Ngapali, Myanmar
Ngapali Beach is a strip of white sand lined with five-star hotels. Here, in the neighborhood, local fishermen are engaged in their simple fishing, not paying any attention to foreign sunbathing beachgoers. From the freshest and most diverse seafood in local hotel restaurants, unique exotic dishes are prepared.
Note: according to allcitypopulation, the population of Myanmar is 54.81 million (2021).
How to get there
You need to take a bus from Yangon, which first goes north to the city of Pyi (Prom), then crosses the Ayeyarwaddy River over a bridge, and then jumps over a mountain range along a narrow road.
There are also daily flights from Yangon, Bagan and Inle Lake during the high season. The flight from Yangon takes 35 minutes. It can be reached by car in 14 hours. You need to move along a narrow road through the Arakan mountain range (Rakhine Yoma), crossing the Ayeyarwaddy near the city of Pye (Prom).
Weather in Ngapali
It is always quite hot here, thanks to the tropical monsoon climate. The hottest months are April, May, June, when the air temperature can reach +35 degrees.
A little cooler in July, August and September, at the same time the rainy season begins. The average daily air temperature is +29 degrees. Not very comfortable here from June to October. The maximum amount of precipitation falls in June, July and August.
- Map of Ngapali
Beaches
A few kilometers from Ngapali are the beaches of Kantai and Ngwe Saung, the wildness of which will appeal to lovers of seclusion.
5 things to do in Ngapali
- Arrange a romantic dinner at sunset right on the shores of the gentle Indian Ocean. You can’t imagine better decorations!
- Swim in the ocean at night in moonlit waters that look like molten silver due to the smallest plankton that lives in the Bay of Bengal.
- Buy fine handicrafts and jewelry made of natural pearls in a local souvenir shop.
- Have a picnic on a small cozy island in the Ayeyarwady Delta.
- See the traditional Taungoo Fire Balloon Festival, which is organized by local farmers by launching silk balloons filled with hot air into the evening sky.
Hotels and infrastructure
The best option for a vacation on paradise beaches is to rent a bungalow at the very edge of the coast, wander around the deserted wide 10-kilometer beach all day, and listen to the melodious songs of local residents in the evening. The perfect holiday season is from October to May.
The most popular form of transport in Ngapali is bicycle.
As for the requirements of tourists for service, hotels of all levels and even a golf course will satisfy the picky. Ngapali Beach has three representative hotels and one motel with affordable prices. It is hard to find a bar with noisy people here, crowds of sunbathing tourists, noisy bazaars, shopping centers, and cheap seafood in a local restaurant. The cost of a dish ranges from one to one and a half dollars, the same “curried octopus” or oyster salad costs less than a dollar.
Entertainment and attractions of Ngapali
Tired of the constant lying on the beach, tourists begin to explore the neighboring villages in the jungle, which attract with their untouched exoticism. From Ngapali you can go to Mrauk U, Sittwe and Chi Chaung village by boat.
The main attraction of Mrauk U is the Shiteton Temple, whose name in translation means “temple with eighty thousand images”, built in 1535. Once inside the temple, you find yourself in a massive hall lined with Buddha statues along the walls.
The village of Lontha is a kind of port, where the main fun is to watch how local boatmen transfer vats of live seafood onto land. A long journey, as much as 6 hours, awaits you to the ancient medieval pagodas and the village where women with tattooed faces live.
Not far from the beach of Ngwe Saung, right in the thicket of a tropical rainforest, there is an Elephant Camp – Elephant Camp, where dexterous Karen drovers train giants caught in the jungle. Here you can ride an elephant and watch the training.
To make a trip to the town of Taungoo, located just east of Bagan, in the mountains, is an opportunity to visit the local market, where highlanders with darker skin than the Burmese and a peculiar structure of faces come together. In Pindaya, which is close to the beaches, there are many sacred caves and colorful orange fields that stretched the whole earth to the very horizon.
