Irrawaddy River Cruise Review: Discover Exotic Myanmar!

Currently, US and Canadian advisories warn against traveling to Myanmar. But once the country is open to travel again, a Myanmar river cruise should be high on your bucket list!

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Our horse cart clip-clops along a sand track, stirring up swirls of red dust as we weave around Bagan’s brick pagodas.

Once a magnificent kingdom, Bagan is studded with some 4,000 temples and stupas built by the kings of Myanmar between 1044 and 1287.

Irrawaddy river cruise review

So what’s it like to cruise the Irrawaddy River (Ayeyarwady River)?

Most river ships ply the section between Bagan and Mandalay to the north. These Myanmar river cruises are typically 3 to 4 nights long.

It’s also possible to experience a longer cruise along the southern stretch of the Irrawaddy River between Bagan and Myanmar’s fascinating capital, Yangon.

We’ve enjoyed several river cruises over the years, and we’d previously cruised from Bagan to Mandalay (the shorter cruise).

This time, we want to do a longer cruise on the Irrawaddy River. Our cruise from Yangon to Bagan is 7 nights long.

It’s a leisurely river cruise in Myanmar

After leaving the bustle of Yangon, the first few days of our Ayeyarwady River cruise are languorous ones. 

We see long barges hauling sand for construction, rafts festooned with bamboo huts and fluttering laundry, and skiffs with fishermen in conical hats reeling in their nets.

After lunch (perhaps grilled river prawns with lemongrass and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc), we usually head to our stateroom.

But we also leave the sanctuary of our river ship on shore excursions.

Outside of Yangon, 80% of the people don’t have electricity, but they eat well.

They love their sweets too. A turbaned vendor hacks off a slice of dry “cake” made from rice flour and palm sugar for us to try.

Then we stop by a cheroot-making shop where four women deftly roll up yellow cornhusk cigars, pausing occasionally to puff on their own fat cheroots.

When we return to our river ship, tied to the riverbank, our trishaw driver gives us a huge grin, displaying a mouth stained red from chewing betel-nuts.

It’s said to date back to 589 BC and contain hairs of the Buddha (its name, “Shwesandaw,” means the “golden hair relics”).

Red-robed monks walk softly about, some chatting on their cell phones.

As pale-skinned foreigners, we’re still a rare enough sight here that some locals want to take our picture.

One trip by ox cart takes us to Gwechaung Fort, designed by Italian architects for the Burmese king in 1860 to keep the British at bay (though it fell in a day).

We’re always intrigued by the local conveyances for each excursion, and this primitive ox cart ride is the most unusual.

And challenging! We’re seated on cushions on the wooden cart, while the driver sits or stands between the two oxen, tapping them with a stick to make them move.

It’s very bouncy and we have to hang on tight to avoid sliding off.

Back onboard, we surrender our dusty sandals to waiting staff, who will later deliver them to our stateroom, magically clean once again.

And we eagerly accept the welcome-back drink – this time, fresh mint, dragon fruit and soda.

That evening, we’re treated to a special stir fry and barbeque dinner in the Min Hla Fort. Torches and candles shed flickering light on Burmese dancers swaying to music played on traditional xylophones and harps.

And our lovely ship staff? They’re here too, refilling our glasses with champagne.

We visit Bagan

But the most astonishing sight – Bagan – awaits at the end of our Myanmar river cruise.

Each of the temples here is unique.

Some are crumbling relics overgrown with weeds and bougainvillea.

But most are fantastically preserved bell-shaped structures and ornate pyramid-style monuments that look like giant wedding cakes.

With a little imagination, it’s easy to envision the “gilded city alive with tinkling bells and the swishing sounds of monks’ robes” that Marco Polo once wrote of.

We learn a temple is a structure that can be entered, while a stupa is solid throughout (“pagoda” refers to both).

And, surprise! Who knew many Bagan temples have fascinating murals and Buddha statutes inside?

In the inner chambers, beautiful wall paintings in red, green and black colors show daily life at the time – a decorated elephant, a woman having her long hair brushed, a man smoking a pipe.

It strikes us that, in many ways, life in Myanmar hasn’t changed much.

The present is knocking on the door. But for now, it’s as exotic a country as you could hope to visit.

Companies offering river cruises in Myanmar

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Photo credits: 1 to 3, 5 to 12, 14 to 16, 18 to 22 © Janice and George Mucalov, SandInMySuitcase | 4 Belmond

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