We traveled on the AMAPura’s 14-day itinerary in January 2016, from Yangon to Mandalay. We included an AMA transfer from Mandalay back to Yangon at the end of the cruise and then continued on a private tour to Viet Nam. We arrived three days in advance of our AMAPura cruise start date. We engaged “Tour Mandalay” for two days of private guide and driver services in Yangon.

This particular cruise itinerary starts with one excursion per day and shifts to two excursions per day or all-day excursions as you move towards Mandalay. Some guests indicated the schedule was too slow at the beginning. An alternative is to start from Mandalay and cruise to Yangon. This would have resulted in enjoying the less active days at the end of the river cruise. Though I understand that due to moving with the river current, the southern cruise from Mandalay to Yangon includes one additional excursion.

An another cruise alternative is to select the 10-day itinerary. The disadvantage of this cruise itinerary is that it requires a six-hour bus trip between Yangon and Pyay. We were fine with the 14-day program. Read more