Crossing Myanmar with own car (Thailand – India) in Aug or Sep 2014, Asia Forum, Fodor s Travel Talk Forums
Asia Forums
Crossing Myanmar with own car (Thailand -> India) in Aug or Sep two thousand fourteen
Hello to all the sultry travellers out there!
My gf and me plan to cross Myanmar with our own car in either August or September this year (2014) as part of our raod tour from Australia all the way back to Germany. According to our current skill crossing this beautiful country is not as difficult as it used to be. Mainly it is a matter of money. Since the government still charges high prices on coming in with own cars (using a local licensed tour operator is mandatory). These costs can be diminished significantly if enough cars (people) can be found to join the group. We have found such a local licensed tour operator in Myanmar who can organize all kinds of tours with own cars in Myanmar but it is up to us to find other people who are interested in joining us (like I have said to make the high costs of such a tour organization affordable). We want to inject Myanmar coming from Thailand and travel on to India. If you are interested in joining us in the 2nd half of August or in September please contact us: nue.travelling[AT]gmail[DOT]com – if anyone has information about other groups already planning something similar please let us know likewise!
Enrico and Nadine
Go to the Thorntree forum as there are often posts about this. It typically takes a duo of years to arrange the permits. Also, be aware that the “roads” are in horrible condition.
Travelling through Myanmar with own car is possible!
I know a palm utter of different people who already did that successfully (in both directions). It truly mainly is a matter of the high costs. That’s why I’m looking for other people joining this excursion.
If we cannot find others who join us there is still the way of having the car shipped from Kuala Lumpur to Kolkata in India as Myanmar is just one out of fifteen countires we will have to cross. But shipping the car is not the sense of a road journey.
Could you send me more information about the local tour operator you are using to do this tour, I am planing to do the same journey, but from Uk to Australia, in two thousand fifteen I’ve contacted Myanmar’s embassy in London and they said it was not possible, so is nice to hear it is!
His name is Tin. He is a very nice fellow and speeks very good English.
To not believe what the embassy told you! Crossing (and travelling) Myanmar IS POSSIBLE! As long as you have a local (and licensed!) tour guide with you! Heaps of people did it before!
Just to give two examples:
But as long as there are not at least let’s say three vehicles the costs are not affordable / not worth it.
Good luck to you – I hope it works out. I have seen reports by so many people who thought they were going to be permitted to do this and it didn’t happen. Or the people who spent months near the border with India waiting for their permissions. “Heaps of people did it before!” is a bit of an exaggeration. It has been done recently by a number of people at considerable expense and considerable time spent.
Good luck! Sounds liek a cool tour, but I’m not planing on Asia this year.
thank you for the information! good luck!
Apart from the hassle months of driving would be very tiring. For mine better to hire cars in each country and have seven days on the road followed by r&r in inbetween. A mix of cars, planes and trains would be more joy. Seven day car hires permit free one way drop offs.
Sounds like a wonderful journey . Would love to join tour but we won’t be embarking our next long tour around Asia until oct or November. We you be keeping a blog of your travels? Would love to go after along.
Just check the Internet. During the past years a lot of people did the crossing – puny groups of three cars up to big convoys with twenty or vehicles. The only thing you still have to consider these days is booking a local licensed tour operator – getting a special permission from the government for crossing the country on your own is still very unlikely to happen.
As crellston already said: you missed the point. Our idea is a road excursion from Australia to Germany – with one car: our own car. We embark from Canberra at the 18th of June.
Thanks to everyone.
Hello to everyone.
) who offers guided tours through Myanmar.
The price per person for a group of four people would be one thousand eighty USD excluding food and fuel.
The more people, the cheaper.
If anyone else is interested in crossing Myanmar from Thai to India in August or September this year please reply!
According to our latest research the crossing is not as expensive as I / we thought it is.
To quickly summarise:
Next to the German boy Jörn Schlag whose latest price for an extensive excursion through Myanmar was two thousand Euros (
2750 US$) per car (independent of the number of cars building the convoy) we already found three licensed travel agencies situated in Myanmar who suggest crossings through Myanmar (all following prices are based on a four or five day crossing):
1st was Tin Maung Shwe from www.brightviewtravel.com who basically provided the following prices (includes everything except of own fuel, any look witnessing and individual expenses): for one car / two pax : two thousand one hundred sixty three US$ per pax; for two cars / four pax : one thousand two hundred eighty seven US$ (costs are getting cheaper the more people join the group)
2nd was Thar Aye from www.burmasenses.com who offers the crossing as goes after: for one car / two pax : two thousand US$ per pax; for two cars / four pax : one thousand sixty US$ (costs are getting cheaper the more people join the group). Furthermore we found a
3rd tour operator whose costs vary significant from those of Tin and Thar Aye:
His name is Mutu Suresh from www.myanmarexperttours.com and who recommends a six day crossing due to the more difficult road situation on the rainy season for the following (costs are in total, NOT per person!):
one Person – nine hundred US$
two People – one thousand sixty US$
four People – one thousand seven hundred US$
six People – two thousand two hundred fifty US$
Includes three meals per day and five nights’ accommodation. Not included as already mentioned above: own fuel, sightseeing entrance fees on the way, individual expenses and road tax (no more than fifty $US per vehicle).
I was wondering how this high price difference is possible. But I only found few reviews only of people travelling with him (all were very pleased with his work) and he assured me that no extra costs would apply (except the ones mentioned). If anyone can give any reviews about Mutu Suresh this would be very welcome!
