Monday 14 January 2013

What you can expect from the accommodation in Yangon





When you arrive in Yangon it might be a little difficult to find your bearings. It is a big city, it is hot and noisy. If you don't have a booking, then it might be a challenge to find a free room. This post is to help you a little in choosing a room.










If you are reading this post, I take that you are looking for some affordable accommodation. If this is not the case, you should go back to Google.

1. More tourists, not enough rooms

Burma is not as developed in terms of tourism as Thailand, or other countries of South East Asia. There are more and more tourists here, and the accommodation base is quite small.
In Yangon the hostels and hotels are spread out around the city. If you would like something central, then look for something around the Sulej Pagoda, which is the main orientation point in Yangon.
A good place to start is the 32nd Street. You will find a few good hostels here.

2. What can you get for your money?

However, don't expect miracles. What you can get for your many might be a little poorer than what you are used to.
A normal price for a double room, with air con, breakfast and shared bathroom is around $20. For a private room you will pay around $30. The rooms look really old and dark, but they are mostly clean.

If you would like something less expensive, you can go for a dormitory, which is around $9 per person, per night.

A good thing is that all prices include breakfast!

3. My experience

We visited 2 other hostels before we found our one. The Garden Hostel, which is on the corner of the 32nd Street is very old and not nice at all. It also looked a bit dirty. The only plus side was the top terrace dining room, with a beautiful view on the Sulej Pagoda. The price for a double room with a shared bathroom is $18.

The second hostel? Hmm...how should I put it? I just wanted to forget the name straight away and that's why I can mention it here. It is located opposite the Garden Hostel, and you can smell it from a mile away. There is a staircase leading to the reception, where you will meet cats with broken paws and other curosities. The smell is overwhelming when you enter, and at this stage we just turned around.

4. Our hostel 

Okinawa Hostel is also on the 32nd Street. It is family run with really friendly staff. The rooms are clean, but a little dark ( I guess this needs to have its purpose in the heat). The air con looks like it is 100 years old, but it worked just fine.
After one night in a private room, we had to move to a dormitory as they already had a booking for our room.
Dormitory is located in the attic and has a really nice vibe to it. Surprisingly, it wasn't hot at all!
The breakfast they serve in the Okinawa Hostel consisted of traditional Burmese noodles, fruit and corn - really delicious.
The price for a private room, shared bathroom is $20, with private bathroom $30, dormitory is $9 per person per room.

Have you been to Yangon? Have you got any recommendations of where to stay? Don't be shy! Leave a comment!

2 comments:

  1. Well, the name of the hostel is Mahabandoola. It's recomended in Lonely Planet and I really don't know why. I have guide book issued in 2009 so maybe in this time they wasn't hiding some rotten corpse somewhere around.

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