• Burmese
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
27 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home Travel

Beach Bliss and the Big City — Destination Guide to South Central Myanmar

The Irrawaddy by The Irrawaddy
March 22, 2019
in Travel
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
The view of Gawyangyi beach from above. / Marie Starr / The Irrawaddy

The view of Gawyangyi beach from above. / Marie Starr / The Irrawaddy

8.8k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
A bucolic scene from the northern end of Chaung Tha beach. (Photo: Marie Starr/ The Irrawaddy)

Chaung Tha

This is the most casual and fun of Myanmar’s beach towns. It’s popular with families and groups of friends from Yangon and can be busy around holidays and weekends. After swimming and water activities in the sea, you might see camp fires, and even impromptu karaoke sessions on the beach in the evenings.

Sunset at Ngwesaung Beach is often spectacular. (Photo: Marie Starr/ The irrawaddy)

Ngwesaung

RelatedPosts

Yangon Exhibition Charts Italian Ties with Myanmar

Yangon Exhibition Charts Italian Ties with Myanmar

June 5, 2025
1.1k
At Least 10 Killed as Myanmar Junta Bombs Kyaukkyi Wedding

At Least 10 Killed as Myanmar Junta Bombs Kyaukkyi Wedding

May 26, 2025
780
Workers at Adidas Factory in Myanmar Strike for Living Wage

Workers at Adidas Factory in Myanmar Strike for Living Wage

May 16, 2025
15.1k

Ngwesaung is a little more upscale than neighboring Chaung Tha and has a reputation for being a peaceful and clean beach with clear waters not yet mobbed by city folk. Close to the village you’ll find vendors selling seafood and offering water sport equipment. The further along the beach you walk from the village, the easier it is to find your own private slice of beach heaven.

The view of Gawyangyi beach from above. (Photo: Marie Starr /The Irrawaddy)

Gawyangyi

This is a new beach destination for Myanmar. It was little more than a deserted stretch of beach and a white-sand bay until a few years ago but now a few low-key accommodation and dining options have cropped up and the guesthouses can arrange water activities to suit your level of adventurousness. The road to Gawyangyi is still very rough and deters all but the most determined beach-goers, making it a rewardingly quiet and romantic getaway.

Sule Pagoda marks the center of bustling urban Yangon. (Photo:Htet Wai/ The irrawaddy)

Yangon

The commercial capital Yangon is a booming city and the center of modern Myanmar. Though sometimes hot and crowded, this dynamic, diverse city also has the best hotels, restaurants, galleries and cultural events in the country. And the glittering Shwedagon Pagoda looks out over it all.

Twante is one of Myanmar’s biggest pottery hubs. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Twante

Though just a short trip from the hubbub of downtown Yangon, Twante feels like a million miles away. This town is famous as a center of pottery and workshops take up entire quarters here. Inside the workshops you can witness the entirely non-mechanized process from start to finish. There’s also a snake temple on a lake outside the town and a pagoda complex with a thousand Buddha statues to wander through.

Bago’s Naungdawgyi Myathalyaung reclining Buddha which measures 82 meters in length. (Phpto: Marie Starr/ The Irrawaddy)

Bago

Bago, often called by its colonial-era name Pegu, is all about the huge and beautiful religious landmarks which draw large numbers of Buddhist travelers from near and far. The mighty Shwemawdaw Pagoda is some 46 meters taller than Yangon’s Shwedagon and there are two huge reclining Buddha images. At Shwethalyaung, the indoor reclining Buddha, you’ll see a huge wall of names of donors from all over the world. Everything in the town can easily be reached by tuk tuk or bicycle which can be hired at most hotels.

The view from Thandaunggyi mountain with Naw Bu Baw prayer hill to the right. (Photo: Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy)

Taungoo and Thandaunggyi

Taungoo, the town serving visitors to Thandaunggyi, is easy to get to from Yangon and so is growing in popularity. Once the capital of a huge kingdom stretching far beyond Myanmar’s modern borders, Taungoo is now a sleepy town surrounded by rice paddies and with some crumbling colonial mansions which have been dramatically taken over by nature. The peaks of Thandaunggyi and the nearby Naw Bu Baw prayer hill, which actually lie across the border with Karen State, are the main attractions for visitors to the area. 