That means presently we are four, maybe six people who will do the crossing together. I requested another suggest + itinerary for a six day crossing permitting for visiting Bagan and a seven day crossing permitting for Bagan and Mandalay.
News will be posted.
Still looking for more people to join us!
Since we are having travel delays the presently desired departure time (begin time) for the crossing will be middle of September.
You mean you’re going to spend almost all your time in Myanmar driving? That’s crazy, it’s a excellent destination for sightseeing.
It sounds like a cool journey. However you should add some time for sightseeing as Burma is a excellent destination as @thursdaysd said. It is nice to know you are dealing your caravan tour with Thar Aye and his company Burma Senses, indeed a responsive and nice boy. Good luck!
You right with the sightseeing. But what you do not know is that we already havee visited amazing Myanmar in two thousand thirteen already so we are basically focussing on a quick crossing. At the moment we are focussing on a six or seven day crossing including a stop at Bagan. And since most of the group agree with limited view eyeing we are fine.
Presently we are six, maybe eight people. And for all of them Myanmar is only one country in a very long list of destinations due to each ones travel plans (take ourselves for example: Road tour from Australia to Germany!) and each one has to keep an eye on expenses you know.
Anyone else interested in joining our group in September?
Presently we will be seven to ten people.
seven day crossing with one day stop in Bagan.
Kicking off at Mae Sot (Thai) – Myawaddy (Myanmar)
Completing at Moreh (Myanmar) – Tamu (India) border
450 $US per person, excludes own fuel, lunch and dinner and private expanses but includes accommodation, tour operator fees, look watching entrance fees (Bagan and Phowin cave) and all government and administration fees
More participants are welcome til middle of August when booking will be done.
If anyone else has serious interest please contact me for further details.
You need to have a Carnet de Passage, decent health insurance, a Myanmar visa and an India visa.
Our tour operator also had to inform us about higher prices due to a miscalculation by himself (we are / were one of his very first crossing groups while he used to only suggest tours within Myanmar till now) and higher charges by the MTT. Furthermore I left behind to provide information about an extra cost charged by the Myanmar Roads and Traffic Department in my prvious posts caused by a misunderstand inbetween me and Mutu.
INCLUDED: all kinds of government permission fees, accommodation (mostly Two* or Three* hotels with private bathrooms, A/C), entrance fees for national parks en route and Bagan, tour operator costs
EXCLUDED: own fuel, individual expenses, lunch and dinner
Actually the tour operator dreamed to charge us three thousand nine hundred USD + MRTD charge instead of the two thousand seven hundred USD we knew about at the beginning.
But I believe that future requests for an suggest of the same journey (7 day crossing with stop in Bagan an Phowin Caves) will result in at least four thousand five hundred USD for the tour (six people for this example).
Nevertheless here is a feedback from another traveller who already finished their tour with Mutu (coming from India) which reads very well:
Please let us know how this goes. I would do this in a 2nd if I could take the time off.
Hi Enrico and Nadine hope the journey is going well.
Hi there! Is there anybody planning a excursion through Myanmar from Thailand to India inbetween April and June 2015? It would be good to hear from you, maybe we can get some more people together to make the crossing cheaper.
Upon booking our travel group consisted of six people travelling in three cars (all 4WD).
Crossing the border from Mae Sot (Thailand) to Myawaddy (Myanmar) took three hours in total (basically because of slow working customs and queues at the counters). When crossing the bridge you switch from left-hand driving to right-hand driving. Read here why:
On the Myanmar side we were welcomed by Ye, who is a Burmese travel guide and was hired by Mutu and by the MTT official who also is an experienced and relaxed stud and basically responsible to notify the ministry about our movements. They provided ‘improvised number plates’ which we had to place on the windscreen. After switching some money (switch rates for USD in MMK were pretty good) we left Myawaddy and fortunately we were permitted to pass the customs bay behind town without the cars getting checked. We then embarked the very first stage of our tour to Kin Pun, a village at the base of Kyaiktiyo Golden Rock (on the way there we did a brief stop at a pagoda near Thaton). The single line road inbetween Myawaddy and Kawkareik which is only open every 2nd day (oncoming traffic the other day) is very windy, often unpaved and trucks are slow and there are only few catches sight of permitting to pass them. You pass several military checkpoints along the way. You undoubtedly have to be at the border very early to actually finish this stage of the tour on time (we arrived in darkness and most Burmese drive without using lights at all!). We skipped visiting the Golden Rock in the following morning and moved on to the capital Nay Pyi Taw with a stop at the market in Waw. The two-lane highway is very good and permits cars to drive one hundred twenty km/h. Nay Pyi Daw is a clean city with heaps of empty hotels and roads. Witnessing the government buildings was not possible. On the afternoon of our arrival we visited the Uppatasanti pagoda which was inspired by the famous Shwedagon pagoda. As a tourist we found this a very nice place and unlike Shwedagon there are no crowds of people.
The Myat Mingalar hotel was a nice place to stay and we were almost the only guests at that time. In the evening another participant and I drove by ourselves to a close-by mall to get some beer and food since the hotel’s restaurant was a bit too expensive. The next day we learned that we actually were not permitted to drive without a guide in front even however having the license plate, visa, passport and so on with us. Eyeing Nay Pyi Daw as foreigner was interesting albeit surreal. As we learned you cannot get here with public transport (only with a licensed tour operator). On the late afternoon around 5pm we did see a group of road workers who just finished today’s work shift and instantaneously were picked up by soldiers in an army truck…
After two nights in Nay Pyi Daw we moved to Bagan with stops at a palm sugar station and driving to the very first stupas and watching sunset from one of them. In the evening we got to know Mutu who is a truly nice fellow, knows a lot about the country and is the flawless mate to have a beer with. The next day we spent the morning with visiting some more stupas, using the hotel’s swimming pool in the afternoon and did a sea cruise on the Ayeyarwady in the early evening.
