Yangon with Kids

My motivation to write this post is the lack of information I found online about traveling to Myanmar with kids. Typically, when we take a visa run, I spend many hours researching all the possible places we could go and comparing costs and activities. While I found lots of resources about how to travel in Myanmar, almost none of it included traveling with children. Now, our children are great travelers and don’t require many adjustments as compared to adult travelers, but it is useful to know how other children have enjoyed a location, especially if I haven’t been there myself.

Family pic at Shwedagon Pagoda

Some people might be reluctant to travel to Myanmar at all, given the country’s historic unrest and its very recent opening to visitors. The unrest certainly continues in certain areas, especially as related to the Rohingya. (You can learn more about that HERE and HERE.) However, we did not feel unsafe at all while we were in Yangon. We found the people of Myanmar to be extremely friendly and welcoming. Many were curious when they saw us because there are not many Western visitors, especially families with young children. We never felt threatened in any way, though, even when walking through areas of town that some might label as slums.

Our family only traveled to Yangon, so we can’t offer any advice as to how children would do in other popular cities like Mandalay Bay or Bagan, but we enjoyed our few days in the former colonial capital. These are some of the activities and sights that might be of interest to you if you’re considering visiting Yangon, with or without children.

We arrived in Yangon on a Saturday afternoon. We took advantage of our hotel’s free shuttle to the famous Shwedagon Pagoda and visited the nearby People’s Park. I highly recommend visiting People’s Park, even if you don’t have children, because it is a beautiful space. If you’re traveling with kids, they will enjoy the airplane and train engine that you can visit inside the park, as well as the treehouse bridges that you can walk across and get beautiful views of both the park and the nearby pagoda.

Treehouse Bridges at People's Park

Shwedagon Pagoda is just across from People’s Park, and you can easily walk there after touring the park. I had read that the pagoda is best to visit at night because it can be very hot during the day, and because all the gold around the pagoda is especially beautiful in the evening. We grabbed dinner at a market near the park and then toured the pagoda. We were fortunate to see a guide as we entered the upper area of the pagoda, and he took us on a tour lasting over an hour. We paid for this tour (10,000 kyat per adult, or about $7.35), but we felt the cost was more than worth it since we learned a lot more from our guide than we would have known by simply walking around the premises ourselves.

We have been to many, many Buddhist temples, and in some ways this pagoda is not too different from others we’ve visited. It is considered the most important pagoda in Myanmar, though, and is visited by thousands of people each year. It’s substantially larger than other pagodas we’ve been to, and certainly one of the most impressive Buddhist sites we’ve seen. Our guide also told us about several of the side temples and their significance, and about the history of the largest pagoda, which was built over many years. I would recommend seeing this particular pagoda, even if you think you’ve seen all the Buddhist sites already.

View of Shwedagon Pagoda from People's Park

Since we traveled to Yangon over the weekend, we were able to attend church on Sunday morning with some Burmese believers. It was amazing to attend Immanuel Baptist Church, one of the oldest buildings in the city, and worship with believers who are a very small minority in their country. Their church has several services in different languages, so if you want to attend the English service, be sure to go at 8:30am.

After church we took a walk through the area adjacent to it, which is Maha Bandula Park, surrounded by Sule Pagoda, City Hall, Immanuel Baptist Church, and Yangon Region Court. Once our stroll through the park was complete, we headed down toward the river and Strand Street to eat lunch at the Strand Hotel. The Strand Hotel dates back to colonial Burma, and is over one hundred years old. The inside of the hotel is gorgeous, and it would have been worth it just to see the unique architecture and decorations. There is also a fine dining restaurant and smaller cafe, where you can get some delicious food. We chose to eat lunch at the smaller cafe, and were not disappointed in any way. Scott and I ordered some Burmese dishes and the kids ordered Western food. It was all amazing! The portions are very large, especially for the price, and we ended up taking enough home to eat for dinner the next day.

Maha Bandula Park

On our last full day in Yangon we intended to visit the National Museum, but since it was closed we went to the Yangon Zoo. It was a nice way to spend the morning since our kids love animals, but if you are not used to how animals are treated in non-Western countries, you may want to skip it. That afternoon we took a ride on the famous Circle Train, in part because our boys love trains, and because I wanted to get a closer look at how people live outside of downtown.

Some of my research about the Circle Train said that it got derailed often and was not terribly reliable. That was not our experience; we rode the train for about half an hour and didn’t have any problems. The entire journey takes about three hours, so perhaps those malfunctions happen later in the ride. The train is open air, with a few bench seats along the sides, but many people stand or even sit along the steps that are used to enter and exit the train cars. If you are used to traveling in various cities in Southeast Asia, this will not be a big deal to you. If you are thinking about trains in Japan before you get on the Circle Train, you will be disappointed. Also be aware that the train goes in two directions, but only leaves from each station at long intervals (maybe every 1.5 hours), so it’s worth asking about the train schedule at your hotel if you can. Otherwise, you might be sitting at Central Station for a long time waiting for your train. I would recommend knowing where you want to exit before you get on because the train does not stop for long at each station after Central Station, and there will not be much time for deliberation before the train moves on.

Circle Train leaving the station

We exited the train at Byak Htau Station and walked briefly through the local neighborhood. We decided to take a taxi to Inya Lake, since the sun was getting ready to set and we wanted to get some good views of the sun setting over the lake. You might want to take a taxi either way, since they are very cheap and it would be a considerable walk to the lake from that station.

We arrived at Inya Lake just before sunset and took a stroll along the lake’s edge. There is a nice walking/running/biking trail there, and it was full of people exercising. There are also a few food carts at the entrance if you want to grab a bite to eat. We ended up walking quite a ways around the lake, and even inadvertently walked past State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s house where she stayed on house arrest for almost 15 years. (There’s not much to see except the outside of the house. My understanding is that she does not spend much time there these days.) We ended our evening at a delicious Japanese restaurant called Fuji House Cafe and Restaurant. It’s located near the U.S. embassy, in case you are there and need a good place to eat for lunch.

Sunset over Inya Lake

My only regret from our trip was that we were not able to visit the National Museum. I had read that it is a great place to learn more about the history of Myanmar, learn about some of the people groups who live within its borders, and to see some important art and artifacts. Unfortunately, the museum was closed the day that we tried to go, which was also our last day in Yangon. There are varying reports online as to when the museum is open, but one of our hotel’s employees called for us, and assured us that it is usually open, just not on Mondays.

Here are some things to consider if you are thinking about traveling to Yangon: it’s not as modern as other SE Asian cities like Chiang Mai, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, etc. It’s also not nearly as expensive. If you’re okay with taking taxis everywhere, you’ll be fine in Yangon. There is a public bus system, but the only information I could find about it, both online and in the city, was in Burmese. However, taxis are very inexpensive, and I would recommend using them since you can go exactly to your desired location without having to wait on a bus route. If you don’t speak Burmese, it may be hard to eat at some local places. Our family likes to dine local whenever possible, but the couple of times we tried to eat at a small roadside restaurant in Yangon, the menus were only in Burmese and none of the staff spoke English. English is certainly not as prevalent there as in other cities, but other than eating we didn’t have any problems with communication.

We thoroughly enjoyed our long weekend in Yangon, and would recommend it to any traveler, with children or without. If you travel to Bagan or Mandalay Bay with children, please let us know about your experience!