Bawbawgyi at Sri Ksetra, Myanmar’s only current UNESCO World Heritage Site is located outside Pyay. (Photo: Marie Starr/ The Irrawaddy)

Pyay

The remains of the ancient city of Sri Ksetra, once a stronghold of the mighty Pyu Kingdom, today makes up part of Myanmar’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site lies in the countryside surrounding Pyay. The temples, hulking and simple in design, are well preserved and unique to other collections of temples you’ll find in Myanmar. A short trip from the city of Pyay and a boat ride along the Irrawaddy River, Akauk Taung is a point along the banks where an impressive series of Buddha images were carved into the mountainside in the 19th century.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: BagoPyaySouthern MyanmarTravelYangon
The Irrawaddy

The Irrawaddy

...

Similar Picks:

Myanmar Junta Searching Phones for VPN Use
Burma

Myanmar Junta Searching Phones for VPN Use

by Hein Htoo Zan
June 14, 2024
16.7k

The regime’s security forces are checking smartphones for virtual private networks, which are used to bypass online restrictions.

Read moreDetails
Parents Pull Children From Schools in Yangon as Myanmar Junta Troops Move In
Burma

Parents Pull Children From Schools in Yangon as Myanmar Junta Troops Move In

by The Irrawaddy
November 24, 2023
16.4k

Regime’s decision to station troops at schools in Myanmar’s commercial capital and rumors of forced conscriptions puts city residents on...

Read moreDetails
Workers at Adidas Factory in Myanmar Strike for Living Wage
Burma

Workers at Adidas Factory in Myanmar Strike for Living Wage

by The Irrawaddy
May 16, 2025
15.1k

Paid a slave wage for making trainers for global brands and ignored by the authorities, workers at Taiwanese company Tsang...

Read moreDetails
Power-Drunk Junta Tries Selling Myanmar Beer at Gunpoint
Business

Power-Drunk Junta Tries Selling Myanmar Beer at Gunpoint

by Hein Htoo Zan
September 14, 2023
13.8k

Consumer boycott enters new phase as generals launch armed counter-offensive at shops and pubs in Yangon.

Read moreDetails
Yangon, Mandalay Deserted After Dark as Myanmar Junta Hunts for Conscripts
Burma

Yangon, Mandalay Deserted After Dark as Myanmar Junta Hunts for Conscripts

by Hein Htoo Zan
December 16, 2024
12.4k

Desperate regime ramps up forcible conscription as military defeat looms in Rakhine and Kachin states.

Read moreDetails
Reports of Forced Conscription by Myanmar’s Military Spark Panic in Yangon
Burma

Reports of Forced Conscription by Myanmar’s Military Spark Panic in Yangon

by Yuzana
November 24, 2023
11k

The former capital is turning into a ghost town after sunset as workers race to the safety of their homes...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
A young woman who was trafficked at age 17 by a friend’s mother, who had promised her a well-paid child-care job and then sold her to a family in China as a ‘bride’. Once purchased, she was confined and subjected to sexual slavery, but managed to escape after several months and return to Myanmar. / HRW

Women Sold into ‘Marriages’ in China with Help of Police: HRW Report

Harry Tan, the seventh-grade student who was shot dead by police in Myanmar’s first post-independence student protest.

Independent Myanmar’s First Deadly Student Crackdown

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

4 days ago
1.3k
How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

6 days ago
1.2k

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta Attacks to Reclaim KIA’s Jade and Rare Earth Strongholds

    Myanmar Junta Attacks to Reclaim KIA’s Jade and Rare Earth Strongholds

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • China’s Bet on Myanmar Junta Risks Backfiring

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Defusing the Thai-Cambodian Border Row

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.