Kalaw trekking & Inle Lake

Get transferred to the airport for a short morning flight to Heho in the Shan state. Met upon arrival and take a short drive to visit the Pindaya Cave, an attractive and unusual sight that set in a limestone hill in the Myelat region. This cave is more than a hundred meters long, containing several different chambers adorned with stalagmites and stalactites and cramped with thousands of Buddha images in various size, shape, and color dating back from 18th century until the present time through continuous donation by devotees.
Enjoy your time exploring the cave and surrounding then get another one hour transfer to Kalaw for hotel check in. Remainder of the day is free at your leisure.
Nestled between pine-clad mountains at nearly 1400m above sea level, Kalaw is a summer resort founded by British during their rule here. This charming town is endowed with cool climate, beautiful pine forests on rolling hills and scenic views of natural surroundings. Dotted around and along quiet tree-lined streets of Kalaw are fading colonial architectures reminding an European town feel. In and around the town is home to different ethnic villages of Danu, Pa-O, Palaung, Taung Yo and so on, who still maintain typical traditions and way of life.
During your leisure time, just enjoy a walk around exploring this laidback mountain town. Perhaps, take a visit to the local market for delicious Shan noodles, sample local fruits or enjoy some shopping of local products. Or pick up a bicycle and make a fun ride to nearby local villages or get to little elephant sanctuary where you can contact with giant animals and participate in the daily care of the elephants.

Summary of inclusions

Private vehicle

Internal flight

Pindaya cave explore

Hotel in kalaw

Note: The trekking itinerary can be changed a bit to match well your fitness level and the weather conditions.

After breakfast, check out hotel then start your challenging yet wonderful trek along footpath over the lush pine-clad hills. Enjoy the spectacular view of green paddy fields and charming village dotted around on the beautiful valley below.
After few kilometers you will get to a village of the Taungyo tribe where you will spend some time to enjoy exploring the village and interact with local villagers. Continue on to the village of the Danu tribe, an ethnic group primarily reside in this area and known as ‘archers’ as their group name in Pali implies. Women in this group are charming in their traditional elegant dress of red and black color.
Enjoy a local lunch prepared by villagers then continue your trek through the thick forest over mountain before descending down an immense green land and passing through vivid farms and plantations where you encounter the locals working on the land. Just come closer, interact with them, even in kind of body language and, perhaps you may want to join with them at the farm work. Do not forget to get for you some interesting camera shots. 
Reach the Kyauk Su village of the Pa-O tribe that perched on the top of a small hill in the mid-afternoon where you will check in a local house for homestay tonight. These friendly people belong to one of more than 20 subgroups of Pa-O who prominently live in the Shan state and easily recognized by their dark indigo clothing with a red or yellow head turban.
Wandering around, enjoy the peaceful scene of the village with people coming back from farms behind their buffalos as the sun is setting down behind the mountains.
Dinner and homestay at the village.    

Trekking distance aprox 20km – 6 hours 

Summary of inclusions

kalaw trekking

local villages visit

Breakfast, lunch & dinner

homestay local house

Wake up in the sound of remote rural land. Relax your mind and enjoy the pure rhythm of the village life among fascinating nature far away from busy modern civilization then sit down for a yummy breakfast prepared by the local host and your guide.
Say goodbye to the family and continue your trek along the dirt path that snakes through green farms and rice paddies. Enjoy the chance meeting with friendly locals and interact with children from different villages you pass along the way. Also, if you are lucky, at the Nan Daing village and you will have the chance to visit the colorful local market that held every five day here.
Lunch break is taken at a small village en route then continue onward passing through beautiful rice terraces, grassland, and little mountains before reaching an immense elevated plateau where you have a rewarding expansive view of undulating hills and green valleys.   
After a short break, walk on final kilometers to the village of Teetain, another Pa-O village, where you will stop for the night at a local Buddhist monastery. 
Enjoy your time playing with the gang of lifeful, curious novice monks and wander around for exploring this beautiful village.
Dinner and overnight at local monastery.

Trekking distance aprox 20km – 6 hours 

Summary of inclusions

kalaw trekking

local villages visit

Breakfast, lunch & dinner

homestay local house

The melodious sound of morning chanting by monks wake you up for the third trekking day with interesting sights awaiting for you ahead.
After breakfast, say goodbye to the young novices and leave the village on your way toward the Inle Lake. Walk up a little path alongside locals on their way to the farms and after more than one hours you will make a short break at the Nan Yoke village before descending down to the plain. From here the scenery becomes flatter and it can be barren sometimes. This final part of the trek is a bit challenging with the heat but then, a rewarding view of gleaming blue lake opening in front of you.
After a lunch break with a cold beer, hop on a motorized longtail boat for a leisurely cruise along little canal then across the lake to hotel for check in.
Remainder of the day is at leisure for your well-earned rest.

Trekking distance aprox 20km – 6 hours 

Summary of inclusions

kalaw trekking

village visit

boat

Breakfast & lunch

Hotel in nyaungshwe

Being second largest lake in Myanmar, Inle is a vast natural water body at the elevation of 800 meter above sea level. Dotted around the lake bank and on the water are numerous small villages of different ethnicities who remain very well their unique culture and life style. This beautiful lake is fringed by marshes and floating gardens, wooden houses perched above the water on stilts and glittering temples rise above the serene water surface.
Today you will board a private local boat for sightseeing around Inle. Cruise pass the endless charming floating gardens where locals use weeds from lake bottom and put on floating beds to grow fruit and vegetable, houses and monasteries built on stilts.  During this tour, you will also visit the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, an impressive religious structure and the most revered site in the Inle Lake area and southern Shan State, and local villages on the bank of the lake where you can interact and observe local craftsmen using traditional techniques for silk weaving, silversmith, boat building and making cheroot, a kind of Burmese cigars.
Enjoy the authentic scenes that shine on the lake and get for you wonderful photos.
Back to the hotel and remainder of the day is at your leisure. 

Summary of inclusions

Boat

temples & village visit

inle lake sightseeing

Breakfast

Hotel in nyaungshwe

After breakfast, start your another interesting day in Inle by a visit to the colorful local market which rotates through villages around the lake and including a day on the lake itself when trade is conducted from small boats. This is where and when you will see local hill tribe people in the colorful traditional dresses congregating to barter and purchase. A very nice scene!
Continue by boat along winding and scenic canals to Indein, a little yet fascinating village on the western bank of the lake. This place is known for its two groups of ancient pagodas and stupas with hundreds structures in many shapes and sizes varying from authentic crumbling state with trees and plants entwine around them to the restored, gilded and tacky one, offering an impressive sight of evolution through successive generations.
It is wonderful to see people having bath in the river, boats moving about on water, colorful shops and stalls, the mythical world of gods and life of ordinary smiling people. Wander through, walk up the hill along colonnades and enjoy the cram-full sight of exotic scenes around.
Following, visit a weaving villages with houses perched on stilts, interact with “long neck” tribal women who working on traditional looms and of course, you will not miss the chance to observe and take wonderful photos of the Intha men fishing on the lake with traditional tools and typical one-legged rowing technique.

Back to the hotel and remainder of the day is at your leisure.

Summary of inclusions

Boat cruise 

Inle Lake sightseeing

tribal village visit

breakfast

Hotel in nyaungshwe

Enjoy the morning free at your own pace until check out hotel (12.00) then get boat and private transfer to the airport for your fly back to Yangon. Safe travel and see you again!

Summary of inclusions

Boat

Private airport transfer

Internal flight

Breakfast