The next morning we moved on to Monywa with observing the Phowintaung caves which actually were hundreds of slots in a sandstone outcrop containing carved Buddha statues.
The following day we went to Kalay via Gangaw (which is the main road inbetween Kalay and Monyaw used most of the time of the year). Along the sometimes very windy and very muddy ‘road’ we passed lots of stuck trucks and also our guides 2WD Toyota Hiace used to have difficulties getting up the hill sometimes (unlike us with our 4WD). For us it was sheer driving pleasure!
The stage inbetween Monywa and Kalay was the longest and most gruelling one of all but has to be done at once since there are no places with hotels along the way and sleeping in the cars is still rigorously prohibited.
From Kalay we moved on to the border town Tamu where people only have power from 6.30pm til 8.00am in the morning. On the way we crossed the tropic of cancer. Exiting Myanmar took about half an hour while coming in India was more time and nerve consuming (read on).
Ultimately I can say that all six of us loved the tour very much. Mutu even managed to let one of the participants bring its dog in (and of course out of) the country. Ye was a very nice dude and both Ye and Mutu managed to organize the excursion to our total satisfaction. Actually we would have stayed longer but four of us are on a road tour from Australia to Europe and we had to keep the tour brief for budget and time reasons. But Myanmar is a very beautiful country with amazingly friendly locals and except of the major tourist attractions like Yangon, Bagan, Inle Lake and Mandaly the country is still very unexplored by tourism.
We undoubtedly can recommend Mutu and his team to everyone who is also interested visiting and crossing the country with his own vehicle.
Nevertheless Myanmar is still very expensive to travel. Accommodations are more expensive than in its eastern neighbouring countries (also due to USD regularly used as 2nd currency) and the government charges high fees to travellers (sightseeing, permissions to see certain areas, obligation of using a licensed tour operator, …). There are news found online about a Trans-Asian highway to be built through Myanmar to connect India with SE Asia but I hardly believe this project will ever be realized / finished. Furthermore since the government makes a lot of money with tourism possible due to the entire tricky system of ‘special permissions’ and so on it is hard to believe that it ever will be more effortless to get in and explore the country. And still there are riots and conflicts going on in the country, like in eastern and northern Mon state and also in the far north of the country which still will make it almost unlikely for tourists to travel to these regions for a long time. But if there is a chance to actually visit a certain area as foreigner, Mutu can bring you there.
Once again about the prices: travelling to Myanmar is and will be expensive. Basically a thicker group with more participants should make such a journey more affordable, but also more tedious because the more cars / people need to travel along the roads / need to be checked the more time consuming it will be.
At the end we all were glad with the size of our group (three cars).
For a group of six people including all permits, fees and so on (excluding food and fuel) one will hardly find an suggest charging less than seven hundred fifty USD per person. But it is undoubtedly worth the tour.
The following Google Maps link shows our basic route through the country:
The road from Moreh makes its way through the mountains (windy but decently paved) and you pass three military checkpoints where one always has to stop and provide individual details.
Once one makes it into the valley behind the mountains traffic gets more and cows and goats sit, walk and lie everywhere along and on the roads.
When travelling in Manipur and Nagaland it is not unusual to get stopped by the police and following them to their police station for general interrogation and providing private details and travel plans. We even were asked to go after a police man to the police station when walking along a main road when looking for a restaurant in Bongaigaon, Assam.
Crossing Myanmar with own car (Thailand – India) in Aug or Sep 2014, Asia Forum, Fodor s Travel Talk Forums
Asia Forums
Crossing Myanmar with own car (Thailand -> India) in Aug or Sep two thousand fourteen
Hello to all the sultry travellers out there!
My gf and me plan to cross Myanmar with our own car in either August or September this year (2014) as part of our raod journey from Australia all the way back to Germany. According to our current skill crossing this beautiful country is not as difficult as it used to be. Mainly it is a matter of money. Since the government still charges high prices on coming in with own cars (using a local licensed tour operator is mandatory). These costs can be diminished significantly if enough cars (people) can be found to join the group. We have found such a local licensed tour operator in Myanmar who can organize all kinds of tours with own cars in Myanmar but it is up to us to find other people who are interested in joining us (like I have said to make the high costs of such a tour organization affordable). We want to inject Myanmar coming from Thailand and travel on to India. If you are interested in joining us in the 2nd half of August or in September please contact us: nue.travelling[AT]gmail[DOT]com – if anyone has information about other groups already planning something similar please let us know likewise!
Enrico and Nadine
Go to the Thorntree forum as there are often posts about this. It typically takes a duo of years to arrange the permits. Also, be aware that the “roads” are in horrible condition.
Travelling through Myanmar with own car is possible!
I know a mitt total of different people who already did that successfully (in both directions). It indeed mainly is a matter of the high costs. That’s why I’m looking for other people joining this journey.
If we cannot find others who join us there is still the way of having the car shipped from Kuala Lumpur to Kolkata in India as Myanmar is just one out of fifteen countires we will have to cross. But shipping the car is not the sense of a road tour.
Could you send me more information about the local tour operator you are using to do this tour, I am planing to do the same tour, but from Uk to Australia, in two thousand fifteen I’ve contacted Myanmar’s embassy in London and they said it was not possible, so is nice to hear it is!
