Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Flights from Southeast Asia
Flights between
Bangkok
and
Yangon
(50min) start at $120return, with the cheaper airlines
often flying out of Don Mueang International Airport (DMK), rather than the larger Suvarn-
abhumi Airport (BKK), which is preferred by standard-price carriers. Ensure that you leave
enough time between connections if you're flying into one airport and out of the other - it
cantakeoveranhourtodrivebetweenthetwo.AirlinesflyingbetweenBangkokandYangon
include Bangkok Airways, Thai Airways, Golden Myanmar Airlines and Myanmar Airlines
International (out of Suvarnabhumi) and Nok Air and AirAsia (out of Don Mueang).
The longer flight from
Singapore
to Yangon (3hr) is well served by budget airlines, with
Jetstar Asia and Tigerair operating daily services between the two cities. Return airfares start
from $150. Full-price carriers, including Golden Myanmar Airlines, SilkAir and Singapore
Airlines, also operate daily flights, with airfares from $360 return.
Airlines that fly directly to Yangon from cities around Southeast Asia include AirAsia and
MalaysiaAirlinesfrom
KualaLumpur
,MyanmarAirwaysInternationalfrom
PhnomPenh
and
Siem Reap
and Vietnam Airlines from
Hanoi
and
Ho Chi Minh City
. Air Bagan and
Golden Myanmar Airlines also fly between Yangon and
Chiang Mai
several times each
week.
Regional airports
Mandalay International Airport
is served by an increasing number of direct international
flights.Atthetimeofwritingtherewerenon-stopflightstoMandalayfromBangkokSuvarn-
abhumi(daily,2hr,around$200),BangkokDonMueang(daily,2hr,around$150)andSinga-
pore (2 weekly, 3hr 25min, $360), as well as Kunming in Yunnan, China, and Gaya in Bihar,
India.
In addition, Bangkok Airlines operates five flights each week between Bangkok Suvarnab-
humi and
Naypyitaw
's recently expanded airport (2hr 30min, $245). China Eastern flies to
the capital from Kunming (1hr 50min; from $220) twice each week, and there are also occa-
sional charter flights from further afield.
Finally, Nok Air runs a daily flight between Mae Sot in Thailand and Mawlamyine in Mon
State (1hr), although this was suspended at the time of research.
Overland from Thailand
Of the five border crossings between Myanmar and
Thailand
, four were fully opened to in-
dependenttravellersinAugust2013.
Ranong-Kawthaung
and
PhuNamRon-HteeKee
in
Tanintharyi Region,
Mae Sot-Myawaddy
in Kayin State and
Mae Sai-Tachileik
in south-
ern Shan State are all nowopen totravellers with valid Myanmar visas. The fifth checkpoint,
Three Pagodas Pass
between Sangkhlaburi in Thailand and Payathonzu, is also open but
onlyallowsday-tripsintoMyanmar-usefulforvisaruns,butlittleelse.Thaivisasareavail-