foot and even by horse drawn car­riage — with there being no short­age of access and routes to the great city of Bagan.  

A site that is appre­ci­at­ed as a col­lec­tive and for its his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance, the still stand­ing Pago­das and Tem­ples of Bagan are grouped with­in the Archae­o­log­i­cal Zone of Bagan, and it’s here that you’ll find the incred­i­ble archae­o­log­i­cal won­ders of this ancient city, includ­ing the pago­da of Shwezigon – whose con­struc­tion began in 1086 AD and is believed to be one of the first tem­ples erect­ed at Bagan, the gold­en tem­ple of Htilomin­lo – which stands as the biggest tem­ple in Bagan and serves as a trib­ute to King Htilomin­lo whose reign began after he was cho­sen by an umbrel­la falling in his direc­tion and the Sula­mani Tem­ple – con­sid­ered the jew­el of Bagan with dis­tinct and tru­ly beau­ti­ful archi­tec­ture that makes it stand as one of the most unique and explorable tem­ples across Bagan.  

Cou­ple these incred­i­ble tem­ples and pago­das with the grand cathe­dral tem­ple of Anan­da, the mas­sive tem­ple of Dham­mayangyi – known as the bad kar­ma tem­ple after the ruler Narathu – who killed his father to seize pow­er and the gold­en Manuha tem­ple – known as the hall of sad­ness after the king who com­mis­sioned it was forced into exile and nev­er for to see his cre­ation – and Bagan is awash with a series of sim­ply stun­ning and grand tem­ples whose his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance lend not only to a full explo­ration but make this incred­i­ble stie a true won­der of the world.  

Yet the beau­ty of Bagan is seen not only in re-dis­cov­er­ing and explor­ing the ancient stu­pas and tem­ples – but also in two of the most stun­ning nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­na’s, with the sun­sets and sun­ris­es across this ancient site being oth­er­world­ly and tru­ly inspi­ra­tional – as you watch as the entire com­plex lights up in a gold­en mys­ti­cal light accom­pa­nied by hun­dreds of hot air bal­loons tak­ing trav­el­ers across the city to explore it from the air.  

The quin­tes­sen­tial image of Bagan, sun­rise is when you’ll find Bagan at its beau­ti­ful best – with the ris­ing sun cast­ing a spir­i­tu­al yel­low and orange glow over the thou­sands of tem­ples and Pogo­das for a site unlike any oth­er on the plan­et. Best seen first­ly from the air – where you can get a true appre­ci­a­tion of the scale and beau­ty of Bagan from a hot air bal­loon and get to admire jew­els and his­to­ry of this ancient city from a bird’s eye view­point accom­pa­nied by the incred­i­ble sun­rise.  

Along­side this and to cap­ture the quin­tes­sen­tial image of a Bagan you’ll need to head to the top of a tem­ple – with there being a series of tem­ples with­in the Archae­o­log­i­cal Zone that allow explor­ers to climb to their sum­mit and cap­ture the gold­en sun­rise – with the image of this incred­i­ble sun­rise over the thou­sands of tem­ples of Bagan while hot air bal­loons slow­ly ascend being one of the most recog­nis­able images of not just Bagan but of any sun­rise on the plan­et – and one that encap­su­lates the true beau­ty of this stun­ning won­der of the world.  

Not to be out­done, sun­sets at Bagan are equal­ly as impres­sive – with the descend­ing sun cast­ing a gold­en blan­ket over the Pogo­das of Bagan and illu­mi­nat­ing their gold­en beau­ty for a spec­tac­u­lar show. Based seen from a top a stu­pa – and in par­tic­u­lar the Shwe­san­daw Stu­pa – affec­tion­ate­ly nick­named the sun­set stu­pa for its stun­ning views – watch­ing the sun­set on this ancient city is a tru­ly peace­ful expe­ri­ence and one that allows explor­ers to take in a tru­ly mag­i­cal dis­play that rep­re­sents a fit­ting finale for a day explor­ing Bagan.  

Home also to one of the world’s great fes­ti­vals – the Bagan Jan­u­ary full moon Anan­da fes­ti­val – where you’ll see pil­grims mak­ing offer­ings at the tem­ple, and some of the best food in Asia – with tra­di­tion­al Chi­nese, Indi­an and Thai food are mixed with local flavours to cre­ate tan­ta­lis­ing dish­es – there is always some­thing for every­one at this great ancient city.  

 A won­der that has only recent­ly become open to the pub­lic fol­low­ing decades of tourism restric­tions, the ancient city of Bagan and Myan­mar as a whole are still rel­a­tive­ly off the beat­en track and offers explor­ers a chance to step into the unknown. As you explore the thou­sands of stun­ning gold­en pago­das and tem­ples on foot, bicy­cle and by air on a jour­ney through Bud­dhist and Myan­mar his­to­ry, cul­ture and spir­i­tu­al­ty tak­ing in some of the great­est sun­ris­es and sun­sets on the plan­et, at this true jew­el of Asia that is not only a stun­ning ancient par­adise, but a true won­der of the world.  

Where:  

The jew­el of Myan­mar, the ancient city of Bagan and its thou­sands of gold tem­ples are found in the Man­dalay region, with the plains of Bagan lying on the banks of the spec­tac­u­lar Ayeyarwady Riv­er, whose reflec­tive waters bring to life both the dis­tant moun­tains of Bagan but also the many tem­ples, pago­das and true beau­ty of this incred­i­ble city.  

Found almost in the cen­tre of the coun­try – and believed to have select­ed as the base for the cre­ation of the Pago­das between the 9th and 13th cen­turies thanks to the incred­i­bly smooth and flat – Bagan has a spe­cial place with­in the his­to­ry of Myan­mar – hav­ing once been known as ‘Pagan’ and served as the first cap­i­tal of the Pagan King­dom which would lat­er become the king­dom of Myan­mar as we know it today.  

As well as being essen­tial to Myanmar’s tourism indus­try, Bagan still serves as a place of Bud­dhist pil­grim­age and wor­ship, with the remain­ing 3822 of the orig­i­nal 10,000 gold­en tem­ples, pago­das and stu­pas that are found across the plains of Bagan being an incred­i­bly spir­i­tu­al site for Bud­dhist pil­grims – and also being home to the Jan­u­ary Anan­da fes­ti­val – an impor­tant spir­i­tu­al event across Myan­mar.  

Offer­ing a chance to step back through cul­tur­al and reli­gious his­to­ry a vis­it to the ancient city of Bagan is a tru­ly mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence with a chance to mar­vel at the increi­d­ble stu­pas and tem­ples and take in one of the worlds most incred­i­ble sun­sets and sun­ris­es tru­ly mak­ing Bagan an immense won­der, and you’ll find get­ting to this stun­ning his­tor­i­cal par­adise eas­i­er than expect­ed.  

