Page 227 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

BAGAN BAGAN AND AROUND 225
Winner Guesthouse Main Rd T09 402 501 091; map lush swimming pool and a semi-alfresco dining area. One 5
pp.204–205. This is one of the better choices among Wet of the best around. $140
Kyi Inn’s modest array of budget options. Cheaper rooms Bagan Central Hotel 15/16 Kayay St T092 5713
are bare but clean, and share tolerable communal 6019; map p.224. Dated hotel with a design so seriously
bathrooms with hot water. Smarter en-suite rooms ($20) odd it verges on retro-chic, although somehow it all works.
are significantly brighter and more appealing, so long as Accommodation is in a cluster of bungalows (faced with
you don’t mind the strange metal beds that look like knobbly bits of petrified wood) set around a “garden”
cobbled with black bricks, while rooms come with heaps of
they’ve been pilfered from a local intensive care unit. $15
gloomy wood panelling and quasi-Victorian furnishings
OLD BAGAN like some kind of Gothic film set. The rooms are all identical,
★ Bagan Hotel River View Behind the but the less you pay the closer you’ll find yourself to the
Gawdawpalin Paya T061 60316, Wkmahotels.com; noisy main road. It’s comfortable, even so, and very
map pp.204–205. In a superb location right behind the reasonably priced. $35
Gawdawpalin Paya, this rustic resort-style complex N.K. Betelnut Hotel Kayay St T061 65054; map
rivals The Hotel @ Tharabar Gate as Old Bagan’s top p.224. Attractive guesthouse-style hotel with simple but
address. Accommodation is in a cluster of low-slung red- well-equipped wood-panelled rooms and pretty cabanas
brick buildings, and the friendly staff serve breakfast out front faced with split betel tree trunks (hence the
underneath the trees overlooking the river. There’s also a name). The position, right by the busy road, can make it a
bit noisy, but the genuinely warm welcome partly
banana-shaped pool and a spa. $135
Bagan Thande Hotel Behind the Bagan Archeological compensates for a disturbed night’s sleep. $35
Museum T061 60025, Wthandehotel.com; map Northern Breeze Villa 162 Cherry St T061 65472,
pp.204–205. This is the cheapest option in Old Bagan, with Enorthernbreezehotel.bagan@gmail.com; map p.224.
accommodation in uninspiring bungalows and rooms with At current rates this place, which has small, clean and
old-fashioned furnishings and dated bathrooms. Go for the modern rooms, is a bargain. It’s thoughtful touches like
$120 rooms if you can, which have at least a touch of stone showers, art on the walls and a breakfast area amid
weaver-bird nests that really set it apart from similarly
character, and make sure you check out the pool and spa. $80
Bagan Thiripyitsaya Sanctuary Resort Just south of priced competition. $40
Old Bagan, off Anawrahta Rd T061 60048, ★ Ostello Bello Bagan Main Rd T061 65069,
Wthiripyitsaya-resort.com; map pp.204–205. This is a Wostellobello.com; map p.224. This is a fabulous new
top-dollar resort hotel occupying a prime position in a very Italian-owned hostel that’s in a class above the rest. Dorms
peaceful location just outside the old city walls – with ($26) have between four and eight beds made of nicely
magnificent river views to boot. Unfortunately it doesn’t faded wood and topped with good mattresses. Each room
quite live up to its magnificent setting, as the rooms are has its own bathroom. There’s a travel desk, a bar with
more functional than inspiring – and those with river views happy hour and a busy restaurant serving pizzas and other
come with a hefty $80 surcharge. A pleasant spa, splendid traveller favourites, and they also host party nights and
riving-facing pool and cooking and meditation classes all events. With all this on offer, it’s hardly a surprise to hear
that Ostello Bello has completely cornered the Bagan
help compensate, though. $135
★ The Hotel @ Tharabar Gate Tharaba Gate T061 backpacker market. $69
60037, Wtharabargate.com; map pp.204–205. If you’re ★ Ruby True Hotel Myat Lay Rd T061 65065,
looking for a real “wow” factor, then you can’t go wrong Wrubytruebagan.com; map p.224. Delightful garden
with this hotel in Old Bagan. The modern rooms are hotel with woven bamboo rooms set under the pink and
decorated with traditional paintings and artefacts, and the purple blossoms of bougainvillea trees. Rooms are kitted
pretty flower gardens and pool come complete with a out with desks, fridges, bedside tables and wardrobes, but
collection of stone elephants and wooden crocodiles. After the real highpoint of a stay here is the staff, who take the
a day exploring Bagan’s temples, you’ll no doubt appreciate typical Burmese kind, helpful attitude to new levels of
warmth. It’s in a quiet area a 10min walk from central New
the spa. $245
Bagan. A great find. $80
NEW BAGAN Shwe Yee Pwint Hotel Kant Kaw St T09 519 3420,
★ Areindmat Hotel 2nd St T061 65049; map p.224. Wshweyeepwinthotel.com; map p.224. Attractive hotel
This is the most impressive of New Bagan’s hotels, with arranged around a pair of walled garden courtyards, with a
rooms set around a grassy courtyard centred on a lily- further selection of rooms in a less attractive block on the
covered pond and a tree covered in hanging decorations. other side of the road. Rooms are well equipped, if uninspiring,
Hindu art and sculptures fill the space, and the rooms have and there’s also a good-sized pool plus spa. Reasonable value,
wooden furnishings and large rain showers. There’s also a though unlikely to set the pulse racing. $130