Getting Around

Everything floats in inle including the gardens, the restaurants and the monastaries.

Nyaung Shwe is the gateway to Inle Lake.  Nyaung Shwe can be reached by bus from Yangon, Mandalay or any other area of Myanmar or can be reached by plane.  The nearest airport is the Heho airport which is about a one hour drive from Nyaung Shwe town.  In Nyaung Shwe area  variety of guesthouses, hotels, restaurants, cafes, tea-shops and the central market and is the best place to stay if you want to have flexibility over your own arrangements.

There are several hotels on Inle Lake proper, but in order to get around you have to have access to a boat which will cost you more.

At the jetty in Nyaung Shwe you will have to pay a fee in FEC to be able to go out to Inle Lake.  There is a canal from the jetty to the lake which will take about half an hour by motor boat.  Once you get to the lake most of the activities are on the far side of the lake and will take another hour or so to arrive.

Favorite tourist destinations include the jumping cat monestary, the central pagoda, silk weaving, jewellery making and lotus fibre cloth weaving.  There are many other destinations as well around the lake, many villages on stilts with young children leg-rowing their younger brothers to school, floating gardens, fishing and even ancient 12th century pagodas on the hillsides around the lake.

From Nyaung Shwe you can also go on treks up into the surrounding mountains to see how the famous Burmese cheroots are made, to see the stunning views or even to go on longer treks to Kalaw or some of the hill-tribe groups villages.