Visiting Myanmar - Suggestions for holidays, trains, itineraries, day-trips, and sightseeing from someone who has lived and traveled extensively in Myanmar
| Best Time of Year to Visit Myanmar There are three seasons in Myanmar: the hot season, the Monsoon season, and the cool se... Is It Safe to Visit Myanmar? The 2007 protests in Myanmar and the recent cyclone have people asking "is it safe to v... | Visa requirements for Myanmar Any trip to Myanmar requires a visa, so be sure to plan ahead if you want to visit. H... |
There are three seasons in Myanmar: the hot season, the Monsoon season, and the cool season. The hot season in Myanmar lasts from early March to late May, the Monsoon season in Myanmar runs from the late May to mid October, and the cool season in Myanmar runs from late October to late February.
The best time to visit Myanmar is the cool season, as temperatures can climb very high in the hot season and the rains can interrupt sightseeing in Myanmar’s Monsoon season. In the cool season, temperatures in Yangon hover around 17 degrees Celsius.
Mandalay and Bagan can be visited in the Monsoon season, as those parts of Myanmar only get light showers. Yangon gets much more rain during the Monsoon season in Myanmar, and therefore the best time of year to visit Yangon is the cool season.
The best time of year to visit Myanmar’s northern region is during the hot season, as it remains cooler there throughout the year. During the cool season, the northern region averages a temperature of 0 degrees Celsius.
The 2007 protests in Myanmar and the recent cyclone have people asking “is it safe to visit Myanmar?”
With Yangon and many parts of the country devastated by the cyclone and the Myanmar ruling junta clamping down on visits by foreign aid workers, visitors should take caution before traveling to Myanmar. With much of the country in tatters after the cyclone, people visiting Myanmar for tourism purposes should consider rescheduling their trips.
Before visiting Myanmar, check your government’s website (U.S. State Department, etc) to see what safety precautions are advised.
Any trip to Myanmar requires a visa, so be sure to plan ahead if you want to visit. However, it’s pretty easy to get a visa from the various Myanmar embassies around the world.
For US citizens, it’s quick and easy to get a visa from the Myanmar Embassy in Washington DC. They usually turn around visa requests in a couple days and will use FedEx if you send them a FedEx label. The form is in PDF format on their site. Note that the link to “e-Visa” has been broken for years now and never fixed.
When filling out the form, you’ll see lots of lines that don’t make sense about sponsors and such. They’re not important – just leave them blank. You should however include documentation of the hotels where you’re staying at.
You must pay with money order and NOT personal check or credit card. Also, they’re very critical that your passport MUST have 2 blank pages – they will not use the special “endorsements” pages at the back of most US passports and will deny you a visa without these extra pages.
It’s also possible to get a visa in Bangkok but this is generally more difficult since the lines are erratic there and you may have to get up at 6AM to line up. The US embassy is the easiest method for the visa.