His name is Tin. He is a very nice dude and speeks very good English.
To not believe what the embassy told you! Crossing (and travelling) Myanmar IS POSSIBLE! As long as you have a local (and licensed!) tour guide with you! Heaps of people did it before!
Just to give two examples:
But as long as there are not at least let’s say three vehicles the costs are not affordable / not worth it.
Good luck to you – I hope it works out. I have seen reports by so many people who thought they were going to be permitted to do this and it didn’t happen. Or the people who spent months near the border with India waiting for their permissions. “Heaps of people did it before!” is a bit of an exaggeration. It has been done recently by a number of people at considerable expense and considerable time spent.
Good luck! Sounds liek a cool tour, but I’m not planing on Asia this year.
thank you for the information! good luck!
Apart from the hassle months of driving would be very tiring. For mine better to hire cars in each country and have seven days on the road followed by r&r in inbetween. A mix of cars, planes and trains would be more joy. Seven day car hires permit free one way drop offs.
Sounds like a wonderful excursion . Would love to join tour but we won’t be embarking our next long tour around Asia until oct or November. We you be keeping a blog of your travels? Would love to go after along.
Just check the Internet. During the past years a lot of people did the crossing – puny groups of three cars up to big convoys with twenty or vehicles. The only thing you still have to consider these days is booking a local licensed tour operator – getting a special permission from the government for crossing the country on your own is still very unlikely to happen.
As crellston already said: you missed the point. Our idea is a road tour from Australia to Germany – with one car: our own car. We begin from Canberra at the 18th of June.
Thanks to everyone.
Hello to everyone.
) who offers guided tours through Myanmar.
The price per person for a group of four people would be one thousand eighty USD excluding food and fuel.
The more people, the cheaper.
If anyone else is interested in crossing Myanmar from Thai to India in August or September this year please reply!
According to our latest research the crossing is not as expensive as I / we thought it is.
To quickly summarise:
Next to the German fellow Jörn Schlag whose latest price for an extensive tour through Myanmar was two thousand Euros (
2750 US$) per car (independent of the number of cars building the convoy) we already found three licensed travel agencies situated in Myanmar who suggest crossings through Myanmar (all following prices are based on a four or five day crossing):
1st was Tin Maung Shwe from www.brightviewtravel.com who basically provided the following prices (includes everything except of own fuel, any view witnessing and individual expenses): for one car / two pax : two thousand one hundred sixty three US$ per pax; for two cars / four pax : one thousand two hundred eighty seven US$ (costs are getting cheaper the more people join the group)
2nd was Thar Aye from www.burmasenses.com who offers the crossing as goes after: for one car / two pax : two thousand US$ per pax; for two cars / four pax : one thousand sixty US$ (costs are getting cheaper the more people join the group). Furthermore we found a
3rd tour operator whose costs vary significant from those of Tin and Thar Aye:
His name is Mutu Suresh from www.myanmarexperttours.com and who recommends a six day crossing due to the more difficult road situation on the rainy season for the following (costs are in total, NOT per person!):
one Person – nine hundred US$
two People – one thousand sixty US$
four People – one thousand seven hundred US$
six People – two thousand two hundred fifty US$
Includes three meals per day and five nights’ accommodation. Not included as already mentioned above: own fuel, sightseeing entrance fees on the way, private expenses and road tax (no more than fifty $US per vehicle).
I was wondering how this high price difference is possible. But I only found few reviews only of people travelling with him (all were very pleased with his work) and he assured me that no extra costs would apply (except the ones mentioned). If anyone can give any reviews about Mutu Suresh this would be very welcome!
That means presently we are four, maybe six people who will do the crossing together. I requested another suggest + itinerary for a six day crossing permitting for visiting Bagan and a seven day crossing permitting for Bagan and Mandalay.
News will be posted.
Still looking for more people to join us!
Since we are having travel delays the presently desired departure time (commence time) for the crossing will be middle of September.
You mean you’re going to spend almost all your time in Myanmar driving? That’s crazy, it’s a good destination for sightseeing.
It sounds like a cool journey. However you should add some time for sightseeing as Burma is a fine destination as @thursdaysd said. It is nice to know you are dealing your caravan tour with Thar Aye and his company Burma Senses, indeed a responsive and nice fellow. Good luck!
You right with the sightseeing. But what you do not know is that we already havee visited amazing Myanmar in two thousand thirteen already so we are basically focussing on a quick crossing. At the moment we are focussing on a six or seven day crossing including a stop at Bagan. And since most of the group agree with limited look witnessing we are fine.
Presently we are six, maybe eight people. And for all of them Myanmar is only one country in a very long list of destinations due to each ones travel plans (take ourselves for example: Road tour from Australia to Germany!) and each one has to keep an eye on expenses you know.
Anyone else interested in joining our group in September?
Presently we will be seven to ten people.
seven day crossing with one day stop in Bagan.
Beginning at Mae Sot (Thai) – Myawaddy (Myanmar)
Ending at Moreh (Myanmar) – Tamu (India) border
450 $US per person, excludes own fuel, lunch and dinner and private expanses but includes accommodation, tour operator fees, glance watching entrance fees (Bagan and Phowin cave) and all government and administration fees
More participants are welcome til middle of August when booking will be done.
If anyone else has serious interest please contact me for further details.
You need to have a Carnet de Passage, decent health insurance, a Myanmar visa and an India visa.
