HOTELS

Yangon 

Clover City Centre – right in the heart of downtown but in a grubby street behind the top of the range Traders Hotel. Very handy for a drink there and in the rooftop bar in the Sakura Tower across the street. Smallish room but clean and comfortable . Helpful friendly staff. Breakfast so-so. A bit overpriced at £70 per night.

Alfa Hotel - Just north of downtown. A bit expensive at $100 a night. OK room. We had one on the 8^th floor facing north which gave us a view of the Shwedagon pagoda. There is an open air rooftop bar which affords great views in all directions.

Mount Kyaiktiyo

Golden Rock Hotel – nearly at the top of the mountain, but still a steep 45 minute walk up. Nice location, friendly helpful staff, decent sized room clean and comfortable. Dinner in the restaurant was good (there’s no real alternative) and breakfast OK. $55 per night.

Mawlamiyine

Cinderella Hotel – nice location in town centre – walkable everywhere. Big room with balcony, clean and comfortable. Way overstaffed and staff at breakfast wearing white gloves ! $35per night.

Hpa-An

Parami Hotel – town centre, but town is a bit run down. Big room but a bit shabby and aircon was erratic. Staff were friendly and breakfast was OK. $43 per night. I think a better choice would be the Hotel Zwegabin – a little way outside town but an attractive location, and there’s not much to be in town for anyway.

Yangon Airport 

Myanmar Life Hotel – about 5 minutes from the airport, very convenient for an early flight. Nice big room & good bathroom. Great swimming pool. Only downside was the restaurant – dingy and menus with no prices shown – when we asked we met with lack of interest and eventually the bill was about double what we would have expected – for not great food. Stay there and get a taxi somewhere nicer to eat. $70 per night.

Kalaw 

Natural Land Hotel - nice bungalows set in attractive gardens about 15 minutes walk from the town centre. Rooms were wood panelled and so a little dark. Lovely shaded little alcoves in the garden to have breakfast. $38 per night. We decided to stay an additional night – our room wasn’t available so we moved to a smaller one – it was fine - $25 per night.

Nyaung Shwe

Nandawunn Hotel – decent sized room but bathroom a bit dingy. A nice verandah with table and chairs outside. Staff lined up outside to greet arrivals – nice touch. Helpful staff organised a tuk-tuk for us at only a few minutes’ notice to take our bags to the boat. $28 per night.

Inle Lake 

Shwe Inn Tha Resort – individual cottages on stilts joined by walkways to the rest of the hotel. Lovely swimming pool with bar alongside. Main restaurant tired and dull, but there is a separate open air restaurant overlooking the lake. Much nicer. $127 per night through booking.com

Mandalay 

Emerald Land Hotel – lovely small place in quiet side street – nice rooms overlooking gardens and great pool area although water surprisingly cool. Not much around in the way of restaurants but dinner in the dining room was very good. Even had several wines on offer. $35 per night.

Mandalay View Inn - just one block from the southeast corner of the royal palace moat. A nice old villa turned into a guest house. Room OK but an odd bathroom arrangement where you had to walk across the shower area (wetroom) to get to the loo and basin. Also aircon not very effective. Tiny breakfast area & breakfast not great. But when we had an early start before breakfast started we found that staff had, unasked, put together a takeaway box for us. A nice thought. $55 per night.

Bagan 

Bagan Thande - a lovely place sent in lush gardens overlooking the Irawaddy. Decent sized room by the pool - $60 per night. Rooms with river view more expensive and probably not really worth it, as you can get the views from the lovely open air restaurant and bar area shaded by beautiful old trees alongside the river. But menu needs to be improved.

Ngapali Beach 

Thande Beach Resort - another lovely place set in well-tended and watered gardens alongside the beach. A huge front row beach view room was $150 a night and here it was well worth it. A nice verandah with chairs and table and many more beach loungers available both on a wooden deck and on the beach. Nice breakfast area overlooking the glorious beach. About 50 yards up the beach are a number of beach bars and restaurants serving fresh seafood.

Bangkok

Arize Hotel – good location just off Sukhumvit Road, close to a skytrain station. Small boutique type hotel, lobby themed like a nightclub. Room small but well equipped and comfortable. Good breakfast. Small swimming pool. TB 2825 per night (£64).

BS Residence – 5 minutes from Suvarnabhumi Airport. Free shuttle on demand to and from the airport. Small room but well equipped and comfortable. Very nice swimming pool. Breakfast so-so. Limited eating options nearby. TB 1180 per night (£27).