Myanmar

Myanmar has pagodas in numbers that make all comparisons inadequate - Bagan alone has over two thousand, rising from the plain in the early morning mist in a sight that remains one of Southeast Asia's most extraordinary. The country's culture, its food, its Irrawaddy riverboat routes, the hill tribe regions of Shan State - all of it was beginning to open when the military coup of 2021 closed it again, and the situation since has involved significant violence and human rights abuses that any honest guide must name plainly.

Travel advisory Myanmar has been under military rule since the 2021 coup. Check current conditions before planning travel.

Our guide is being written from the ground up, with the time this place deserves.

We are still gathering the notes that make a guide worth keeping - and in this case, waiting is itself a form of respect for what the country is going through.