Our tour operator also had to inform us about higher prices due to a miscalculation by himself (we are / were one of his very first crossing groups while he used to only suggest tours within Myanmar till now) and higher charges by the MTT. Furthermore I left behind to provide information about an extra cost charged by the Myanmar Roads and Traffic Department in my prvious posts caused by a misunderstand inbetween me and Mutu.
INCLUDED: all kinds of government permission fees, accommodation (mostly Two* or Three* hotels with private bathrooms, A/C), entrance fees for national parks en route and Bagan, tour operator costs
EXCLUDED: own fuel, individual expenses, lunch and dinner
Actually the tour operator dreamed to charge us three thousand nine hundred USD + MRTD charge instead of the two thousand seven hundred USD we knew about at the beginning.
But I believe that future requests for an suggest of the same tour (7 day crossing with stop in Bagan an Phowin Caves) will result in at least four thousand five hundred USD for the journey (six people for this example).
Nevertheless here is a feedback from another traveller who already finished their journey with Mutu (coming from India) which reads very well:
Please let us know how this goes. I would do this in a 2nd if I could take the time off.
Hi Enrico and Nadine hope the journey is going well.
Hi there! Is there anybody planning a excursion through Myanmar from Thailand to India inbetween April and June 2015? It would be fine to hear from you, maybe we can get some more people together to make the crossing cheaper.
Upon booking our travel group consisted of six people travelling in three cars (all 4WD).
Crossing the border from Mae Sot (Thailand) to Myawaddy (Myanmar) took three hours in total (basically because of slow working customs and queues at the counters). When crossing the bridge you switch from left-hand driving to right-hand driving. Read here why:
On the Myanmar side we were welcomed by Ye, who is a Burmese travel guide and was hired by Mutu and by the MTT official who also is an experienced and relaxed dude and basically responsible to notify the ministry about our movements. They provided ‘improvised number plates’ which we had to place on the windscreen. After switching some money (switch rates for USD in MMK were pretty good) we left Myawaddy and fortunately we were permitted to pass the customs bay behind town without the cars getting checked. We then embarked the very first stage of our tour to Kin Pun, a village at the base of Kyaiktiyo Golden Rock (on the way there we did a brief stop at a pagoda near Thaton). The single line road inbetween Myawaddy and Kawkareik which is only open every 2nd day (oncoming traffic the other day) is very windy, often unpaved and trucks are slow and there are only few catches sight of permitting to pass them. You pass several military checkpoints along the way. You certainly have to be at the border very early to actually finish this stage of the tour on time (we arrived in darkness and most Burmese drive without using lights at all!). We skipped visiting the Golden Rock in the following morning and moved on to the capital Nay Pyi Taw with a stop at the market in Waw. The two-lane highway is very good and permits cars to drive one hundred twenty km/h. Nay Pyi Daw is a clean city with heaps of empty hotels and roads. Watching the government buildings was not possible. On the afternoon of our arrival we visited the Uppatasanti pagoda which was inspired by the famous Shwedagon pagoda. As a tourist we found this a very nice place and unlike Shwedagon there are no crowds of people.
The Myat Mingalar hotel was a nice place to stay and we were almost the only guests at that time. In the evening another participant and I drove by ourselves to a close-by mall to get some beer and food since the hotel’s restaurant was a bit too expensive. The next day we learned that we actually were not permitted to drive without a guide in front even tho’ having the license plate, visa, passport and so on with us. Watching Nay Pyi Daw as foreigner was interesting albeit surreal. As we learned you cannot get here with public transport (only with a licensed tour operator). On the late afternoon around 5pm we did see a group of road workers who just finished today’s work shift and instantly were picked up by soldiers in an army truck…
After two nights in Nay Pyi Daw we moved to Bagan with stops at a palm sugar station and driving to the very first stupas and watching sunset from one of them. In the evening we got to know Mutu who is a indeed nice boy, knows a lot about the country and is the flawless mate to have a beer with. The next day we spent the morning with visiting some more stupas, using the hotel’s swimming pool in the afternoon and did a sea cruise on the Ayeyarwady in the early evening.
The next morning we moved on to Monywa with eyeing the Phowintaung caves which actually were hundreds of slots in a sandstone outcrop containing carved Buddha statues.
The following day we went to Kalay via Gangaw (which is the main road inbetween Kalay and Monyaw used most of the time of the year). Along the sometimes very windy and very muddy ‘road’ we passed lots of stuck trucks and also our guides 2WD Toyota Hiace used to have difficulties getting up the hill sometimes (unlike us with our 4WD). For us it was sheer driving pleasure!
The stage inbetween Monywa and Kalay was the longest and most tedious one of all but has to be done at once since there are no places with hotels along the way and sleeping in the cars is still rigorously prohibited.
From Kalay we moved on to the border town Tamu where people only have power from 6.30pm til 8.00am in the morning. On the way we crossed the tropic of cancer. Exiting Myanmar took about half an hour while injecting India was more time and nerve consuming (read on).
Eventually I can say that all six of us loved the excursion very much. Mutu even managed to let one of the participants bring its dog in (and of course out of) the country. Ye was a very nice dude and both Ye and Mutu managed to organize the journey to our total satisfaction. Actually we would have stayed longer but four of us are on a road tour from Australia to Europe and we had to keep the tour brief for budget and time reasons. But Myanmar is a very beautiful country with amazingly friendly locals and except of the major tourist attractions like Yangon, Bagan, Inle Lake and Mandaly the country is still very unexplored by tourism.
We undoubtedly can recommend Mutu and his team to everyone who is also interested visiting and crossing the country with his own vehicle.
