« « News: Start of Taung Pyone spirit festival | News: Fake egg in Myanmar » »

Travel to Burma by land

Published on July 31, 2009 | Last modified: August 26, 2009 | 2,732 page views so far
Print This Post | Email This Post

A number of people have shown interest in travelling to Myanmar (Burma) by land. Many people have asked questions in comments about travelling by land, mainly driving their own car, to Myanmar. I will sum up these questions and will try to give detailed answers here.

We want to travel to Burma (Myanmar) by road. Is it possible?

It is possible to travel to Myanmar (Burma) by road from India. The easiest way is to use Moray-Tamu border check point. However, you cannot travel more than Tamu. The furthest you can travel is up to the immigration check point outside Tamu. You cannot also stay in Tamu overnight. You have to leave Tamu, and Burma on the same day that you enter.

Can I drive my own car into Burma from India?

No, you cannot. The immigration check point is only for the people. Not cars. You have to walk into Burma.

What about from Thailand to Burma?

Tachileik Maesai border immigration checkpoint

Tachileik Maesai border immigration checkpoint

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8560588@N04/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

You can visit border towns easily. These include Myawaddy, Tachileik and Kawthaung. Sometimes, foreign visitors are allowed to travel deeper than border towns, such as Kyaington and Tavoy (Dawei), but this is variable, depending on circumstances.

Can I drive into Burma from Thailand?

Yes, you can drive your own car into Burma from Thailand. However, you can drive only in the border town. Not further than that.

I want to enter Burma by land from Thailand/India, and then to Yangon/Mandalay/Bagan. Is it possible?

Under extremely rare circumstances, you will never get a chance. As I mentioned above, you cannot travel further than a few border areas.

How can I get that special permission to travel to Burma from Thailand/India?

You need to approach the Myanmar government directly. Most of the time, you might not get it.

Related Posts

  1. Road Transport in Myanmar (Burma) – Highway
  2. Mandalay travel guide – Zaycho Market

Tags: , ,

16 Responses to Travel to Burma by land

  1. suman on August 25, 2009 at 6:44 pm

    i am planning to travel south east asia with my motorbike i got to know that myanmar doesnt give permission to enter but only in border. is it possible to reach cambodia taking only border help me how can i cross myanmar

    • Bamarlay on August 27, 2009 at 6:18 pm

      There is no common border between Myanmar (Burma) and Cambodia. You will need to pass Thailand or Laos for that purpose. However, officially, you cannot enter Myanmar by air and cross the border into Thailand by land. According to the immigration law, you need to leave the country at the same port of entry. However, there are instances where you are allowed to leave at a different immigration check point (for example, entering from Yangon Airport and leaving from Mandalay Airport).

      • Amit on June 16, 2011 at 12:44 am

        Dude
        When u gone to Burma
        u hadnt tell me
        and where r u now a days
        kindly contact
        waiting to play football.
        Thanks

  2. Jim montek on October 16, 2009 at 9:01 pm

    Thanks for sharing this useful information. being an indian it will help me in planning my trip to burma.

  3. tomas on December 5, 2009 at 9:10 pm

    HI
    Im in Vietnam now and want to go to India via Laos and Burma.
    Is it possible?
    Tnx for answers

    Kond regards
    Tomas

  4. Ummeed on January 19, 2010 at 1:01 am

    Hi there,

    I live in Country which is next to Burma, named Bangladesh. I want to travel to Burma from Bangaldesh and Then next go to Thailand from Burma By road. Is is possible? If i get the proper Visa from my country is it possible to get into Burma from Bangladesh and then go to Thailand by Road.

    Eagerly waiting for the response.

    Thank u

    Ummeed

    • Bamarlay on January 19, 2010 at 10:31 pm

      I believe you have the answer in the above article. To enter by land, you will need a special permission. And getting a special permission is quite difficult. Please contact the Myanmar (Burmese) embassy in Bangladesh for details.

  5. glen on March 21, 2010 at 1:55 am

    i’m a myanmar citizan but living in oversea for couple of year. i wish to visit by land drive myself via thailand to mother city. its possible to drive through!

  6. Vishnu Shriram on January 29, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    I wish to ride from Calcutta (India) to Cambodia with a total of four motorcycles. The last comment on this page is dated March, 2010 and I wish to know if there is any change in the situation. I have been reading about the planned highway between Ramu (Bangladesh) and Kyauktaw (Myanmar) and in Jan 2011 the Myanmar government has reiterated its position to further this project. Has this even started? Has this affected the frequency of special permissions granted to ride into the country??

    All such information would be extremely helpful. Thank you.

    • Bamarlay on January 31, 2011 at 10:16 am

      The road between Bangladesh and Myanmar is not open yet. For permissions to enter by land, please contact Myanmar embassy several weeks in advanced. Applications are considered case by case and takes a long time to know the result. Probably, the embassy will refuse to accept your application. But just try.

