Inle Lake is perhaps the most iconic destination in Burma. It is often noted for its fishing culture and picturesque landscapes. No trip to Myanmar would be complete without a visit here. 

EXPERIENCE

Inle Lake is a pretty spectacular stop! On the long windy trek from the airport be sure not to miss Bawrithat Pagoda. This ended up being one of my favorite pagodas of the whole trip. It features stunning bright colored frescoed walls, lovely mosaics of glass tile and gold detail. The patterns in here were breathtaking and the floor seemed almost covered in a dusty clay, just awesome.

The lake itself is certainly the highlight. We did a day trip out on the lake in a private boat, which seems to be the only way to do it. Highlights while on the lake are the floating gardens, floating markets, and fishermen. This day trip is relatively inexpensive and I have no doubt all the guides know their way around well. Stops throughout the day become a bit too “forced cultural” in my opinion with sort of contrived visits to see local craftsman making cheroot, umbrellas, wovens, woodwork, lacquerware, etc. These processes are neat to see, but feel slightly inauthentic for some reason. The staged shopping environments were not my favorite, so perhaps discucss this with your boat operator before heading out. The highlight while on the lake is viewing the landscapes, fisherman and wildlife. There is also a stop to hike to ruined temples. Enjoy some of the local lake catches while at lunch. 

While here, we again rented bikes and made our way up to Red Mountain Winery. This was a tough bike trip but gave us some great views of the countryside. From the vineyard (which serves awesome food), you have an amazing lay of the land, lake and surrounding mountains. 

STAY

Inle Lake is a bit of a hike from the Heho Airport, we arranged prearranged a transfer to the hotel which I would suggest since it is nearly a 45 minute drive. We stayed in bungalows at the again, privately operated, Princess Hotel. It was very nice and served a three course breakfast and had a lovely pool. The bungalows were jungly and did not have much light and were not air conditioned, but worked well for our purposes. 

EAT

There were fewer dining options near Inle Lake than expected, but we probably had the best food of our Myanmar trip while here! The bike ride up to Red Mountain Winery was well worth it, we had amazing avocado salads and curries here. The minced beef was wonderful as were the chocolate pancake desserts. Oh, and the wine did not disappoint either. Our other favorite spot while in Inle Lake was Green Chile. This place served amazing Thai food, as Inle Lake is very close to the Thai boarder. We spent Thanksgiving enjoying the Italian wood fired pizza place. This place had surprisingly good pizza and pasta and was a much welcome change up from curry after so many days abroad.