Nevertheless Myanmar is still very expensive to travel. Accommodations are more expensive than in its eastern neighbouring countries (also due to USD regularly used as 2nd currency) and the government charges high fees to travellers (sightseeing, permissions to see certain areas, obligation of using a licensed tour operator, …). There are news found online about a Trans-Asian highway to be built through Myanmar to connect India with SE Asia but I hardly believe this project will ever be realized / finished. Furthermore since the government makes a lot of money with tourism possible due to the entire tricky system of ‘special permissions’ and so on it is hard to believe that it ever will be more effortless to get in and explore the country. And still there are riots and conflicts going on in the country, like in eastern and northern Mon state and also in the far north of the country which still will make it almost unlikely for tourists to travel to these regions for a long time. But if there is a chance to actually visit a certain area as foreigner, Mutu can bring you there.
Once again about the prices: travelling to Myanmar is and will be expensive. Basically a fatter group with more participants should make such a journey more affordable, but also more grueling because the more cars / people need to travel along the roads / need to be checked the more time consuming it will be.
At the end we all were glad with the size of our group (three cars).
For a group of six people including all permits, fees and so on (excluding food and fuel) one will hardly find an suggest charging less than seven hundred fifty USD per person. But it is undoubtedly worth the excursion.
The following Google Maps link shows our basic route through the country:
The road from Moreh makes its way through the mountains (windy but decently paved) and you pass three military checkpoints where one always has to stop and provide private details.
Once one makes it into the valley behind the mountains traffic gets more and cows and goats sit, walk and lie everywhere along and on the roads.
When travelling in Manipur and Nagaland it is not unusual to get stopped by the police and following them to their police station for general interrogation and providing private details and travel plans. We even were asked to go after a police man to the police station when walking along a main road when looking for a restaurant in Bongaigaon, Assam.
Crossing Myanmar with own car (Thailand – India) in Aug or Sep 2014, Asia Forum, Fodor s Travel Talk Forums
Asia Forums
Crossing Myanmar with own car (Thailand -> India) in Aug or Sep two thousand fourteen
Hello to all the sultry travellers out there!
My gf and me plan to cross Myanmar with our own car in either August or September this year (2014) as part of our raod tour from Australia all the way back to Germany. According to our current skill crossing this beautiful country is not as difficult as it used to be. Mainly it is a matter of money. Since the government still charges high prices on injecting with own cars (using a local licensed tour operator is mandatory). These costs can be diminished significantly if enough cars (people) can be found to join the group. We have found such a local licensed tour operator in Myanmar who can organize all kinds of tours with own cars in Myanmar but it is up to us to find other people who are interested in joining us (like I have said to make the high costs of such a tour organization affordable). We want to come in Myanmar coming from Thailand and travel on to India. If you are interested in joining us in the 2nd half of August or in September please contact us: nue.travelling[AT]gmail[DOT]com – if anyone has information about other groups already planning something similar please let us know likewise!
Enrico and Nadine
Go to the Thorntree forum as there are often posts about this. It typically takes a duo of years to arrange the permits. Also, be aware that the “roads” are in horrible condition.
Travelling through Myanmar with own car is possible!
I know a forearm utter of different people who already did that successfully (in both directions). It truly mainly is a matter of the high costs. That’s why I’m looking for other people joining this excursion.
If we cannot find others who join us there is still the way of having the car shipped from Kuala Lumpur to Kolkata in India as Myanmar is just one out of fifteen countires we will have to cross. But shipping the car is not the sense of a road tour.
Could you send me more information about the local tour operator you are using to do this excursion, I am planing to do the same journey, but from Uk to Australia, in two thousand fifteen I’ve contacted Myanmar’s embassy in London and they said it was not possible, so is nice to hear it is!
His name is Tin. He is a very nice boy and speeks very good English.
To not believe what the embassy told you! Crossing (and travelling) Myanmar IS POSSIBLE! As long as you have a local (and licensed!) tour guide with you! Heaps of people did it before!
Just to give two examples:
But as long as there are not at least let’s say three vehicles the costs are not affordable / not worth it.
Good luck to you – I hope it works out. I have seen reports by so many people who thought they were going to be permitted to do this and it didn’t happen. Or the people who spent months near the border with India waiting for their permissions. “Heaps of people did it before!” is a bit of an exaggeration. It has been done recently by a number of people at considerable expense and considerable time spent.
Good luck! Sounds liek a cool tour, but I’m not planing on Asia this year.
thank you for the information! good luck!
Apart from the hassle months of driving would be very tiring. For mine better to hire cars in each country and have seven days on the road followed by r&r in inbetween. A mix of cars, planes and trains would be more joy. Seven day car hires permit free one way drop offs.
Sounds like a wonderful tour . Would love to join tour but we won’t be kicking off our next long journey around Asia until oct or November. We you be keeping a blog of your travels? Would love to go after along.
Just check the Internet. During the past years a lot of people did the crossing – petite groups of three cars up to big convoys with twenty or vehicles. The only thing you still have to consider these days is booking a local licensed tour operator – getting a special permission from the government for crossing the country on your own is still very unlikely to happen.
As crellston already said: you missed the point. Our idea is a road journey from Australia to Germany – with one car: our own car. We commence from Canberra at the 18th of June.
Thanks to everyone.
Hello to everyone.
) who offers guided tours through Myanmar.
The price per person for a group of four people would be one thousand eighty USD excluding food and fuel.
The more people, the cheaper.
