Inle Lake

Inle Lake sits in the Shan highlands at nearly 900 metres, its shallow waters home to entire villages built on stilts, floating vegetable gardens anchored with bamboo, and a fishing technique found nowhere else on earth: Intha fishermen stand at the stern of their canoes and row with one leg wrapped around the oar, leaving both hands free to manage a conical net.

The lake's slow rhythm extends to its craft villages: silversmiths, cheroot rollers, and weavers producing cloth from lotus-stem fibre, a labour-intensive textile found almost nowhere else in Asia. The Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda's five gilded Buddha images, so encrusted with decades of applied gold leaf that their original forms have been lost entirely, are paraded across the lake each October in one of Myanmar's most striking festivals.

We charter private long-tail boats at dawn, when the fishermen are at work and the lake is at its stillest, and visit workshops that receive very few outside visitors.

Before planning a visit, check your government's current travel advice for Myanmar. The political situation has changed significantly since 2021, many governments advise against all or non-essential travel, and some travel insurance policies do not cover trips made against that advice. The Shan State highlands have seen periods of conflict, so check conditions again shortly before you travel.

The lake is around twenty kilometres long and very shallow, and the Intha people who live around and on it have developed a way of life built entirely around the water. Their floating gardens are made by piling weeds and silt onto mats of water hyacinth, anchored to the lake bed with bamboo poles, and are used to grow tomatoes, beans and flowers. Moving slowly between them by boat is one of the most peaceful experiences in Southeast Asia.

The five-day rotating markets of the region are central to local life. Each day the market moves to a different village around the lake, drawing Pa-O, Danu, Shan and Intha people from the surrounding hills to trade vegetables, fish, tea and household goods. The market at Inthein is especially atmospheric, set beside a hillside of ruined stupas, many of them overgrown with trees and tilting at odd angles, reached by a narrow channel through the reeds.

The main town, Nyaungshwe, lies at the northern end of the lake, with guesthouses, restaurants and boat jetties. Around the lake, hotels on stilts offer views over the water. Cycling around the lake's eastern shore is a pleasant way to spend a day, with stops at the Red Mountain winery, one of the few vineyards in the country, and at hot springs on the western side, reached by crossing the lake with bicycles on a boat.

The dry season from November to February is the most comfortable time to visit. Mornings and evenings can be cold at this altitude, so bring warm layers for early boat trips. March to May is hot and hazy, and the rainy season brings green hills and fewer visitors. The Phaung Daw Oo festival, held for around three weeks in September or October according to the lunar calendar, is the lake's biggest event, with leg-rowing boat races and a procession of the gilded Buddha images on a golden barge.

Heho airport, around an hour away by road, has had domestic flights. Trekking from Kalaw, a former British hill station, to the lake over two or three days through Pa-O and Danu villages has long been one of the best walks in the country, when conditions allow.

Carry cash, dress modestly in monasteries and pagodas, and ask before photographing people, particularly the fishermen, some of whom pose for tips rather than fish.