Page 204 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

202 BAGAN AND AROUND BAGAN
5 BAGAN ENTRY FEES
All foreign visitors are theoretically required to pay a $25 entry fee on arrival in Bagan, in
exchange for a ticket that’s valid for up to one week. Buses will usually stop at one of the
government posts, and the fee is also typically collected at the airport and the jetties.
However, the system is by no means watertight, and a few people manage to slip through
the net undetected, without paying. Equally, if you stay more than a week you’re unlikely to
be required to purchase a new ticket, unless you leave Bagan and then decide to come
back again. Note that a few attractions, such as the Bagan Archeological Museum, charge
an additional admission fee.

that today relies heavily on tourism, while around 5.5km down the road is the
historic walled city of Old Bagan, which is home to a cluster of upmarket resort
hotels and the greatest concentration of historic monuments. Around 4.5km
further south, somnolent New Bagan (Bagan Myothit) was originally constructed
by the former military government to rehouse families living around the ruins
of Old Bagan, and today the town’s economy is almost entirely built around
tourism. There are dozens of hotels and restaurants scattered throughout the
area, though they’re mainly mid-range and upmarket. There are also a few
further places to sleep, eat and shop in the roadside villages of Wet Kyi Inn
(midway between Nyaung U and Old Bagan) and Myinkaba (between Old
and New Bagan).
Stretching inland from here away from the river, the Central Plain is where you’ll find
many of Bagan’s finest temples. The entire area (covering around forty square
kilometres) is protected as the Bagan Archeological Zone, although there’s no physical
evidence of a demarcated area on the ground.

Maha Bodhi Tataung (150km) & Monywa (150km) Sagaing (45km) & Mandalay (88km)
Myo Thar
BAGAN AND
AROUND Kyaukse
Myingyan

Pakokku
MANDALAY
STATE
OLD
Nyaung U
BAGAN
Ngathayauk
NEW
BAGAN
Pa-aing Taung N
Chauk Kalat Mount Popa (1518m)
Meiktila
Salay Kyaukpadaung

HIGHLIGHTS
Ayeyarwady River
0 50 Taung Kalat and Mount Popa
kilometres
Salay
Minbu (40km) & Magwe (150km) Taungdwingyi (70km)