Bagan Temples - Burma Travel Information
Bagan is the most important tourist destination in Burma. This is where the first capital of the Burmese empire was, and today one of the richest archeological sites in South East Asia.
The city Bagan (former Pagan) is situated in the center of Burma, on the east bank of Irrawaddy River and about 145 km south western to Mandalay. The importance of Bagan is in its past, and Bagan city has no importance other then being a convenient place for sleeping during the tour in the area.
In a land that its size is 42 sq km, there are over 200 structures, temples and pagodas that represent the rich culture that existed in the area during the 11th -13th centuries AD. Many of the structures were renovated, reconstructed and are currently in use. The city Bagam was ruined in 1287 when it was conquered by the Mongolians, and since then never returned to its greatness.
In July 8th 1975, there was a severe earthquake in the area, which caused severe damages to more then half of the important structures in the area and completely destroyed others.
Visitig Bagan's Temples
The visit in the Bagan temples is an amazing visit, but it also has its problematic side. The main problem in Bagan is with fact that tourists are being treated as walking dollars. Everywhere people will try to sell you something or just ask for money.
Since in 2003 a tourist fell from one of the temple and died, Burma government closed the access to the upper floors of many temples, which it is a pity. However there are still few temples that you can climb on to watch the sunrise/ sunset/ view.
The last topic is human rights. Bagan?s inhabitants that lived there until 1990 were evacuated from there by the government. They were moved to New Bagan against their will in order to enable the tourists to see Bagan ?clean? from inhabitants.
 Route |
An exhaustive tour in the temples will take between 2 to 3 days and then you can add another day to visit Mount Popa. |
 Costs |
The entrance to Bagan area cost 10 US dollar. The payment is done within the entrance to the city (by vehicle boat or airplane). There is no way to avoid the tax since every hotel will demand to see the receipt during check in (they will receive a high fine if they won?t do so). When you pay the entrance fee, you will be requested to show your passport and its number will be written on the entrance ticket. The cost of entrance is for 3 days from entering the place, which is defiantly sufficient for tours in the temples. The ticket price does not include a visit to Bagan?s archeology museum, which cost $5 (open from 09:00 to 16:30) or to Lacqueware museum which cost $2 (open from 09:00 to 11:00 and from 13:00 to 16:00). In some of the temples there is an extra payment (about 30 to 50 Kyat) for the usage of camera in the temple?s area. |
 Getting there |
There are 4 main options for touring the site:
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