  7. estuu on February 3, 2011 at 6:28 am

    Hello Ko Bamarlay or Webmaster of this site,
    I am promoting a Myanmar travel website. Could you please contact me? I’d love to do some business with you. My email address is submitted along with this comment.
    I look forward to your correspondence.
    Regards
    Nay

  8. Nilesh Bahir on March 12, 2011 at 3:30 am

    Dear Friend,i am glad that you are here to help us.
    I am from mumbai,India and i want to travel to myanmar by road.I kindly request you to answer following Q’s please
    1)I hold Indian passport.Being Indian,do i need VISA to enter into Myamnar ? How can i contact Burmese embassy in India.Can you tell me where in India is it ?
    2)From which checkpoint I should enter into myanmar so that time and distance will be saved ? I mean getting through Bangladesh is impossible as i dont want to give it a try..so from Which north east Indian state can i come into myanmar ?
    3)I want to visit Rangoon and travel over all possible places in myanmar..but you said that i can only visit places on the border and cant go to Rangoon ..kindly give me some guidelines so that i can get a permission from embassy for visa to travel the places i have mentioned above..i am a buddhist and its my wish to come there on religious grounds.
    4) Can i get Visa on Arrival in myanmar ?
    5) please give me some common guidelines as an india traveller as i’ll be travelling for the first time out side my country and some ways to get permission to visti rangoon without denial by authority.
    6) I had heard that on invitation of some family friends/real friend in myanmar,we can get the VISA or permission easily to travel myanmar confortably..is it true ? plz elaborate..

    anything else that you would like to suggest will be most welcome..kindly reply with the concern as if i am your guest..
    Have a nice day !
    Thank you

    • Bamarlay on March 12, 2011 at 9:27 pm

      Thanks for the comments. Please see the answers below.
      1. Embassy of the Union of Myanmar

      Address : 3/50 F, NYAYAMARG, CHANAKYAPURI NEW DELHI 110021
      Tel : (009111) 6889007, 6889008
      Fax : (009111) 6877942
      email: myandelhi@gmail.com
      Head of Mission : H.E U Kyi Thein (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary)
      Deputy Head of Mission : U Pyi Soe (Counsellor)

      2. There are two official border pass between Myanmar and India. One is through Chin State, Reed border village. Very remote and difficult to travel. Northern Chin State is off limit to foreigners. Another check point is Tamu-Moray (from Manipur). Manipur has insurgents and the road in India is sometimes cut off by insurgents. Foreigners can visit Tamu from India, but they are not allowed beyond Tamu. It is difficult to get permission to travel beyond Tamu for foreigners as the road between Tamu and Kalay runs very close to India border and the cars and buses travelled in convoy with police escort. See the following post and related posts about Tamu and Kalay Tamu Highway.

      3. If you are entering Myanmar through air, there is no restriction to travel most of the places in Myanmar. Exceptions are those areas with security risk and areas of insurgents.

      4. Currently, visa on arrival service is temporarily suspended until further notice. No body knows when it will be available again.

      5. If you have obtained visa through Burmese embassy, you will not be denied entry into Burma at the airport. From border town, I cannot say anything. Most probably, you will never get pass Tamu.

      6. There is no need for an invitation letter to get visa. It is only for social visit, which is more expensive, but you can stay with your relatives (not friends) and can extend your visa with the guarantee of your relatives. It is exclusively for past Myanamr citizens, who officially denounce their Myanmar citizenship and now holding foreign passport, or husband/wife/children of Myanamr citizen.

  9. balendra singh on April 3, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    i want to by land from india to manmar thakhilek barder go to laos vieantian

  10. Miro on January 25, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    Hallo
    last comment is dated April 2011. Does the situation change with all the changes in Myanmar government policy?
    We are Swiss couple travelling by own car and would like to cross Myanmar from India to Thailand.
    Any new information?
    Thank you.
    Miro

    • Bamarlay on January 27, 2012 at 5:04 am

      Borders of Myanmar are still impassable by land except to visit border towns.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Spam Protection by WP-SpamFree

Your Travel Guide to Myanmar

Featured Articles

Night Life in Yangon

Night life in Yangon, for a foreigner, is quite dry and boring. Even for us who are long time residents of Yangon feel night...

Read more »

Shwedagon Pagoda Guide

History According to legend, Shwedagon Pagoda was built more than 2,500 years ago during the time of Lord Buddha. The two merchant brothers from...

Read more »

Culture Shock – When a Myanmar do not say NO

Many a time, foreigners (especially western foreign expats working in Myanmar) will notice that things they ask from Myanmar friends are met with affirmative...

Read more »

Translate into your own language