If anyone else is interested in crossing Myanmar from Thai to India in August or September this year please reply!
According to our latest research the crossing is not as expensive as I / we thought it is.
To quickly summarise:
Next to the German stud Jörn Schlag whose latest price for an extensive excursion through Myanmar was two thousand Euros (
2750 US$) per car (independent of the number of cars building the convoy) we already found three licensed travel agencies situated in Myanmar who suggest crossings through Myanmar (all following prices are based on a four or five day crossing):
1st was Tin Maung Shwe from www.brightviewtravel.com who basically provided the following prices (includes everything except of own fuel, any look watching and private expenses): for one car / two pax : two thousand one hundred sixty three US$ per pax; for two cars / four pax : one thousand two hundred eighty seven US$ (costs are getting cheaper the more people join the group)
2nd was Thar Aye from www.burmasenses.com who offers the crossing as goes after: for one car / two pax : two thousand US$ per pax; for two cars / four pax : one thousand sixty US$ (costs are getting cheaper the more people join the group). Furthermore we found a
3rd tour operator whose costs vary significant from those of Tin and Thar Aye:
His name is Mutu Suresh from www.myanmarexperttours.com and who recommends a six day crossing due to the more difficult road situation on the rainy season for the following (costs are in total, NOT per person!):
one Person – nine hundred US$
two People – one thousand sixty US$
four People – one thousand seven hundred US$
six People – two thousand two hundred fifty US$
Includes three meals per day and five nights’ accommodation. Not included as already mentioned above: own fuel, sightseeing entrance fees on the way, private expenses and road tax (no more than fifty $US per vehicle).
I was wondering how this high price difference is possible. But I only found few reviews only of people travelling with him (all were very sated with his work) and he assured me that no extra costs would apply (except the ones mentioned). If anyone can give any reviews about Mutu Suresh this would be very welcome!
That means presently we are four, maybe six people who will do the crossing together. I requested another suggest + itinerary for a six day crossing permitting for visiting Bagan and a seven day crossing permitting for Bagan and Mandalay.
News will be posted.
Still looking for more people to join us!
Since we are having travel delays the presently desired departure time (begin time) for the crossing will be middle of September.
You mean you’re going to spend almost all your time in Myanmar driving? That’s crazy, it’s a excellent destination for sightseeing.
It sounds like a cool tour. However you should add some time for sightseeing as Burma is a good destination as @thursdaysd said. It is nice to know you are dealing your caravan tour with Thar Aye and his company Burma Senses, truly a responsive and nice dude. Good luck!
You right with the sightseeing. But what you do not know is that we already havee visited amazing Myanmar in two thousand thirteen already so we are basically focussing on a quick crossing. At the moment we are focussing on a six or seven day crossing including a stop at Bagan. And since most of the group agree with limited glance observing we are fine.
Presently we are six, maybe eight people. And for all of them Myanmar is only one country in a very long list of destinations due to each ones travel plans (take ourselves for example: Road tour from Australia to Germany!) and each one has to keep an eye on expenses you know.
Anyone else interested in joining our group in September?
Presently we will be seven to ten people.
seven day crossing with one day stop in Bagan.
Beginning at Mae Sot (Thai) – Myawaddy (Myanmar)
Ending at Moreh (Myanmar) – Tamu (India) border
450 $US per person, excludes own fuel, lunch and dinner and private expanses but includes accommodation, tour operator fees, look watching entrance fees (Bagan and Phowin cave) and all government and administration fees
More participants are welcome til middle of August when booking will be done.
If anyone else has serious interest please contact me for further details.
You need to have a Carnet de Passage, decent health insurance, a Myanmar visa and an India visa.
Our tour operator also had to inform us about higher prices due to a miscalculation by himself (we are / were one of his very first crossing groups while he used to only suggest tours within Myanmar till now) and higher charges by the MTT. Furthermore I left behind to provide information about an extra cost charged by the Myanmar Roads and Traffic Department in my prvious posts caused by a misunderstand inbetween me and Mutu.
INCLUDED: all kinds of government permission fees, accommodation (mostly Two* or Trio* hotels with private bathrooms, A/C), entrance fees for national parks en route and Bagan, tour operator costs
EXCLUDED: own fuel, private expenses, lunch and dinner
Actually the tour operator dreamed to charge us three thousand nine hundred USD + MRTD charge instead of the two thousand seven hundred USD we knew about at the beginning.
But I believe that future requests for an suggest of the same tour (7 day crossing with stop in Bagan an Phowin Caves) will result in at least four thousand five hundred USD for the tour (six people for this example).
Nevertheless here is a feedback from another traveller who already finished their journey with Mutu (coming from India) which reads very well:
Please let us know how this goes. I would do this in a 2nd if I could take the time off.
Hi Enrico and Nadine hope the journey is going well.
Hi there! Is there anybody planning a journey through Myanmar from Thailand to India inbetween April and June 2015? It would be fine to hear from you, maybe we can get some more people together to make the crossing cheaper.
Upon booking our travel group consisted of six people travelling in three cars (all 4WD).