Getting There: 

Found in the cen­tre of Myan­mar, it has only been with­in the last decades that the beau­ty of Myan­mar has fea­tured on explor­ers’ trails, with this once closed off coun­try – and the won­ders with­in it – slow­ly becom­ing a main­stream trav­el des­ti­na­tion.  

Undoubt­ed­ly the high­light to any trip to Myan­mar will be a trip to the ancient city and true won­der of the world of Bagan – with a chance to won­der among the thou­sands of gold­en stu­pas and tem­ples, soar in a hot air bal­loon dur­ing a glow­ing sun­rise and mar­vel and reflect and reflect at the his­to­ry, cul­ture and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty con­tained with­in this stun­ning city.  

To being your explo­ration of the won­der of Bagan you’ll need to get your­self to Myan­mar itself – and the cap­i­tal of Yan­gon which lies some 250 miles south of Bagan makes for the per­fect launch pad to get to the ancient city. So – and on the basis you won’t find your­self already based with­in Myan­mar – the eas­i­est and only option will be to fly into the Yan­gon inter­na­tion­al air­port.  

By Plane: Flights into Yan­gon are now – thank­ful­ly – both reg­u­lar and some­what afford­able – and for those com­ing from North or South Amer­i­ca you’ll need to hop on a flight into an Asian trav­el hub – such as Sin­ga­pore, South Korea or Hong Kong – often by the mid­dle east and then take a direct flight into Yan­gon to begin your jour­ney up to Bagan.  

For those trav­el­ling from Europe or Africa the eas­i­est option is a sim­i­lar route, with flights into the Mid­dle East reg­u­lar­ly avail­able – espe­cial­ly Dubai and Qatar – and from there mak­ing you way direct­ly into Yan­gon on the way to Bagan.  

Those trav­ellers based in Asia will have the eas­i­est way of reach­ing Yan­gon – with there being a series of flights from almost all Asian coun­tries direct­ly into Yan­gon and flights known for being only a cou­ple of hours long at most and cheap­ly and read­i­ly afford­able – mak­ing Yan­gon and Bagan a great place to take a quick week long break from the bus­tle of life in Asia.  

To Bagan: Once you’ve got your­self into Yan­gon and Myan­mar the next step will be to get from Yan­gon to the ancient city of Bagan and not­ing that dri­ving with­in Myan­mar or get­ting a taxi isn’t a real­is­tic option you’ve for four main options to get to Bagan, Bus, Train, Fer­ry and Plane.  

By Bus: Start­ing with our rec­om­men­da­tion – and for those trav­ellers who’ve arrived in Yan­gon – the eas­i­est, cheap­est and most com­fort­able way to get from Yan­gon to Bagan is undoubt­ed­ly by Bus. With there being both a day­time bus and an overnight bus which depart from across Myan­mar – includ­ing the Myan­mar main bus ter­mi­nal – and head for the Bagan Shwe Pyi  bus ter­mi­nal – which lies a cou­ple of kilo­me­tres away from the main area of Bagan.  

Served by a num­ber of bus com­pa­nies such as, Apex Express and JJ Express – and with tick­ets book­able online – head­ing from Yan­gon to Bagan by bus is undoubt­ed­ly the most cost-effec­tive and com­fort­able option, as the bus­es are all incred­i­bly mod­ern and clean and for those on the VIP bus­es you’ll find your­self with tele­vi­sions, blan­kets and even reclin­able seats – which is per­fect for the overnight bus – ensur­ing you arrive in Bagan nice and refreshed to begin your explo­ration of this ancient city.  

By Train: For a sec­ond over­land option there’s a series of trains that run from Yan­gon and the north­ern town of Man­dalay to Bagan. The trains from each town are known to be long in their dura­tion – around 17hours from Yan­gon and 6 from Man­dalay – but do have two dis­tinct advan­tages for trav­ellers over the bus; first­ly thanks to their longer time, for those tak­ing an overnight train — they arrive lat­er in the morn­ing than the bus – mean­ing you will reach Bagan at a more civilised time in the morn­ing (around 10am) mak­ing check­ing into hotels and hos­tels around Bagan a more con­ve­nient expe­ri­ence and poten­tial­ly giv­ing you a more enjoy­able expe­ri­ence around Bagan.  

Sec­ond­ly they offer more room for reclin­ing than the bus. While you’ll have to get lucky and get two unoc­cu­pied seats togeth­er when it comes to relax­ing and get­ting a good nights sleep – the train can cer­tain­ly be a more com­fort­able option – and will see your jour­ney into Bagan be a few hours long than the bus and see you arrive at a more civilised time for a poten­tial­ly bet­ter trav­el­ling expe­ri­ence. 

By plane: An option for those who are short on time and more flex­i­ble with their bud­get, there is also the option to fly into Bagan air­port (Nyaung‑U Air­port) – which can see you arrive dur­ing the after­noon and sig­nif­i­cant­ly cut down on your trav­el times. An option which can come in at around $100 Usd – com­pared to $2 — $5 Usd for the bus, fly­ing by plane sig­nif­i­cant­ly cuts down on the time tak­en to reach Bagan – and can see you arrive ful­ly refreshed – par­tic­u­lar­ly when com­pared to the overnight train or bus – and for those who have the cost of a flight avail­able in their bud­get – this rep­re­sents a fan­tas­tic and effi­cient way to reach Bagan.  

By Fer­ry: Final­ly for an option for those approach­ing Bagan from the North and in the area of Man­dalay – you’ll find dai­ly fer­ries that cruise down the Ayeyarwady riv­er and get you into the city of Bagan – drop­ping you off into the thou­sands of stun­ning tem­ples.  

A fan­tas­tic option to expe­ri­ence the beau­ty of Bagan from the riv­er – and give you a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive and view of the thou­sands of Pago­das, Boats leave from Man­dalay ear­ly in the morn­ing – at 5:30am – and, while they may take longer than a bus, cruis­ing down the riv­er and wit­ness­ing a stun­ning sun­rise over Bagan as you slow­ly make your way towards this stun­ning won­der of the world is undoubt­ed­ly one of the best ways to arrive at the incred­i­ble ancient city of Bagan.  

Getting Around Bagan – By bicycle, car and in the air.  

Hav­ing got your­self into the city of Bagan – which is divid­ed into three sper­ate areas – Old Bagan – where you’ll find the incred­i­ble tem­ples, New Bagan – which con­tains a more mod­ern are of the city – and Nyaung U – which acts as the trans­port hub where the bus­es and flights will arrive – you’ll then need to con­sid­er the best to get around Bagan and in par­tic­u­lar­ly move from tem­ple to tem­ple across the plains of Bagaan – which giv­en there are more than 3822 tem­ples still stand­ing across Bagan can be daunt­ing.  

