Downtown Yangon

Our walking tour of downtown Yangon teases out the stories and secrets of a city with a turbulent history. As well as visiting the Secretariat and the principal colonial buildings in downtown Yangon, our guide will take you to lesser known and lesser frequented locations which nonetheless have stories to tell.

This walking tour looks at the growth of Yangon from a small Mon village to a multicultural hub. This tour will dive into how visitors from the east and the west have contributed to Yangon’s rich tapestry. We will enter teashops and temples, shake hands with the city’s residents and think about what the future has in store for this remarkable metropolis. There will be plenty of food so come with an empty stomach!

This tour starts at 7AM at the Secretariat and ends in Chinatown. The tour lasts three hours. Contact us for more information.

Heroes & Handicrafts

Explore the quiet backstreets and lazy lanes of Bahan township in central Yangon. Hear the stories of Myanmar’s independence heroes and see the country’s rich craft heritage. This tour has been created in collaboration with Turquoise Mountain.

Winkaba (or ‘labyrinth’) Road, winds its way around the south of Yangon’s Bahan township. Once the the smartest district in the city, these streets used to be named after the men of the British Empire that annexed Burma in the Anglo-Burmese Wars: Campbell Avenue, Churchill Street … Today, these streets have been taken back to celebrate independent Myanmar and the men that fought for its freedom.

This tour begins at Goethe-Institut, once the offices of the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League, a major political force that pushed for Burmese independence. The AFPFL was formed by Aung San, the student nationalist who became general of the Burma Independence Army. This tour will pass by the monasteries within which Aung San hid from the British, the house where he met Indian nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose, and the residence in which he was living when assassinated in 1947.

This tour will pause at a silksmiths and end at Turquoise Mountain. Turquoise Mountain Myanmar is combining heritage-led urban regeneration in Yangon with reviving the traditional craft industry across the country. Learn more about the good work they are doing.

This walking tour begins at 10AM the Goethe-Institut and ends at Turquoise Mountain – in time for lunch at their café. The tour lasts three hours. Contact us for bookings and more information.

The Karen Quarter

Explore Yangon’s Karen Quarter and learn about the history, culture and politics of one of Myanmar’s most important and influential ethnic groups. Volunteers from a local Karen Church will tell you about their faith and you will be offered a bowl of Karen mohinga while listening to the story of one Karen family in their ancestral home.  

Our expert guides will lead you through narrow alleyways and into Church grounds as they weave the story of the Karen. Hear about how and why American missionaries in the early 1800s found Karen communities a receptive audience to the message of Christ. You will explore why the British trusted the Karen more than the Bamar, and how this led to rivalry and in turn bloody communal violence during the Second World War. Our guides will explore the roots of Karen nationalism that culminated in the Battle of Insein in 1949. Hear about Burma’s “four foot General” and the Karen insurgency since.  

This tour takes guests walking through the western Yangon townships of Sanchaung, Ahlone and Kyeemindaing. It starts at 15:00 and you will be walking for approximately two hours. After this you will be invited to join your guide for a beer or drink of your choice and continue to hear more of the remarkable story of the Karen in Myanmar.  

See here practical information for travelling in Myanmar.