Based in the Shan State, Inle Lake is most famous for its stunning and quite unique floating villages and gardens. It is hugely interesting to see the quirky way of life the locals have here with their whole community based on water. The lake itself is a long 22km in length and 10km wide which is tucked away in a valley with two mountain ranges either side. You will see that all houses are built on stilts with many narrow fishing boats gently pushing their way through the water. Together with fishing handmade crafts makes up most of the local economy to them making it very important. As with all of Myanmar religion plays a huge roll in their day to day lives meaning there are many temples and pagodas which are placed on the water and around its shores. The fish restaurants as you can probably guess are very good due to the wide range of extremely fresh fish on offer. Inle is one the more popular places to visit for tourists in Myanmar so inevitably there will be a few more tourists than some other places in the country however, you should not let this put you off. In many places, the sites are wide enough apart that it is very easy to find an untouristed area which would be much quieter. Getting around the lake is fairly easy. Most boats go from Nyaung Shwe, a few km north and can take you around the lake to wherever you may fancy. The main hotels are also in Nyaung Shwe, but you can pay a little more to get even more beautiful accommodation on the lake itself which in addition boasts some stunning views across the lake. There is a lot to see in the area so try to be careful with your time if you are here for less than about 3 days then do pick carefully what you would like to do. The boat drivers are very helpful so If you have a question then they are more than likely to know the answer and are happy to help.
