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Bus Bagan to Kalaw or Inle Lake

Bus Bagan Kalaw or Inle Lake

Today I took the big aircon bus from Bagan to Kalaw. The same bus will go from Bagan to Inle lake as well. The ride took 8 hours and was nice. I looked out of the window the whole trip. On some intersections you could make easy 20 pictures of things you saw. Kids playing, old trucks, people selling stuff nice portraits of old people. But I was in the bus 🙂

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Bus Bagan to Kalaw or Inle Lake

The ride of the bus in the first few hours is good, nice roads. The last 2.5 hours are in the mountains and a little harder to do but ok for me. In total the bus ride took 6.15 hour. But for that amount of money you can’t complain about the bus. The lunch at the last stop was nice. I took the rice chicken that costs 1800 MMK.

Costs Bus Bagan to Kalaw or Inle Lake

The costs of the big bus (where is was in) is 11.000 MMK. The pickup is between 6.30 and 7.00. The depart from the busstation is 7.30. (you can also ride in the night than the bus departs at 19.30 from the busstation) When you want to go in a smaller bus you can book the minivan. For 15.000 MMY you can book the minivan from Bagan to Kalaw or Inle Lake. That is a little bit faster.

Make it yourself easy and book your bus online with Bookaway.

Paul Ram

Written by Paul Ram · updated 24 January 2025

I am Paul from Amsterdam and I have been writing GoBackpackGo since 2013, from my own trips through 32 countries and 1,000+ days on the road: backpacking in Asia (2014 and 2023–2024), road trips in Australia and New Zealand, and bikepacking trips in Europe.

More about me · Instagram (17.9K followers) · Strava · YouTube · Pinterest

Tags: Bagan, Bus, Inle Lake, Kalaw
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7 Comments.

  • Ab Janssen
    January 10, 2016 2:00 am

    Thanks for the tips, keep writing about your experiences and travel tips.

  • Maggie
    January 19, 2016 9:40 pm

    Hi! Great information! I have a question for you: with what company do you have traveled from bagan to kalaw???

    • Paul
      January 23, 2016 2:53 pm

      I don’t know the exact name of the company. Just booked the ticket in my hostel 🙂

  • Jette Seier Poulsen
    December 29, 2017 11:25 am

    Did you take an ordinary bus or a VIP bus?
    We will go from Bagan to Kalaw 20/1. Would it be a good idea to book an pay the ticket now or can I wait until Bagan? Do you think it will be cheaper to buy in Bagan?

    • Paul
      December 29, 2017 10:16 pm

      It was a VIP bus, nice big red bus. Quite new for the Birmese standards. I bought my ticket there that was easy, but if you have the opportunity to buy it already, why not 🙂
      Not sure about the prices difference though.

      Have a great trip enjoy Bagan, its magical!

  • sebastian
    June 15, 2018 2:18 pm

    Hi, thanks for the info

    Do you think that I could get the same company bus to book a ticket from Inle lake to Bagan instead? thanks a lot

    • Paul
      June 17, 2018 9:15 am

      Pretty sure you can. I think the safest way is to ask your guesthouse / hostel where to book 🙂 They are very friendly and helpful.

Comments are closed.

Hi, I’m Paul

Paul from GoBackpackGo

Outdoor and sports enthusiast. Since 2013 I’ve been backpacking, bikepacking and motorbiking through more than 30 countries, and writing about it on GoBackpackGo. Everything here comes from my own trips, routes and real costs.

More about me →

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