Crossing the border from Mae Sot (Thailand) to Myawaddy (Myanmar) took three hours in total (basically because of slow working customs and queues at the counters). When crossing the bridge you switch from left-hand driving to right-hand driving. Read here why:
On the Myanmar side we were welcomed by Ye, who is a Burmese travel guide and was hired by Mutu and by the MTT official who also is an experienced and relaxed dude and basically responsible to notify the ministry about our movements. They provided ‘improvised number plates’ which we had to place on the windscreen. After switching some money (switch rates for USD in MMK were pretty good) we left Myawaddy and fortunately we were permitted to pass the customs bay behind town without the cars getting checked. We then commenced the very first stage of our tour to Kin Pun, a village at the base of Kyaiktiyo Golden Rock (on the way there we did a brief stop at a pagoda near Thaton). The single line road inbetween Myawaddy and Kawkareik which is only open every 2nd day (oncoming traffic the other day) is very windy, often unpaved and trucks are slow and there are only few catches sight of permitting to pass them. You pass several military checkpoints along the way. You certainly have to be at the border very early to actually finish this stage of the tour on time (we arrived in darkness and most Burmese drive without using lights at all!). We skipped visiting the Golden Rock in the following morning and moved on to the capital Nay Pyi Taw with a stop at the market in Waw. The two-lane highway is very good and permits cars to drive one hundred twenty km/h. Nay Pyi Daw is a clean city with heaps of empty hotels and roads. Witnessing the government buildings was not possible. On the afternoon of our arrival we visited the Uppatasanti pagoda which was inspired by the famous Shwedagon pagoda. As a tourist we found this a very nice place and unlike Shwedagon there are no crowds of people.
The Myat Mingalar hotel was a nice place to stay and we were almost the only guests at that time. In the evening another participant and I drove by ourselves to a close-by mall to get some beer and food since the hotel’s restaurant was a bit too expensive. The next day we learned that we actually were not permitted to drive without a guide in front even however having the license plate, visa, passport and so on with us. Observing Nay Pyi Daw as foreigner was interesting albeit surreal. As we learned you cannot get here with public transport (only with a licensed tour operator). On the late afternoon around 5pm we did see a group of road workers who just finished today’s work shift and instantaneously were picked up by soldiers in an army truck…
After two nights in Nay Pyi Daw we moved to Bagan with stops at a palm sugar station and driving to the very first stupas and watching sunset from one of them. In the evening we got to know Mutu who is a indeed nice fellow, knows a lot about the country and is the flawless mate to have a beer with. The next day we spent the morning with visiting some more stupas, using the hotel’s swimming pool in the afternoon and did a sea cruise on the Ayeyarwady in the early evening.
The next morning we moved on to Monywa with eyeing the Phowintaung caves which actually were hundreds of crevices in a sandstone outcrop containing carved Buddha statues.
The following day we went to Kalay via Gangaw (which is the main road inbetween Kalay and Monyaw used most of the time of the year). Along the sometimes very windy and very muddy ‘road’ we passed lots of stuck trucks and also our guides 2WD Toyota Hiace used to have difficulties getting up the hill sometimes (unlike us with our 4WD). For us it was sheer driving pleasure!
The stage inbetween Monywa and Kalay was the longest and most wearisome one of all but has to be done at once since there are no places with hotels along the way and sleeping in the cars is still rigorously prohibited.
From Kalay we moved on to the border town Tamu where people only have power from 6.30pm til 8.00am in the morning. On the way we crossed the tropic of cancer. Exiting Myanmar took about half an hour while injecting India was more time and nerve consuming (read on).
Eventually I can say that all six of us liked the journey very much. Mutu even managed to let one of the participants bring its dog in (and of course out of) the country. Ye was a very nice stud and both Ye and Mutu managed to organize the excursion to our utter satisfaction. Actually we would have stayed longer but four of us are on a road tour from Australia to Europe and we had to keep the journey brief for budget and time reasons. But Myanmar is a very beautiful country with amazingly friendly locals and except of the major tourist attractions like Yangon, Bagan, Inle Lake and Mandaly the country is still very unexplored by tourism.
We undoubtedly can recommend Mutu and his team to everyone who is also interested visiting and crossing the country with his own vehicle.
Nevertheless Myanmar is still very expensive to travel. Accommodations are more expensive than in its eastern neighbouring countries (also due to USD regularly used as 2nd currency) and the government charges high fees to travellers (sightseeing, permissions to see certain areas, obligation of using a licensed tour operator, …). There are news found online about a Trans-Asian highway to be built through Myanmar to connect India with SE Asia but I hardly believe this project will ever be realized / finished. Furthermore since the government makes a lot of money with tourism possible due to the entire tricky system of ‘special permissions’ and so on it is hard to believe that it ever will be more effortless to get in and explore the country. And still there are riots and conflicts going on in the country, like in eastern and northern Mon state and also in the far north of the country which still will make it almost unlikely for tourists to travel to these regions for a long time. But if there is a chance to actually visit a certain area as foreigner, Mutu can bring you there.
Once again about the prices: travelling to Myanmar is and will be expensive. Basically a thicker group with more participants should make such a excursion more affordable, but also more tiresome because the more cars / people need to travel along the roads / need to be checked the more time consuming it will be.
At the end we all were blessed with the size of our group (three cars).
For a group of six people including all permits, fees and so on (excluding food and fuel) one will hardly find an suggest charging less than seven hundred fifty USD per person. But it is certainly worth the journey.
The following Google Maps link shows our basic route through the country:
The road from Moreh makes its way through the mountains (windy but decently paved) and you pass three military checkpoints where one always has to stop and provide individual details.
Once one makes it into the valley behind the mountains traffic gets more and cows and goats sit, walk and lie everywhere along and on the roads.
When travelling in Manipur and Nagaland it is not unusual to get stopped by the police and following them to their police station for general interrogation and providing private details and travel plans. We even were asked to go after a police man to the police station when walking along a main road when looking for a restaurant in Bongaigaon, Assam.