From Yangon There is a night bus with air-con (there are 4 options, 5PM, 6PM, 7PM, and 9PM departure, 10400k, 12-15 hours) running into Mandalay. Almost certainly the cheapest option for getting between the two main cities in Myanmar.
From Inle Lake, Kalaw or Mid-Eastern Towns There are buses available along this route, either a day minibus (5AM departure, 9000k, 9 hours) or a night bus with air-con (6PM departure). The minibus in the day takes a slightly shorter route than the larger (and some say more comfortable) full-sized night bus. Expect windy and bumpy roads, stops for picking up and putting down passengers, and, if you are lucky, a search of the bus by un-uniformed and just-bribed police officers.
From the Highway Bus Station you can either take a taxi or pick-up into town. Taxis are overly expensive (quoting prices as high as 2000k per person or 6000k for the car), and often bargain in a mob fashion (except they all offer the same price and try and gang-up on you). A far cheaper option is to simply walk out of the bus station yards to the West, and find one of the pick-ups which just ran a load of people to the station from town (500k per person) - they are normally more than happy to help and there is no commission issues to worry about.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Mandalay
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Mandalay - updated May 2024
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Mandalay Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