While explor­ing the tem­ples on foot is an option – giv­en the fast size of the plains, Bagan real­ly lends itself to self-bicy­cle tours, with a range of bikes and e‑bikes avail­able for hire from across Bagan and at the entrance of the ancient city itself.  

Offer­ing not just good car­dio, but a fast way to hop from tem­ple to tem­ple – hir­ing a bike / e‑bike in Bagan is a fan­tas­tic option to get around Bagan – as you can quick­ly and eas­i­ly move between tem­ples at your own pace and on your own sched­ule  — and its also very cost effec­tive – so it some­thing we’d real­ly rec­om­mend to get the best out of this incred­i­ble city ! 

For those who aren’t able to cycle – or arrive out­side of Octo­ber – March when the weath­er can be unpre­dictable includ­ing tor­ren­tial down­pours and scorch­ing heat, then it might be worth con­sid­er­ing hir­ing a car. While this is an expen­sive option – expect to pay up to $50 Usd a day – it does guar­an­tee you an air-con­di­tioned and dry way of get­ting around Bagan – which under the cir­cum­stances may well be worth it.  

Final­ly, the sun­ris­es and sun­set are a tru­ly spir­i­tu­al and beau­ti­ful expe­ri­ence at Bagan – with the sky turn­ing an arrange of bright yel­low and gold and bring­ing the thou­sands of gold­en Pago­das before you to life in an incred­i­ble blind­ing dis­play – that is unlike any­thing on earth.  

While the best spots from the ground for viewe­ing sun­rise and sun­sets in our opin­ion are from atop one of the five climbable Pago­das (Shwe­san­daw, Thit­sa Wadi, South and North Guni, and Pyathat­gyi) – from where you will undoubt­ed­ly get incred­i­ble panoram­ic views, one of the ulti­mate expe­ri­ences at Bagan is to hov­er over the incred­i­ble tem­ples at sun­rise in a hot air bal­loon – where you will get to wit­ness the incred­i­ble ris­ing sun light up the beau­ti­ful tem­ples from above – get­ting a true view of the scale and beau­ty of the great city of Bagan.  

A must do expe­ri­ence at this incred­i­ble won­der of the world – a hot air bal­loon expe­ri­ence is well worth stretch­ing your bud­get for in Bagan, and as your soar out over this incred­i­ble ancient city, with the ris­ing sun on your back mak­ing the his­to­ry of this great city come to live, you’ll be left in lit­tle doubt of the sheer beau­ty of the won­der of the world that is the city of Bagan.

Best time to Visit: 

Bagan – and Myan­mar as a whole – have two dis­tinct sea­sons; wet and dry, with tem­per­a­tures across the whole of the coun­try rang­ing between 25 – 40 degrees across the year, mean­ing that a trip to Bagan and to see it as its absolute best is utter­ly depen­dent on the time of year you choose to vis­it.  

As a start­ing point – and if ‑pos­si­ble we’d rule vis­it­ing in the wet and rainy sea­son between the months of June to Sep­tem­ber where, despite Bagan offi­cial­ly being in the dry zone of Myan­mar, rain falls are fre­quent and unpre­dictable – which can­not only see you get soaked dur­ing the day – but also can pro­vide over­cast con­di­tions for hot air bal­loon­ing in the morn­ing and see fre­quent clouds – which real­ly takes the edge off the sun­rise and sun­sets at Bagan – which is an undoubt­ed high­light of vis­it­ing this won­der.  

Sim­i­lar­ly, you’ll find the months between March and May an uncom­fort­able time to vis­it, as while the rain sea­son is yet to kick in tem­per­a­tures soar across Bagan – some­times reach­ing as high as 40 degrees – which while great for top­ping up the tan – makes for an uncom­fort­able expe­ri­ence spend­ing time out in the exposed plains and can lead to heat exhaus­tion – so we’d advise avoid­ing these months.  

This means that the best time to vis­it Bagan is between the months of Octo­ber to March – where you’ll find the tem­per­a­tures warm – between 20 – 30 degrees – and the chance of rain and cloud min­i­mal – giv­ing you incred­i­ble weath­er to not only explore the thou­sands of tem­ples of Bagan on foot – but also take to the skies at either the top of a Pago­da or in a hot air bal­loon and wit­ness the incred­i­ble sun­rise and sun­sets of Bagan – which are tru­ly mag­i­cal.  

For those who want an extra spe­cial and unique expe­ri­ence – we’d advise tim­ing your trip for the month of Jan­u­ary – when the biggest fes­ti­val across Bagan takes place – the Anan­da Tem­ple Fes­ti­val. Timed to coin­cide with the Burmese Pyatho mon­th’s full moon – and the end­ing of the har­vest sea­son – you’ll find Bagan trans­formed into a car­ni­val atmos­phere with pil­grims trekking to the gold­en Anan­da tem­ple with offer­ings, the streets awash with peo­ple pro­vid­ing dona­tions to the needy and street food and gift shops lin­ing the streets.  

A spe­cial time to vis­it and one where’ll you need to book accom­mo­da­tion in advance – we’d advise vis­it­ing the ancient city of Bagan between the months of Octo­ber to March to see this incred­i­ble won­der at its absolute best – with a trip dur­ing the Anan­da fes­ti­val undoubt­ed­ly rep­re­sent­ing a spe­cial time to vis­it.  

How long to stay:

Giv­en that so much of the expe­ri­ence of explor­ing this incred­i­ble won­der is found in watch­ing gold­en sun light up the thou­sands of gold­en tem­ples stretch­ing across the plains of Bagan at sun­rise and sun­set, and in con­sid­er­a­tion of the thou­sands of tem­ples, pago­das and stu­pas to explore, as well as the time it takes to trav­el to Bagan from Yan­gon – we’d rec­om­mend putting aside 4 days and 3 nights to explore all that this incred­i­ble won­der has to offer.  

Account­ing first­ly for what will be a full days trav­el from Yan­gon to Bagan by bus, and then a night spent in the town of Bagan itself, your jour­ney around this ancient won­der will like­ly begin with an incred­i­ble sun­rise hot air bal­loon tour on day two – where you will sail over the thou­sands of gold­en Pago­das as they light up in shades of orange and deep yel­low – giv­ing you a tru­ly birds eye view over this won­der and a full appre­ci­a­tion of the sheer scale of Bagan – for what will be a tru­ly mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence.  

From there we’d rec­om­mend explor­ing some of the indi­vid­ual pago­das them­selves dur­ing the day, before a quick rest and then head­ing to the top of the Shwe­san­daw stu­pa to watch the incred­i­ble sun­set over Bagan – to con­clude what will be an incred­i­ble day explor­ing this stun­ning won­der.   

