Day trip to the royal cities Sagaing & Ava (L)

You will be picked up at your hotel around 8:00 a.m. Together with your guide you will cross the Ava Bridge towards Sagaing, located 21 kilometres south-west of Mandalay, and visit the Sagaing Hills, a place of refuge for devout Buddhists, with its various pagodas, monasteries and convents. Visit the village of Sagaing at the foot of Sagaing Hill, with its markets, shops and restaurants; the Tilawkaguru Cave Monastery, with its murals; the Umin Thounzeh cave complex, with its 45 Buddha statues; and the Soon U Ponya Shin Pagoda, which was built in 1312. This location offers outstanding views of Sagaing. Lunch with the monks or nuns, who will provide you with a glimpse of everyday life within a monastery.
In the afternoon, continue to Ava (short ferry crossing). From 1364 onwards, Ava (Inwa) spent almost five hundred years as the most prominent royal city in the country, barring brief periods of interruption. Explore this small island by horse-drawn carriage, which lies at the confluence of the Myitnge and Ayeyarwady rivers. You will ascend the 27-metre-high watchtower and visit both the Maha Aung Mye Bonzan Monastery, one of the few existing monasteries to be built from bricks and stucco, and the Bagayar Monastery, which is still regarded as one of the most beautiful traditional wooden monasteries. In the late afternoon, return to Mandalay.