You land at Yangon and are driven into town, three quarters of an hour or so. The afternoon is free. Two practical things your leader covers before dinner: foreign cards do not work here, so you need clean dollar notes to change, and the internet is slow and often filtered. Both are easier to accept when explained in advance. Dinner is together, in a tea house of the sort Yangon does well.

Mostly walking. The colonial grid runs from the Strand up to Sule Pagoda, which cracked on its stupa in the 2025 earthquake and has stayed open while inspections continue. We look through Bogyoke Aung San market, built in 1926 and still dealing in jade and longyi, and take the circular train for two stops to see how the city moves. Shwedagon at the end of the afternoon, and an hour there is not too long.

There is no road option between the two cities on this trip, so we fly. The hop takes about an hour and thirty-five minutes, with departures spread through the morning; your leader confirms the time the evening before. In Mandalay we start with the gold-beating workshops near the Mahamuni, then Shwenandaw, the one surviving teak building of the palace. Sunset from the ramparts rather than from the hill.

Out to Amarapura for the Mahagandayon monastery and U Bein bridge. The bridge lost planks and posts in the earthquake and has been repaired in sections since; how much of it is walkable changes, and your guide checks on the morning. Across the river to Sagaing, where the old Ava bridge of 1934 came down and hundreds of monasteries stand on the ridge. Kuthodaw and Mandalay Hill at the end of the day, conditions allowing.

The return flight to Yangon connects with most afternoon and evening departures. Domestic schedules here move without much notice, so we keep the day loose and hold a Yangon day room when the international flight is late. If you have more time, Bagan adds two days to this trip and Inle Lake three, both flown, and we would rather build that in before you book than have you rush.