We’d then rec­om­mend get­ting up ear­ly again on day 3 to watch the sun­rise – this time tak­ing in the view from one of the five climable tem­ples of Bagan (Shwe­san­daw, Thit­sa Wadi, South and North Guni, and Pyathat­gyi) and from which the sum­mit of one of these tem­ples you can get an incred­i­ble view and pho­to­graph of not only the glow­ing sun­rise brin­ing Bagan to life – but cap­ture it from an ele­vat­ed view as tens of hot air bal­loon soar into the gold­en sky – for a stun­ning view.  

With more time of the third day to leisure­ly explore the remain­ing pago­das and tem­ples – as well as indulge in some of the tasty Bagan food, we’d then rec­om­mend mak­ing your way to the pure gold tem­ple of Lawkanan­da which sits perched on the banks of the Ayer­wad­dy riv­er to watch a final sun­set over the thou­sands of gold­en tem­ples against a back­drop of not just the Bagan plains but also the moun­tains and rivers of Bagan.  

Hav­ing cov­ered all of the won­der of Bagan in what will be a tru­ly spe­cial 2 days, we’d then advise trav­el­ling on to explore the rest of Bagan – with our rec­om­men­da­tion being to bud­get 2 full days at Bagan and 4 days and 3 nights over­all when account­ing for trav­el time – to give you the absolute best expe­ri­ence at this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

Top Tip:

A tru­ly fas­ci­nat­ing ancient city – that allows explor­ers to step back through his­to­ry to the ancient city of Pagan and the first begin­ning of the King­dom of Myan­mar as we know it today, explor­ing the thou­sands of gold tem­ples, stu­pas and pago­das that await you at Bagan is not only a thrill, but an expe­ri­ence for which you need to come pre­pared for mul­ti­ple poten­tial pit­falls, includ­ing the poten­tial soar­ing heat, the threat of rain, know­ing how to nav­i­gate the ancient city and ensur­ing you don’t fall foul of any cul­tur­al or reli­gious prac­tices.  

Cou­ple this with hav­ing to get up ear­ly and nav­i­gate Bagan in the dark to wit­ness the stun­ning sun­rise — which is a must do at the ancient city and it’s very easy for a trip to Bagan to get over­whelm­ing. So, to make sure any trip to Bagan is as enjoy­able as pos­si­ble – and gives you the chance to explore all that this incred­i­ble ancient city and its thou­sands of tem­ples have to offer, we’ve round­ed out our top tip when vis­it­ing the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is Bagan: 

Cultural Awareness & Pagoda Closures:  

First up, it’s essen­tial that any­one vis­it­ing Bagan is ful­ly aware of the cul­tur­al sen­si­tiv­i­ties and ful­ly respects not just the deep his­to­ry and cul­ture with­in this site, but observes and respects the city of Bagan and its Pago­das from a reli­gious per­spec­tive – noth­ing that the city is still a place of wor­ship and pil­grim­age site for Bud­dhists.  

With this in mind, the first thing any explor­er should be aware of is the dress code, not­ing for explor­ing Bagan and its tem­ples, ensur­ing that shoul­ders and knees are ful­ly cov­ered – and all socks and shoes are removed before enter­ing any tem­ple – with it being con­sid­ered an incred­i­bly dis­re­spect­ful act to dis­obey these rules – with our advise being to explore Bagan wear­ing light train­ers or even flip flops to explore the tem­ples, and brin­ing wet wipes to ensure your feet stay clean.  

Also bear in mind – that despite what you may be told by peo­ple when you get there – only give pago­das are cur­rent­ly climbable — the pago­das of Shwe­san­daw, Thit­sa Wadi, South and North Guni, and Pyathat­gyi – and you should always check before­hand before set­ting off on a tem­ple climb. While we’d strong­ly encour­age a tem­ple climb – if its allowed – to catch the sun­rise of sun­set – do make sure you only climb those which are open, and bear in mind that tem­ples are closed at the direc­tion of the gov­ern­ment on ran­dom days. If you find your­self arriv­ing at Bagan and the tem­ples are closed – we’d advise head­ing for the hills of Nyaung Laphat hill & Sula­mani hill instead to watch the sun­rise or set.  

Be prepared for the weather:  

Along­side ensur­ing that you respect the cul­tur­al and reli­gious sig­nif­i­cance of Bagan, it’s essen­tial that you come pre­pared for the weath­er across Myan­mar – with the tem­per­a­tures, which are com­pound­ed by humid­i­ty, nev­er drop­ping below 25 degrees – and ris­ing as high as 40 in dry sea­son between March and May.  

While you can make life a lot eas­i­er for your­self by arriv­ing between Octo­ber – March, where tem­per­a­tures are at there coolest, regard­less of the time you vis­it you should take great care to ensure you do not get dehy­drat­ed – tak­ing plen­ty of water with you around Bagan and com­ing pre­pared with a good hat and plen­ty of sun­block.  

Along­side this for those arriv­ing dur­ing the rainy sea­son between June to Sep­tem­ber, note that rain­storms and quick show­ers are fre­quent, so we’d advise com­ing with a pon­cho and an umbrel­la and mak­ing sure you give your­self a bit more time when vis­it­ing Bagan, as while the city if tru­ly beau­ti­ful explor­ing it in the rain – par­tic­u­lar­ly if you’re in a hot air bal­loon – can real­ly damp­en your expe­ri­ence at this won­der of the world. 

What to Bring:  

Along­side ensur­ing you come pre­pared for the Bagan heat – and ensure you come with appro­pri­ate cloth­ing, it’s also worth tak­ing a lit­tle bit of time before your trip to ensure you come pre­pared for explor­ing Bagan and Myan­mar, bring appro­pri­ate clothes, elec­tron­ic and cur­ren­cy.  

As a starter we’d advise brin­ing com­fort­able sports train­ers or san­dals to Bagan – as you’ll be spend­ing a lot of time not only on your feet explor­ing tem­ples, but they’ll be a need to quick­ly slip your shoes (and socks) off every time you enter a tem­ple – so wear­ing free fit­ting and loose shoes is always a good idea.  

On top of this as well as brin­ing some warm clothes for the cool morn­ings and chilly nights, includ­ing a thin jack­et, we’d advise brin­ing a flash­light or torch – which can be essen­tial not just for nav­i­gat­ing Bagan at night but also in the ear­ly morn­ings as you climb atop a Pago­da to wit­ness the incred­i­ble sun­rise.  

We’d also advise, as well as bring­ing some loose fit­ting but respect­ful t‑shirts, to come with the essen­tial elec­tron­ics, includ­ing a wide angle cam­era – which is per­fect for those ari­al and ear­ly morn­ing sun­rise shots, and a ful­ly charged pow­er bank – not­ing that elec­tric­i­ty can be chop­py – and for those spend­ing a full day at Bagan not freely avail­able.  

