Transportation Guide using for Myanmar Tours

We use the private car and private driver in anytime you travel by roadway. We will select different types of transfer to suit a range of group eg saloon for 2 customers, commuter (4 – 5 seats) for 3 customers, Toyota Hi-ace (9 seats) for 4 – 5 guests, Minivan (14 – 19 seats) for 7 – 10 guests, Mini coaches (22 seats) for a group of 10 – 15 guests and buses for group of over 20.

Our selected allocation ensures not only the comfort for your travel but enough space for the guide and your luggage. Road conditions in Myanmar is still under standard condition, but you will mostly travel on the paved road. That is the reason why we make our best efforts to make your Myanmar travel at ease and relax.

Even though the road condition is not good enough but the road width is rather considerable. Even in some trekking areas (for example: Loikaw and Kalaw), the largest type of car we provide is the 45 seat coaches so the large group can still enjoy trekking on the route.

Our professional drivers are all having their driver license and know-how attitude for travel industry serving. We all have short-training with the Car Company so that all drivers will show their friendly smile but formal service to all of the guests. One of the very good points is they know their way in – out of the city, without the help of GPS.

As a country once governed by the UK, English is the second language after Burmese. Most of our drivers can speak English. However, their local dialect is somehow quite strong. Rather different from some EU countries, drivers can give guiding services but the drivers in Myanmar and most of South East Asia countries cannot. We always manage a tour guide to support you not only in understanding matter but more enjoy the information at the visiting sites.
Burmese law regulates that the drivers must drive on the right hand-side while most of the cars have steering wheel to the right, too. That makes Myanmar traffic very interesting. (We found a very interesting post about this here)

Myanmar has several airline carriers, including: Air Bagan, Air Mandalay, Air KBZ, Yangon Airways, Asian Wings, Mandalay Yadanapon, and Golden Myanmar. HIT Myanmar uses Air Bagan as our priority for all domestic airline bookings (see airlines list here). The company run by a private owner and the planes are the newest so far. (Even Myanmar still use widely ATR and Fokker planes at the time of November 2014). The service is good and you will have a light meal if the flight is longer than 1 hour. One of the special points about Myanmar is that in case one airline has to cancel their flights, they will work with another carrier in order to allocate you with another similar flight time.

Up to now, most of the airlines apply e-ticket system already. Sometimes, you are still issued paper tickets then keep them very carefully (seriously!!!) Refer more about Myanmar domestic flights guide here!

Departure Gate of Yangon International Airport

Air Bagan aircraft at an airport

For budget travelers or adventurous ones, we will strongly recommend traveling by boat and ferry where needed. The most popular route is from Mandalay – Bagan and vice versa. There are a few companies, both government and private, offering ferry transfer service. After trying and really experiencing services, we decide to use Malikha River Cruise and Shwe Keinnery for their good service status. These two companies are run by the private organization, local owner.

Shwe Keinnery River Cruise

Malikha River Cruise

River cruises in Myanmar are available in Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers. Operating a cruise on river cost lots of money and only big companies can afford. This results in the price for a Myanmar river cruise trips rather expensive. Our top choice is Road To Mandalay cruise (which organized by Belmond Group, their base is in Singapore) for short cruise trips normally from 4 – 6 days. For longer itinerary, we pick Pandaw and Paukan for their long-standing reputation.

The Port in Bagan of Road to Mandalay cruise by Belmond

We only offer train travel for real adventurous customers as this type of service requires a perfectly good health to prevent dizzy and faint while the train is moving. Our expert has experienced it and posted a guide here. Myanmar Government is the sole organization controlling the railway so the price is affordable for all Burmese. However, the rail bumping is a significant problem. You cannot expect to have sound sleep or read anything while onboard. The overnight train is no air condition, only the fan to harmonize the air and the door is locked by a hook that can loose easily when the coach bumps. Despite this fact, HIT Myanmar tours still recommends short train such as Circle train in Yangon for an exotic experience. For those ones desperately want this adventure, we do organize bearable berth cabins for our customers. There are not many soft berth cabins and each cabin will be prepared with 4 berths.