Exploring Northern Burma by boat and train from Myitkyina to Mandalay

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
7
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
6
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
10
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
3
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
9
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
80 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
53rd/454
Top 20%
continent
Asia
country
Myanmar (Burma)
Length of time
Around a week
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$80 ($175-$600 in 2020 prices)
Time of year visited
October
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Adventure Boat trip Local villages
All Tags
Buddhist site Forests Isolation Jungle Mountains River Experience
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Summary

One of the most adventurous and genuinely off-the-beaten-track journeys I’ve ever done was travelling through northern Burma from Myitkyina to Mandalay, using a patchwork of river boats, trains and buses. Even by Myanmar standards, this felt remote – slow travel through places that, at the time, had barely registered on the tourism map.  As travel becomes increasingly streamlined and predictable, experiences like this are becoming rare. Northern Burma offered something that’s now almost extinct: the feeling of moving through a place on its own terms, rather than on a tourist conveyor belt.

 

When you include the breathtaking views of the mountains, the chance to see the real local villages along the mighty Irrawaddy River, and the old echoes of the former colonial past, this is a truly a truly Wow travel experience and one that can easily be combined with a 2 weeks itinerary for the highlights of Burma.

 

I’ve listed more detailed tips below, but three key ones:

 

1. Is it dangerous?  The north, like many other parts of Burma, has seen continued trouble in the the form of various low-level uprisings through to full-blown sustained armed conflict in the three states you’ll be passing through (Kachin, Shan and Sagaing).  The danger level varies depending on the latest with the state of the country.  As of 2026, it isn’t safe to visit.  But things can change quickly.

 

2. The route can change.  The ferry ride from Bhamo and Katha to Mandalay is one that seems to be consistently fine, but the bus / ferry route from Myitkyina to Bhamo seems often to be closed off.  Obviously you need to check into this before you set off (I asked locals even in Yangon who were able to answer me very quickly), but even if you get stuck when you arrive you have options of the train from Myitkyina to Katha and exclude Bhamo, or just simply to fly.

 

3. Enjoy while you can!   This part of Burma is still largely untouched by the growing tourism wave that has hit the 4 key tourist destinations in the rest of the country (Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake). Enjoy it while you can!

 

Exploring Northern Burma by boat and train from Myitkyina to Mandalay. Small boat making its way along the Irrawaddy River

Table of Contents

Highlights of Northern Burma

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#1 Its cliché, but that feeling of adventure

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#2 Seeing the local towns and river life dotted all along the mighty Irrawaddy River

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#3 Walking / wadding into river villages where you will find yourself the only foreigner

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#4 Getting to check out the buildings in Katha that George Orwell famously included in his book Burmese Days

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#5 Heading deeper into some of the towns and getting to see some of the Burmese way of life outside of the standard tourist stops

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#6 The lush mountain scenery - often observed from the side of a bus!

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#7 The former colonial buildings and wide boulevards in Myitkyina

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#8 Seeing the sheer scale of the Irrawaddy River - often too wide to see the other side

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#9 The general randomness of it all!!!

Itinerary

 

 

  • Day 1 – fly to Myitkyina (the capital of Kachin State) and take the remainder of the day to wander around the long-closed relics of the former colonial times such as the old grand schools, the wide boulevards and dotted buildings clearly in contrast to the local town around them
  • Day 2 – depending on the season, make your way by bus or ferry to Bhamo.  Whilst there are not any particular star attractions, this is about as genuine Burma as you are going to get and you will most likely be the only foreigner.  Enjoy it as you walk through the old stained teak-houses and riverfront
  • Day 3 – Either take the fast boat (6 hours) or the slower ferry (12 hours) to Katha, enjoying the ride as you see the river world come to life as you drift down river
  • Day 4 – Spend the day in Katha to see the buildings made famous by George Orwell’s Burmese Days.  Reading the book and seeing the place so far north into the country and away from the main tourist sites, really brings to life what it must have been like in the times of the British Raj
  • Day 5-6 – take your time as you drift down on the 24hr – 40hr (depends on the season) ferry to see the varying towns and livelihoods that are fed by the mighty Irrawaddy, and just how wide it gets in its lead up the Mandalay

 

NOTE that the route from Myitkyina to Bhamo is the difficult one and is often closed for foreigners.  If that is the case, you’ve got a few options 1. Fly direct to Bhamo and skip Myitkyina; 2. Fly from Myitkyina to Bhamo; 3. Take the train from Myitkyina to Katha (6 hours) and skip Bhamo

Travel Tips

 

You’re going to struggle to get all the travel info you need from the internet alone.

