Best Places to Stay in Yangon: 3 Areas to Pick
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Travel advisory: Myanmar has been under military rule since the February 2021 coup, and parts of the country are in an ongoing civil war. Check your own government’s current travel advisory before booking anything; most currently advise against travel here. Some tourism spending can reach the military, so a trip is an ethical call as much as a practical one, and if you do go, favour small, local, independent operators over state or junta-linked ones. Everything below is written for if and when it’s safe and ethical for you to visit.
Where to stay in Yangon: the short version
Three areas cover almost everyone’s Yangon trip: downtown for walkability, Pazundaung for the cheapest beds, and the Kandawgyi/Inya lakes area if you want quiet and greenery over a five-minute walk to everything. Pick by budget first, then location.
| Yangon lodging at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Budget | ~$10-25/night (verify) |
| Mid-range | ~$30-70/night (verify) |
| Upscale | ~$80-200+/night (verify) |
| Payment | mostly cash, confirm before you book |
Downtown: walkable and colonial
Downtown puts you within reach of Sule Pagoda, Bogyoke Aung San Market, and the whole colonial-building walk, and covers everything from budget guesthouses to boutique stays. The Strand Hotel on Strand Road is the area’s landmark, a 1901 Sarkies Brothers building (same family as Raffles) restored and reopened in 1993, worth a drink even if you stay elsewhere. Most of downtown’s cheaper guesthouses sit within a few blocks of the Sule roundabout, close enough to book a downtown walking tour and skip a taxi on your first morning.
Pazundaung: the budget pick
Pazundaung, just east of downtown, has the cheapest guesthouses in the city and is still an easy taxi or walk from the main sights. If your daily budget is tight, this is where to look first.
Kandawgyi and Inya lakes: quiet and leafy
The two lake areas run more upscale, with hotels built around the lake views rather than downtown’s density. Expect to pay more here for the quiet and the greenery, and to rely on taxis more than on foot for sightseeing.
Booking, and a note on where your money goes
You can check current rates and availability on Booking.com . Some larger international-brand hotels in Myanmar have documented or alleged ties to the military, tracked by rights groups over the years, so where you can, favour small, independently owned guesthouses over big-brand chains. Check the current official travel advisory before booking, and confirm cash-versus-card policy directly with any guesthouse, since plenty of smaller places don’t take cards at all.
For the fuller cost breakdown and the cash-only reality that shapes every booking here, see our Yangon budget guide and travel tips . For current conditions, check the US State Department and UK FCDO Myanmar advisories before you commit to dates.
Confirm by email or message that a guesthouse actually takes cash payment in USD or kyat before you show up, a surprising number of listings still assume card payment works here, and it usually doesn’t.