Final­ly be sure to come with plen­ty of US dol­lars, which is freely accept­ed around Bagan and remem­ber to keep your entrance tick­et to hand – as you’ll find that ran­dom inspec­tions are done both across the site and in tem­ples – which can lead to sticky sit­u­a­tions if you’ve mis­placed yours !. 

Safety & Be aware of Touts: 

While Bagan is incred­i­bly safe and you’ll find the peo­ple of Myan­mar incred­i­bly friend­ly and gen­er­ous – do come to Bagan pre­pared to be approached often by sales­peo­ple, who unless you walk away from will con­tin­ue to push their prod­ucts – and often pro­vide false infor­ma­tion about Bagan to you.  

While the peo­ple them­selves are attempt­ing to make a liv­ing, it can get a lit­tle bit uncom­fort­able and annoy­ing at times, par­tic­u­lar­ly giv­en the vol­ume of enquiries you may have from touts dur­ing the high sea­son. So do be sure to come pre­pared ready for respect­ful­ly and polite­ly turn­ing down any approach­es from touts and take their approach and advice with a pinch of salt before con­tin­u­ing across your jour­ney inside Bagan.  

Rent a bike  

Along­side com­ing pre­pared for the heat and keep­ing your eyes out for touts, one of our top tips for Bagan is to explore the ancient city on a bike. While Bagan is tru­ly beau­ti­ful, giv­en its sheer size and the thou­sands of tem­ples to explore- and of course the heat, it doesn’t lend itself to walk­ing across the ancient city – and hir­ing a dri­ver and a car can set you back at least $50 Usd – which can real­ly hit your bud­get, par­tic­u­lar­ly if you’re tak­ing on a hot air bal­loon ride.  

So for this rea­son, Bagan real­ly lends itself to be explored on a bike, which can let you quick­ly cov­er ground, whilst explor­ing the many tem­ples and pago­das and under­tak­ing and under­stand­ing Bagan at your own pace. With there being no short­age of bike rental shops across Bagan and at the entrance to the com­plex to help you dis­cov­er this incred­i­ble ancient city on two wheels, which for our rec­om­men­da­tion is undoubt­ed­ly the best way to explore Bagan.  

Sunrise in a hot air balloon: 

Final­ly watch­ing the sun­rise over Bagan is undoubt­ed­ly one of the great­est expe­ri­ences at this ancient city and one of the best ways to expe­ri­ence the beau­ty of Bagan – as you soar over the thou­sands of stun­ning gold­en pago­das below you lit up by the ris­ing sun in what is tru­ly an awe-inspir­ing expe­ri­ence.  

To make this expe­ri­ence as spe­cial as pos­si­ble, be sure to book your hot air bal­loon a few days in advance with a rep­utable hot-air bal­loon com­pa­ny with a strong safe­ty record – and come pre­pared for the expe­ri­ence, with hot air bal­loons typ­i­cal­ly last­ing around an hour and requir­ing you to get up ear­ly (4am) so you’ll need to come with a strong sweater or hood­ie and a flash­light to nav­i­gate your way to the launch pad.  

But if you fol­low the safe­ty advice in the bal­loon, and come pre­pared for the poten­tial bumpy land­ing and cold weath­er soar­ing above the thou­sands of tem­ples and pago­das below you, lit up by the incred­i­ble ris­ing sun, is undoubt­ed­ly one of the most incred­i­ble expe­ri­ences on the plan­et and will tru­ly bring to life the sheer scale and beau­ty of the won­der of the world that is Bagan.  

Cost:  

Despite stand­ing as one of the most incred­i­bly well pre­served and awe-inspir­ing sites on the plan­et – with the thou­sand of gold­en Pago­das and tem­ples mak­ing for a tru­ly stun­ning site – a vis­it to Bagan is incred­i­bly afford­able, with this ancient city lend­ing itself as one of the cost-effec­tive won­der on the plan­et.  

Get­ting there: In fact, along­side a hot air bal­loon tour, your main expense may well come from the cost of get­ting to Myan­mar itself, with inter­na­tion­al flights from across Europe and North Amer­i­ca – which often tran­sit through the Mid­dle East – like­ly to cost around $700 Usd return – although we’d encour­age you to com­bine your trip to Myan­mar with some of the oth­er won­ders with­in Asia.  

For those trav­el­ling from Aus­trala­sia or Asia itself, you can low­er your bud­get when it comes to get­ting to Myan­mar, with round trip flights avail­able for as lit­tle as $100 Usd – if you book in advance and are pre­pared to go with one of the bud­get air­lines.  

Hav­ing got your­self to Myan­mar and the cap­i­tal of Yan­gon, it’ll then be time to head North to the cen­tre of the coun­try and to Bagan itself, and this is where for the bud­get con­scious trav­eller, things get a lit­tle bit eas­i­er – with train and bus tick­ets com­ing in at a friend­ly $2.50 – although you’ll need to bud­get an extra $2.50 for a taxi to your hotel.  

For those trav­el­ling south from Man­dalay and tak­ing the boat along the Ayeyarwady riv­er, you can bud­get $5 Usd for a boat tick­et, with the ear­ly morn­ing boat – which leaves at 5:30am giv­ing you spec­tac­u­lar views of the riv­er and the pago­das as you slow­ly sail into the heart of Bagan.  

For those short on time, but with a gen­er­ous bud­get, it might also be worth con­sid­er­ing get­ting a flight between Yan­gon and Bagan – which will come in at around $100 Usd, which is expen­sive but can cer­tain­ly be worth it for those short on time.  

Tem­ple Access: Hav­ing got your­self to Bagan, the first thing you’ll need to bud­get for is access to the Tem­ple Plain where the main Pago­das are. The tick­ets offi­cial­ly cost $15 Usd and can be bought at the gate or at your hotel. Do note though that it is pos­si­ble to enter the plains with­out pay­ing the tick­et if you get lucky – so for those on a strict bud­get it is worth try­ing your luck enter­ing the plains with­out a tick­et and see if you can get away with it – although this is cer­tain­ly not a move we endorse ! 

Get­ting Around: For get­ting around Bagan, undoubt­ed­ly the eas­i­est and best option is to hire a bike for a day, and you’ll find many bike rental shops across the city, with a full day bike rental for a day com­ing in at $1.50 Usd and for those who fan­cy an elec­tron­ic bike you can bud­get around $5 Usd a day for rental, with the elec­tron­ic bike being a great option for those not used to the high tem­per­a­tures of Bagan.  

For those who don’t fan­cy explor­ing Bagan by them­selves, or who would like to com­fort of an air con­di­tioned vehi­cle and a guide, we’d advise book­ing your trip in advance and online – and you can expect to pay between $50 — $100 Usd for a guid­ed tour, which should ensure you get to the best spots in Bagan, you are pro­vid­ed with plen­ty of water and stay out of the heat – which can make for an incred­i­ble way to explore the stun­ning plains of Bagan.  

