Bagan: The Ancient and Beautiful City of Burma (Myanmar)

Bagan-The Temple City

Bagan is one of the most beautiful and interesting places in Burma, and its first tourist destination. Most of the visitors arrive by plane or fast boat, but I preferred to prepare myself in the best way for what I would know, traveling in slow boat or slow boat in Castilian, an endless but delicious tour by the river Ayeyarwady .

The boat from Mandalay to Bagan departs on Sundays and Wednesdays at 6 am and takes between 13 and 15 hours depending on how loaded you go and the length of the stops for people to go up and down. In the opposite direction it leaves on Monday and Thursday and it takes about two days, since it travels upstream.

The route is 190km, and stops where the photographic occasions are extraordinary by the continuous rampage of people going up, down, carrying goods and selling them to passengers, whether Burmese or tourists.

The average speed is around 10-12 km / hour, but it seems that no one is in a hurry, life on the river bank is very gentle and the boat leaves when you have to leave.

Already just to see dawn from the river, with the sun peeping by the banks and outlining the innumerable pagodas built on its banks, it is worth making the trip by boat.


It costs 10 $, about 7 €. There is a much faster tour boat, which takes about 9 hours and leaves from Mandalay on the same days at 7am, for 36 $ US, but it has to be boring as you will only see other tourists.

Shortly after leaving, it crosses two very close bridges, that of the British colonial era, a gigantic mechanic, and the new one built by the Chinese, much larger and with several lanes, but totally impersonal.


On the ferry, the women who transport goods to other places and markets are approaching the tourist zone, which is only differentiated in that we go in plastic chairs and they sit on the floor, and try to sell fabrics, food and offer you Massages, all with a lot of humor and no pressure.

I do not know how long this will remain until they begin to see visitors as a dollar with legs, but surely not much.

The ferry has a very basic restaurant with 4 different dishes, fried rice, noodle soup and little else.


At the stands are approaching the ship fruit vendors with appetizing watermelons and also prepared food. They are also lowering the load carried by the ship, sacks of fertilizer, cement and building materials, among others.

The ferry I was traveling in carried hundreds of bags with Chinese characters with what I believe could be fertilizer for the land.

Beauty of Bagan

The sunset was even more spectacular than the sunrise, and the sight of the red disk, falling on the horizon as the boat slowly slid down the river and people walking along the shores of return home, produced one of those moments of Total inner happiness, in which you think "I am where I must be", phrase that comes out in the book Memories of Africa of Isak Dinesen, made mine since the law.

The only downside is that you arrive at night closed to Bagan, and you are forced to hire the bike taxi service, because the village is about 4 kilometers from the pier, and there are no taxis.

06_BaganTe have to carry pedaling and, among the Burmese are all small and thin and that your weight plus the backpack is probably twice as much as the cyclist, it gives you a bit of shame.

You can stay in the village, 5km away. Of the ruins, or, as I did, near the temples, because this way you save the bike route for the only road in the area, and devote your energies to pedaling through the temples.


There are small family houses, with 4 or 5 rooms, where you can stay for $ 5 with breakfast, they are basic but the people are lovely, and they all have bikes to rent.

Bagan, formerly Pagan, was the ancient capital of several reigns of Burma. It is on an arid plateau near the Irrawaddy River, 145 kilometers southwest of Mandalay.


The ruins of Bagan cover an area of ​​41 km2. Most of its buildings were built from the 11th century to the 13th century.

I recommend spending at least 3 days to visit the area; The best way is by bike, but you have to start at sunrise and stop at noon 2/3 hours because the heat is unbearable, and in the afternoon you have to choose a temple to see the sunset, which is usually spectacular.


To the sunset are very popular temples like Ananda and Shwesandaw, but they are crowded of people; My recommendation is to search during the daytime visit some temple that is remote to climb and you can be alone or almost.

I will not be heavy describing all the temples, it would never end because there are more than 2,000, and for that there are websites specialized in history, but there are temples like Ananda that deserve a detailed vision.