Highlights of Burma & Thailand

(14 Days - Departs Daily on a Private Basis)
Bangkok, Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay, Inle Lake, Chiang Mai

This tour combines the highlights of two Buddhist countries: Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand.

Begin with comprehensive touring in Bangkok. With your own private guide, enjoy a fascinating, private long-tail boat tour through Bangkok's canals. Visit the most important temples. Learn about Buddhist practices and influences on daily life. Hear monks chanting at a morning ceremony. Explore colorful markets selling textiles, flowers, food and crafts. Visit small museums and interesting local neighborhoods. When not sightseeing, enjoy time at the world’s leading spa, swim, play tennis, shop for exquisite Thai silks and art work, and dine on some of Southeast Asia’s best cuisine.

Next, fly to Yangon (Rangoon) in Burma, where you’ll stay at the famed Strand, a British colonial period hotel with teak windows, marble floors, rattan chairs and lacquer ceiling fans. With your private guide, tour the city’s highlights: the Shwedagon Pagoda, the reclining Buddha, the sprawling Bogyoke (Scott) Market, the National Museum, and neighborhoods that reflect Yangon's Burmese, British, Indian, Bangladeshi and indigenous influences.

Next, fly to unforgettable, awe-inspiring Bagan, where thousands of pagodas and temples stretch from the Ayeyarwady River out across miles of arid plains. Tour the structures, built between the 11th and 13th centuries when Bagan was a major Buddhist center of Southeast Asia, and learn about the history carved in their layered facades, painted in their interior frescoes and sculpted in their Buddhist statues. One night, watch the sunset from atop a private temple. Another night, sip cool drinks as you cruise the Ayeyarwady River, followed by a Burmese puppet show. Also visit the town's best lacquerware workshops and explore local markets and villages.

Continue to fabled Mandalay, the cultural heart of Myanmar. Visit craft districts throughout the city and watch a procession of monks at a monastery in the silk weaving center of Amarapura. Also, tour pagodas and ruins in Ava, Mingun and Sagaing—all ancient capitals.

Next, fly to Inle Lake, home of the Intha people. Take a canoe ride down Inle's canals, pass through floating villages built on stilts, and see how the Intha grow crops on reed islands. Visit local crafts villages to shop for distinctive textiles, ceramics and lacquerware.

Spend another night in Yangon before returning to Thailand for several indulgent days at a wonderful resort in Chiang Mai, surrounded by mountains and lush fields of terraced rice paddies. The resort features one of Thailand’s most well known spas and cooking school. With your private guide, visit revered mountaintop temples, the royal family’s Winter Palace and local hill tribe villages, browse Chiang Mai's craft districts selling Thai lacquer, celadon ceramics, paper umbrellas, silver, teak furniture, and beautiful silk weavings. A day will be at leisure to enjoy the resort's spa, cooking school and infinity pool. Return to Bangkok for your onward flight home.

All Artisans of Leisure tours are private and depart daily.
Call us at (800) 214-8144 for more information regarding the above tour, or to begin customizing your own itinerary.