Hot Air Bal­loon: We’d also strong­ly advise mak­ing room in your bud­get for a sun­rise hot air bal­loon flight over Bagan – which is one of the must do expe­ri­ences at Bagan and gives you a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to sore over this incred­i­ble won­der of the world look­ing down at the thou­sands of gold­en Pago­das lit up below you by the glow­ing ris­ing sun – with a tick­et on a hot air bal­loon cost­ing $350 Usd, which while pricey for back­pack­ers is undoubt­ed­ly worth the mon­ey.  

Not­ing that cash is still king in Bagan, although cards are becom­ing more accept­ed in restau­rants and hotels and mak­ing sure you bring USD – which is accept­ed across the coun­try as well as  Myan­mar Kyat – allow­ing for $10 Usd to cov­er your food bud­get in Bagan and an extra $10 for a nice sou­venir, we’d rec­om­mend putting aside $500 Usd for a trip to Bagan for those trav­el­ling from Asia – which includes accom­mo­da­tion, food and a hot air bal­loon trip – and around $1250 Usd for those trav­el­ling from Europe and North Amer­i­ca – which makes Bagan one of the most afford­able won­ders of the world on the plan­et and a true bar­gain to vis­it.  

Fun Fact: 

As well as being home to the largest – and most com­pact – col­lec­tion of Bud­dhist Pago­das, Tem­ples and Stu­pas on the plan­et – Bagan is rich in his­to­ry, cul­ture and reli­gion, hav­ing once been known as the city of Pagan – the first offi­cial cap­i­tal of the coun­try we now know as Myan­mar from the 9th to 13th cen­turies.  

It was dur­ing these 4 cen­turies that Bagan tru­ly came to life, with almost all of the 10,000 Supas being erect­ed dur­ing this peri­od, to cre­ate what was once a sea of tem­ples and a gold­en city all of which was ded­i­cat­ed to the Bud­dha and his teach­ings.  

While only 3822 of these tem­ples remain today, Bagan still remains its incred­i­ble charm, with the city not only being one of the great­est places on the plan­et to take a sun­rise hot air bal­loon and offer­ing a tru­ly incred­i­ble sun­rise, but also inter­na­tion­al­ly renowned for the incred­i­ble Bagan cui­sine – which com­bines the best of Chi­nese, Indi­an and Thai – with a lit­tle Bagan spice to cre­ate tan­ta­lis­ing dish­es.  

A mag­i­cal place that is bought to life with incred­i­ble gold­en archi­tec­ture, a trip to the ancient city of Bagan feels tru­ly off the beat­en track, and explor­ing these ancient stu­pas and pon­der­ing on their his­to­ry and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty, before snack­ing on incred­i­ble food and watch­ing a stun­ning sun­rise – as civil­i­sa­tions have done cen­turies before you – only adds to the incred­i­ble won­der of the great city of Bagan.  

Top Sighs & Best photo spot: 

The land not only of a thou­sand pago­das and tem­ples, but thanks to the gold­en colour­ings of these shrines, the rich his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al of the plains, the shim­mer­ing reflec­tive Ayeyarwady Riv­er and the gold­en hours of sun­rise and sun­set, Bagan is undoubt­ed­ly a land of incred­i­ble pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties.  

Offer­ing glow­ing land­scapes unlike any­where else on the plan­et, com­bined with a series of stun­ning land and air view­points and van­tage points, you’ll find no short­age of incred­i­ble shots across the lands of Bagan, with an explo­ration and pho­to jour­ney inside this ancient city offer­ing you not online incred­i­ble shots, but giv­ing you a chance to step back through his­to­ry and walk amongst tow­er­ing, impos­ing and beau­ti­ful pago­das as you cap­ture the absolute best of Bagan.  

A won­der that lends itself to easy pho­tog­ra­phy and guar­an­teed awe-inspir­ing shots, Bagan fea­tures a series of climbable pago­das, pho­tog­ra­phy hills and dai­ly hot air bal­loons, all of which afford stun­ning shots for novices to experts seek­ing to cap­ture this great won­der. So, to help you make the best of this stun­ning won­der and true pho­tog­ra­phers par­adise, we’ve round­ed out our top places to shoot and must have shots with­in the won­der of the gold­en city of Bagan: 

The Temples of Bagan: 

The heart of Bagan, roam­ing and explor­ing the thou­sands of gold­en Pago­das in Bagan is not just a chance to explore the his­to­ry and rich Bud­dhist cul­ture enshrined in this ancient city, but is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to pho­to­graph the gold­en palaces that make up this ancient site both indi­vid­u­al­ly and col­lec­tive­ly, ensur­ing that you man­age to cap­ture and revis­it this bare­ly believ­able stun­ning unique won­der through pho­tog­ra­phy.  

With each Pago­da and tem­ple being unique in its cre­ation, height, his­to­ry and reli­gious sym­bol­ism – and giv­en the thou­sands of stu­pas avail­able at Bagan to snap – ensur­ing you vis­it the right and most pho­to­genic and mean­ing­ful parts of Bagan can be a chal­lenge. So, in no par­tic­u­lar order we’ve round­ed out our top pho­to­genic tem­ples at Bagan that no explor­er should go with­out pho­tograph­ing: 

Shwezigon Temple 

Begin­ning at the start — the Shwezigon tem­ple is con­sid­ered the first tem­ple con­struct­ed across Bagan, with its ori­gins dat­ing back as far as 1086 AD and serv­ing as the gold­en inspi­ra­tion for the thou­sands of tem­ples that would be erect­ed across the plains of Bagan. A tru­ly gold­en of the Shwezigon tem­ple may have fad­ed but it’s incred­i­ble struc­ture – com­posed of its rec­tan­gu­lar mul­ti­ple bases and cylin­der mid­dle reach­ing to its sum­mit of spire still remains – and encom­pass­es the incred­i­ble his­to­ry and reli­gious spir­i­tu­al­i­ty of the won­der of Bagan – mak­ing for stun­ning pho­tos. 

With the Shwezigon pago­das tem­ple design and con­struc­tion ordered by the first king of began – Anawrah­ta – and then com­plet­ed after his death by his suc­ces­sor Kyan­sit­tha. The Shwezigon Pago­da was orig­i­nal­ly reserved for kings, and also served as the inspi­ra­tion for the gold­en cen­ter­piece of the area of Yan­gon – the Shwedagon Pago­da – with the inspi­ra­tion of the design of this icon of Myan­mar pulled from the orig­i­nal and tru­ly pho­to­genic tem­ple of Bagan’s Shwezigon tem­ple. 

