Bangkok to Yangon - Flight

Before you do anything you must apply for an E-Visa for Myanmar (Burma). It costs $50 and takes a day or two for approval.

So do we fly or get the bus from Thailand to Myanmar? We decided a month in advance that we would fly as prices were only around £30 including free 15kg hold luggage.

The two main companies offering flights out of Bangkok daily to Yangon were AirAsia and NokAir at similar prices however you have to pay extra for luggage with AirAsia.

We booked tickets for the 10.25am NokAir flight from Don Muang airport in Bangkok. We decided to get a taxi not long after 6 to beat the rush hour traffic. We advise you not to get a taxi around Khao San Road and instead walk just a few minutes to the main road to flag down a taxi. You can alternatively book a minibus service with various travel agents.

After a couple of taxis wanted 500 baht upfront we finally found a taxi to use the meter. We knew the cost should only be around 250/300 baht. We also got the choice of going on the highway or not which costs 120 baht extra in toll charges. We did this however you don't need to at that time of the morning as the roads were very quiet.

All international flights leave from terminal 1.

Check in was available 3 hours in advance and was quick and efficient. You must have your Myanmar E-Visa approval letter printed off to show them. Passport control to get stamped out of Thailand took quite a while as they only had a few members of staff working. Try and go to the foreign passport control section furthest to the left as they had more staff counters available. Remember to fill in your departure card beforehand!

Don Muang airport had plenty of shops and coffee/food outlets including Boots, Starbucks and McDonald's. There is also a lot of currency exchange counters however you can't get Mynamar Kyat from any of them.

Boarding didn't take too long and we got a shuttle bus from the terminal to the plane. The outside of NokAir planes have a fun bird design!

Interesting plane design!

The flight took 1hr 10min. You get given arrival and custom forms to fill in upon arrival at Yangon airport. You also get a small snack box with water and a muffin.

After landing at Yangon airport, immigration control was very quick for foreigners as the majority of people on the flight were from Myanmar. You hand all your paperwork in and after a few minutes you get stamped into Myanmar. At the airport you have a few currency exchange counters to get some Kyat and also there are some ATM machines available.

After going through customs with your bags you can easily get a taxi to downtown Yangon at the taxi counter for 8,000 kyat which takes about an hour in traffic.

Downtown Yangon

5 out of 5