 

The best source will be from the locals you meet along the way and, in particular, the hotel staff who will be used to travelers working their way on this route everyday (bear in mind this route is one of the main transport arteries for Northern Burma).

 

For the ferries you have usually got two options: the fast and the slow

 

The choice obviously depends on your timings.  The fast ones tend to be around x3 faster, but you’re restricted in your movement as you’re in seats with rows of around 4 x 10 and can only move (easily) from the seat when you get off.  You do stop at various towns where you get smaller boats coming up to sell things to you and there are open views (no windows) of the river scenes going by, but its mainly just a fast transit option to functionally get down the river.

 

Whereas the slow ferries are much more of an experience as you have a deck and multiple levels to wander around and will be spending the evening onboard.  I took the fast ferries for the first two legs of the journey and finished with the slow ferry for the final long leg to Katha to Mandalay, which I felt was a good balance.

 

The multi-level slow ferries that make their way from Katha to Mandalay - Northern Burma

The multi-level slow ferries that make their way from Katha to Mandalay on the Irrawaddy River

 

For the slow ferries, you will have the option of a cabin (US$45) or the deck (US$9)

 

For money seasons, I chose the deck which was an adventure and I got to speak to what felt like everyone on the boat, but I’m not sure I’d ever do it again!  The deck is . . . well . . . literally the deck.  You get shelter, but you’re on a steal floor.

 

Staying on the steel deck from Katha to Mandalay on the slow ferry

Sleep on the deck – luxury!

 

Buses – yeah . . .

 

For the buses, bear in mind this is mountainous jungle terrain in the poorest South East Asian country.  The roads will be very slow, the buses won’t run on time, will often break down and often seem to defy the logic of anything you’re used to.  As always just go with the flow and be prepared.

 

Two examples I’d like to share (we all have them!).  First one – I remember getting the bus for part of the journey from Myitkyina to Bhamo, us seeing another bus that was broken down on a high mountain road, our driver getting out and starring at the other bus (not offering help . . . obviously) for 4 hours.  Didn’t move from his squat position for 4 hours, and then just jumped back on the bus and drove away.  My fellow travelers were as confused as I was.

 

Second one was on a bus from Bagan to Inle Lake.  As we were driving up the mountain (with a cow strapped to the back I might add), the driver slowed down and steadily started to drive the bus into the nearby stream.  I got a bit worried as this wasn’t exactly the type of bus to have a snorkel for the water (in truth it would struggle to even be categorised as a bus).  The driver didn’t seem too bothered though and, after 20mins or so, reversed out and returned back to our journey now now that the bus had “cooled down”.  Gotta love Burma.

Burmese buses – you’re most likely going to break down

 

As with all countries, see if you can do a bit of reading about the place to give yourself some of the context

 

You can get the overview history from wikipedia, but for stories that give you more depth (and are more enjoyable), I’d really recommend two books: 1. Burmese Days by George Orwell because it brings to life what it must have been like in this part of Burma (it was set in Katha) during the British Raj and the harsh contradictions this brought.  2. The Glass Palace by Amitav Gosh, which charts the story of a small number of families as they navigate their way through the fall of the royal dynasty in Mandalay to the British in the late 1800s, through to the end of the second world war, and in particular covers the teak trade which passed through Northern Burma.

 

For the more traditional highlights of Burma

 

For more details on the other more traditional highlights of Burma and how this adventure can fit in to a broader itinerary for a trip round the country, see:

 

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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