Ananda Temple 

The pho­to­genic tem­ple of Anan­da tru­ly earns its rep­u­ta­tion as the one per­fect tem­ple, with this grand cathe­dral inspired tem­ple being one of the grand­est and most stun­ning tem­ples across Bagan. Incred­i­bly well pre­served and still main­tain­ing its orig­i­nal gold­en spire, the Anan­da tem­ple was con­ceived by King Kyan­sit­tha in the 12th cen­tu­ry and orig­i­nal­ly served as a place of bud­dhist wor­ship – with the com­bi­na­tion of its white walls, gold­en spire and sheer size mak­ing it one of the top tem­ples to pho­to­graph.  

Clock­ing in at more than 170 feet – the Anan­da tem­ple is hard to miss, and we’d advise mak­ing sure that you grab a pho­to of the tem­ple from just inside its entrance, where – if you get your angles right – you can cap­ture the beau­ty of the tem­ple in sync with four huge Bud­dha stat­ues – mak­ing for a par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial shot at this incred­i­ble tem­ple.  

Dhammayangyi Temple 

The bad Kar­ma Tem­ple – the Dham­mayangyi is not only the grand­est tem­ple across Bagan, but one of the most unique, with its square base that makes it appear almost pyra­mid in shape being a true feat of archi­tec­tur­al design and won­der, which com­bined with its gold­en brown coat­ing and its incred­i­bly well pre­served sta­tus – makes it one the most pho­tograph­able tem­ples across the whole of Bagan.  

A par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial tem­ple to cap­ture against the back­ground of sun­rise or sun­set,  Dham­mayangyi earns its bad kar­ma rep­u­ta­tion fol­low­ing its con­struc­tion by the King Narathu – who seized pow­er by mur­der­ing his own father in the late 12th Cen­tu­ry, with this tem­ple being his attempt avoid the con­se­quences for his action in the next life. While it’s unclear whether he found redemp­tion, there’s no doubt that his cre­ation stands as one of the most unique and spe­cial tem­ples across Bagan, and a tem­ple that no explor­er should leave with­out cap­tur­ing.  

 Htilominlo Temple:  

Known as the Umbrel­la Tem­ple – nick­named not just because of its unique umbrel­la like design – but also after the King Htilomin­lo (after whom the tem­ple takes its offi­cial name) – but also because King Htilomin­lo was sup­pos­ed­ly select­ed to rule as king after his fathers umbrel­la select­ed to him to rule after a cer­e­mo­ny.  

Regard­less of how the tem­ple came to be, it is unde­ni­ably stun­ning – with the 150 foot Htilomin­lo tem­ple perched on the edge of the Bagan plains and look­ing out over the beau­ti­ful coun­try­side, with each of its four cor­ners sym­met­ri­cal in design – cre­at­ing a per­fect shot. Spe­cial also thanks to a near­by lake – from where you can snap incred­i­ble reflec­tive pho­tos, Htilomin­lo also comes com­plete with a bustling court­yard full of sou­venir sell­ers – who are only too hap­py to ablige (for a fee) a pho­to of your­self in front of this mag­nif­i­cent tem­ple.   

Manuha Temple: The Hall of Sadness  

Named the tem­ple of sad­ness – after the exiled king Mon who imag­ined the tem­ple and ordered its con­struc­tion, but sad­ly nev­er saw it came to be, the Manuha tem­ples exte­ri­or sad­ly not as well pre­served as its neigh­bour­ing tem­ples. Yet its inside where this tem­ple – and incred­i­ble pho­tographs come to life, with the halls inside the tem­ple blessed with four incred­i­ble images of Bud­dha – which make for unique snaps of the reli­gious sig­nif­i­cane of Bagan. 

Three of these images are found in one sec­tion of the hall in a some­what cramped area – so be pre­pared to wait to view them – and all stand high­er than 40 feet fac­ing east – rep­re­sent­ing the hope and sym­bol­ism of the Bud­dhist reli­gion, while one sin­gle Bud­dha image – which fea­tures Bud­dha reclin­ing fac­ing west with his head fac­ing north – found at the back of the tem­ple and  stretch­es more than 90 feet in length.  

A mov­ing and unique tem­ple, the spir­i­tu­aly and his­to­ry of the Manuha tem­ple is tru­ly felt and it’s one of the most unique places across the whole of Bagan to snap pho­tos and tru­ly under­stand the spe­cial reli­gious nature of this won­der of the world.  

 Lemyethna the White Pagoda 

One of the most unique Pago­das across Bagan, the Lemyeth­na remains in reg­u­lar use for prayer, with this bright white 13th cen­tu­ry Pago­da stand­ing in stark con­trast to the gold and brown tem­ples of Pago­da, mak­ing it not only tru­ly spe­cial, but against the back­ground of the plains of Bagan and the thou­sands of neigh­bour­ing Pago­das mak­ing it a spe­cial spot to grab a unique pho­to of this incred­i­ble white Pago­da.  

Par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial when pho­tographed just after sun­rise – when the ris­ing sun colours light up the Lemyeth­na tem­ple mak­ing it tru­ly illu­mi­nous, we’d also advise cap­tur­ing this spe­cial tem­ple from a ground shot – where you can snap a great gold­en spire before the tem­ple – that makes for a tru­ly won­der­ful pho­to.  

Lawkananda Pagoda 

Made out of pure gold – and stand­ing as a bell shaped tow­er – the Lawkanan­da Pago­da is a stun­ning pago­da in its own right, but giv­en its unique posi­tion perched on the banks of the Ayer­wad­dy riv­er – you’ll find this Pago­da one of the most spe­cial places across Bagan to snap pho­tos of the incred­i­ble sun­set – with not only the riv­er and mout­nains of Bagan laid out before you but the Lawkanan­da Pago­da itself all light­ing up against the deep orange and reflec­tive glow of the sun­set for a tru­ly spe­cial pho­to.  

A spot that’s also a great place to cap­ture time­lapse pho­tos, the Lawkanan­da Pago­da also ben­e­fits from a series of com­fort­able bench­es spread across the river­bank – that can make for a great place to set­tle down for the evening and watch as the incred­i­ble sun descends over Bagan for a pic­ture per­fect pho­to.  

Shwe Gu Gyi & Bulethi Temples 

The twin tem­ples of Shwe Gu Gyi & Bulethi lie incon­spic­u­ous­ly in the mid­dle of Bagan, yet these two tem­ples offer one of the most stun­ning and unique pho­tos across the whole of Bagan to cap­ture panoram­ic pho­tos. Not our pick for sun­rise or sun­set (see below) but thanks to the mul­ti­ple tem­ples around these twin tem­ples – and the fact that view spots are avail­able from each of the four cor­ners of both tem­ples – it’s tru­ly worth mak­ing the climb to at least one of their sum­mits to snap great panoram­ic pho­tos out over Bagan.  

