Day Trip to the Kyaiktyio Pagoda

One of the best day tours from Yangon is a visit to this shrine.

Traveling to the Kyaiktyio Pagoda is via Bago and into the blue mountain ranges of Mon State on the border to Thailand. This is about 170 kilometers by rail or road from Yangon, there is also a bus. 


On the first leg to Bago are already some very great sightseeing spots one is the Kyaikpun Pagoda with the four Buddhas.

After it’s an 15 kilometers ride to the base camp. Until here the whole surface is not bad, between the town and the starting point to get up into the mountain are several hotels among them the “Mountain View resort” a nice clean place between rubber  

plantings. From here it’s another 12 km ascend up to mountain top. Since the road is very narrow always one batch of vehicles move up and wait after the other drive down.

This is one of the top pilgrim targets in the country and it is really amazing what’s up here. 

Theoretically his could be done by a day trip from Yangon but it is better to stay overnight because of the road condition it needs to have some spare time. This is also a drive through the Irrawaddy Delta.

In the Irrawaddy delta

Kyaiktiyo or golden rock pagoda

The golden Rock Shrine 

is built on a gilded boulder with 25 meters circumference. Legend tells the whole is balanced in this precarious position by an original hair from the Buddha. The rather, around 7 meters high structure small 18-foot-high Kyaiktiyo or golden Rock Pagoda is located near the Thai border town of Mae Sot on an elevation of 1100 meters above sea level.

For Myanmar outdoor enthusiasts 

the ultimate kick probably would be a trek up to the top but it really needs good physical condition to do that. Actually the main problem is the heat and snakes both are of high amount. 

Most people do the trail in the loading bay of a small truck and the last 1.5 km must be done on foot or maybe not. Bamboo sedans balanced on the shoulder of 4 guys would be an alternative; this is very popular by “Fatty Bum Bum Chinese”.

Legend tells that in the 11th century King Tissa of Thaton got a strand of the Buddha’s hair from an hermit on condition that to enshrined them in a pagoda built on a boulder looking somehow similar to the hermit’s head. Since nobody found such a place they prayed to Thagyamin the king of the Nats and help came instantly. They found a suitable boulder at the bottom of the Andaman Sea and lifted it up to the top of the mountain.



Here is a Kyaiktyio Map.