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Bagan Hotel

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  • Old Bagan
     Mandalay, Myanmar
    +95 62 70145
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Ed Hahn
Ed Hahn
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
1
Review
1
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Editor Pick

Bagan Hotel

  • March 12, 2006
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Ed Hahn from Hong Kong, China
Bagan Hotel

Bagan Hotel is rated on some sites as a three-star hotel. It felt like a five-star hotel to us. It’s located on the banks of the Ayeyarwaddy River, literally next door to both the Gawdawpalin Temple and the Archaeological Museum and within walking distance of many important sites such as the Ananda Temple. It’s a short 10- to 15-minute drive from the airport, too.

The many single-story buildings housing the hotel’s 120 rooms and suites are all faced with local sandstone with teak inlaid throughout. They are built in the manner of traditional Burmese architecture and fit in very well with the surrounding environment. According to the hotel’s website, they are very dedicated to being environmentally active. Considering the intermittent brownouts, they may be carrying their commitment too far.

Our room was a junior suite on the river level and was a truly beautifully appointed and decorated room with teak-wood flooring and wall paneling. It had all the amenities, including air-conditioning, IDD phone service, and satellite TV, not that we ever had time to watch it. We also had a small patio and the front lawn ran right down to the river. We were always away in the evenings, but I imagine watching the sunsets from the patio would be quite spectacular.

One interesting touch we'd never seen before was the flower arrangement on the bedsheets done every night. See the photo as to how it looked.

The hotel layout is most beautiful, with brick and stone walkways meandering under archways of tropical plants and interconnected trees bordered by small statues of mythical figures. The grassy area overlooking the river is used for the breakfast buffet and is in the middle of some beautiful gardens and massive old banyan trees. The venue almost made us forget how bad the breakfasts were.

The lobby is beautiful and the clerks are helpful when they can be. Their English is not that great, but they try very hard to understand. The only dining we did was the buffet breakfast, which was not that great. I hope their other restaurants are much better. There’s a swimming pool and a putting green, neither of which we used. It has a business center with all the expected services. My wife, Pam, found them to be very accommodating, but the services were relatively expensive.

The concierge services include travel arrangements, of course, but also horse-cart rides, boat trips on the river, bicycle rentals, hot air balloon rides, and arranging for cars and guides and just about anything else you might want. There’s always an up-charge, so you might want to handle some of these arrangements yourself.

They give discounts for low-season visits. Check out their website for details. These discounts are intermittently available year-round for a total of 6 months.

In summary, we would definitely return here. The only drawbacks were the aforementioned breakfasts and the brownouts, which can hardly be blamed on the hotel.

From journal Myanmar—Most Wondrous Bagan

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