A rel­a­tiv­ley easy climb – at least in com­par­i­son to oth­er tem­ples across Bagan, both Shwe Gu Gyi & Bulethi tem­ples remain off the beat­en track for panoram­ic pho­tos, so you’ll find that the sum­mits of both tem­ples are large­ly unoc­cu­pied dur­ing the day – which can be incred­i­bly handy for those who want to take their time and snap a tru­ly mem­o­rable pho­to out over the thou­sands of tem­ples of the won­der of Bagan.  

Nyaung Laphat hill & Sulamani hill 

Final­ly, in order to give explor­ers that extra spe­cial pho­to – the con­ser­va­tors of Bagan have very help­ful­ly con­struct­ed two man­made hills on the edge of the plains from Bagan – where explor­ers can ascend and look out over the thou­sands of tem­ples for panoram­ic shots.  

Both hills can be chal­leng­ing to climb, so be sure to make use of the handrails on your ascent – and you’ll find that as well as offer­ing panoram­ic pho­tos out over Bagan, and being a pop­u­lar spot for pro­pos­als, both hills are adver­tised as being the pre­mi­um sun­rise and sun­set pho­tog­ra­phy loca­tion of Bagan.  

While this wouldn’t be our rec­om­men­da­tion (see below) we’d cer­tain­ly rec­om­mend mak­ing the ascent up to the top of either the Nyaung Laphat hill or Sula­mani hill dur­ing the day, and tak­ing a moment to gaze out and snap incred­i­ble panoram­ic pho­tos of the thou­sands of beau­ti­ful Pago­das before you that make up the stun­ning won­der of the world of Bagan.  

Sunrise in a Hot Air Balloon 

One of the great­est expe­ri­ences on the plan­et, a sun­rise hot air bal­loon ride over the gold­en city of Bagan not only mag­i­cal but affords explor­ers stun­ning pho­tos of this increi­d­ble won­der of the world – as you fly over the thou­sands of pago­das and tem­ples and gaze down as they light up with the ris­ing sun and tru­ly come alive – cre­at­ing one of the most stun­ning pho­tographs over Bagan.  

Giv­ing you a birds eye view of fel­low hot air bal­loons against Bagan and afford­ing panoram­ic pho­tos that let you cap­ture unique views only avail­able from the air, a hot air bal­loon will not only be cost­ly (expect to pay $300 Usd) – but will see you have to get up ear­ly in the morn­ing – yet both these incon­ve­niences are well worth it for the great pho­tos they afford. Best under­tak­en on a clear day (so be sure to check the weath­er in advance) and between the months of Octo­ber to Mid-April, watch­ing the sun­rise over the won­der of Bagan is awe-inspir­ing, the pho­tos you snap on this hot air bal­loon jour­ney are undoubt­ed­ly the best way to cap­ture the full beau­ty of this increi­d­ble won­der of the world.  

 Sunrise from a Pagoda: 

While soar­ing above the ancient city of Bagan and its thou­sands of Pago­das in a hot air bal­loon is a thrilling expe­ri­ence and one that affords incred­i­ble pho­tos – for the icon­ic and quin­tes­sen­tial pho­to and expe­ri­ence of watch­ing the gold­en sun light up the city – with a series of hot air bal­loons in shot, cap­tured against the glow­ing illu­mi­nat­ing sun – then the best place to be and to snap that pho­to is atop one of Bagan’s Pago­das – from where you can look out and cap­ture this incred­i­ble and beau­ti­ful pho­to.  

A shot that will require to get up ear­ly and be in posi­tion for the air bal­loon ascend­ing time of half an hour before sun­rise, we’d advise skip­ping the offi­cial advice of head­ing to a hill and head­ing to one of the open tem­ples that is climbable at sun­rise to cap­ture this pho­to. With any of the five tem­ples of Shwe­san­daw, Thit­sa Wadi, South and North Guni, and Pyathat­gyi being open for climb­ing and offer­ing stun­ning views out over the beau­ty of Bagan. 

A tru­ly icon­ic pho­to – and one that will stay with you, be sure to wrap up warm and bring some break­fast with you, and after an ascent to the top of the stairs of a Pago­da and a patient wait for the sun to rise, you’ll be able to cap­ture the icon­ic and stun­ning pho­to­graph of the per­fect moment where the hot air bal­loons align with the illu­mi­nat­ing sun reflect­ing over the gold­en tem­ples of Bagan – for a mes­meris­ing and beau­ti­ful shot.  

Sunset from the Shwesandaw Pagoda: 

Final­ly, no trip to the mag­i­cal city of Bagan would be com­plete with­out tak­ing in the incred­i­ble sun­set – with the descend­ing glow­ing sun light­ing up this gold­en city and mak­ing the thou­sands of Stu­pas and tem­ples come alive before you in a reflec­tive and illu­mi­nat­ed dis­play of gold for a spec­ta­cle unlike any oth­er on the plan­et.  

Tru­ly sen­sa­tion­al — and a great way to cap off any trip to Bagan, you’ll find that crowds flock to the plains of Bagan at sun­set to snap these pho­tos – such is there immense rep­u­ta­tion – so it’s best to get there ear­ly and make sure you angle your­self fac­ing the Ayeyarwady riv­er, where you can snap the sun­set­ting and reflect­ing off this long and wind­ing riv­er – for an extra sprin­kle of maf­ic into your shots.  

So ensur­ing you get there ear­ly, we’d advise that if you want a tru­ly spe­cial pho­to at Bagan at sun­set, you skip the obser­va­tion hills and find your­self an ele­vat­ed spot that will allow you to cap­ture the full panoram­ic shot over the thou­sands of Stu­pas – with climb­ing one of the Pago­das them­selves being per­fect for this – with the tem­ples of  Shwe­san­daw, Thit­sa Wadi, South and North Guni, and Pyathat­gyi being the only tem­ples across Bagan that per­mit climb­ing for sun­set.  

Of these five our rec­om­men­da­tion for great sun­st pho­tos is to head for the tem­ple of Shwe­san­daw first, with this tem­ple – that will require a bit of steep climb­ing – afford­ing the best and most ele­vat­ed views over Bagan. Be pre­pared to get there ear­ly and be sure to take care when climb­ing, as while steps and handrails are avail­able the Shwe­san­daw tem­ple suf­fered bad­ly dur­ing the 1975 earth­quake and you’ll find parts of the top of this tem­ple hav­ing whit­tled away.  

Still from its 328 foot the views out from Shwe­san­daw tem­ple are tru­ly sen­sa­tion­al – and as you perch on its edges and stare out over the thou­sands of glow­ing gold pago­das and tem­ples before and cap­ture their immense beau­ty, his­to­ry and cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance in one of the most awe-inspir­ing and stun­ning shots on the plan­et, you’ll be left in lit­tle doubt that the ancient city of Bagan is a tru­ly immense and beau­ti­ful won­der of the world.