After much discussion in recent years about the morality of sending people to a country ruled by a brutal military junta, dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi announced that tourism might actually help draw attention to her country’s plight. Finally, you can visit such evocative places as Mandalay, Rangoon (or Yangon as it’s now formally known) and the Irrawaddy River as well as the rest of this beautiful and bewitching country.

We offer different ways to see the best of what Burma has to offer: be it a tailormade tour of the best bits from Yangon to Bagan and Lake Inle; or a set departure cruise along the famous Irrawaddy River from Bagan to Mandalay. Whichever way you choose to see this magical country, you will never forget the eye-catching pagodas in Yangon, the village life around Inle Lake and the sheer charm of the local inhabitants.

Yangon is a relatively quiet and charming city. The undoubted highlight being the Shwedagon Pagoda, a stunning and extremely humbling place where we can arrange for visitors to take part in a robe offering ceremony with some of the temple monks. Ceremony aside, the central stupa of the pagoda is an unforgettable sight – 300ft tall, gilded with gold leaf and dominating the city skyline.

From Yangon the next stop should be the sublime site of Bagan, between the 11th to 13th centuries the capital of Burma. The rulers of the era constructed thousands of huge stupas and temples, many of which are still standing today on the banks of the Irrawaddy River and best viewed from Tayokye Pyay, an elevated temple with a magnificent view of the plains. Nearby is Wetkyi-In Gubyaukgyi, a cave temple with exquisite jataka mural paintings and the elegant Htilominlo Temple noted for its fine plaster carvings and glazed sandstone decorations.

In the interests of expediency, the flight to Mandalay has replaced the road, but a visit will still be well worthwhile. Highlights here include the wonderful alms collection at Mahagandayon monastery, when over 1,000 monks gather to collect their daily meal from the local Buddhists. Burma is also renowned for the excellence of its handicrafts, and Mandalay is home to several famous silk-weaving, wood carving and tapestry workshops – a word of warning, for the shopaholic, this is a destination well worth taking a spare bag for.

Inle Lake, the probable next stop, is in a beautiful setting, and very tranquil and relaxing after the hustle and bustle of Mandalay. There are several villages built on stilts actually over the lake, and inhabited by the local Intha people. Here you can see the leg-rowing fishermen and floating gardens built up from strips of water hyacinth and mud and anchored to the bottom with bamboo poles. One absolute must is to visit the lake’s morning market, which rotates location around the villages and is visited by lake inhabitants and surrounding hill tribes who come to sell and trade their wares.

Finally, if all that culture starts to overwhelm (unlikely, but not out of the question), then might we recommend a bit of beach action? Yes, even Burma has its elite beach retreat, in this case Ngapali Beach, a quintessential white sandy beach with palm tree backdrop sort of place. Inevitably, the developers have got their beady (should that be greedy?) eyes on Ngapali, so we watch developments with interest, but for now it remains a faintly idyllic beach retreat that makes a perfect finale for a trip to this wonderful country.

While Ngapali might be the last stop before returning to Yangon, there is another way to see the wonders of Burma that we strongly recommend – namely a boat trips along the Irrawaddy between Yangon and Bagan on board a luxurious cruise ship. These trips are described in more detail on their specific trip pages.