Guided tours, travel tips and transportation assistance

The Shan Plateau offers a wide variety of ancient sites, beautiful scenery, treks, cottage industries, culinary delights and unique cultures as well as interesting festivals. Whirlwind 3-day tours are common to this area, but with so much going on, good food and friendly people as well as the cooler climate of the region, many people prefer to spend more time in this area of Shan State.

Inle Pancake Kingdom has extensive local knowledge of the region and can arrange and provide specialty tours. We can help you find and reach cultural events, meditation retreats, historical sites and the best culinary options, as well as arrange guided hikes and treks into remote areas staying overnight in small villages.

The best place to reach most of these activities is from Nyaung Shwe, which is the gateway to the mystical Inle Lake. This area is serviced by the Heho airport which is about an hour or more drive from either Kalaw or Nyaung Shwe. A bus also comes up from Yangon, Bagan or Mandalay and stops at Shwe Nyaung which is the junction of the highway and the road to Nyaung Shwe.

Inle Pancake Kingdom can also provide assistance with all the different types of transportation available to you. Most visitors to Inle Lake hire a boat for a day to see many of the fascinating markets, artisans and daily activities on the lake including the popular “Jumping Cat Monestary” (see photo below). We can also you help you find bicycles, motorbikes and cars for rental and arrange your bus tickets or airport transportation.

Some of the many things to do in and around Nyaung Shwe and Inle Lake:

  • Bike rides
  • Hot Springs
  • Monestary on Hill
  • Hill-tribe Villages – Pa’o, Intha, Padaung tribes
  • Cheroot wrapping, leaf-rolling factories
  • Five Day Market Cycle
  • Orphanages, Schools and Monestaries
  • Mein Tauk Market
  • In Dein – site of 12th century ancient pagodas
  • Lotus rope spinners
  • Silk Weavers
  • Metal-Workers
  • Jewellery craftsmen
  • Pagodas in Middle of Lake
  • Leg-rowing Festival October

Some things to do in Taunggyi, capital city of Shan State:

  • Fire Balloon Festival, November
  • City Markets
  • KakKu

Some things to do in Kalaw, former British hill station in Shan State:

  • Pagodas in Caves
  • Bamboo Pagoda
  • Treks to Tribal Villages, Pao, Padaung
  • Amazing Shan Food

Some things to do in Pindaya, site of the Pindaya Caverns:

  • Amazing Pagodas in the Caves
  • Spectular Views of the area
  • Bodhi Trees in valley below the caverns