Our top 10 places to stay in and around Inle Lake
Central location, bonus pool
What makes Min Ga Lar Inn stand out from Nyaung Shwe’s plentiful small guesthouses is its swimming pool.
How often a pool in the relatively cool temperatures of Inle is of use is debateable, but there would certainly be some days when a dip could well be welcome. Otherwise the Inn offers just a handful of rooms and a cosy set up in a central location.
The setting is a two-storey, newly (as of 2016) renovated block of rooms overlooking a mid-sized pool with a small reception area to one side and cafe to the other. To the rear is an older block containing standard and family rooms. The five-up, five-down rooms categorised as junior suites come with pleasant verandas and interiors, and are well-appointed and well-sized. Simple decoration helps to make the rooms seem more spacious, though whether the addition of a small interior sitting area justifies ‘suite’ status is questionable. All these rooms – upstairs or down – are identical and come with air-con, WiFi, minibar, coffee- and tea-making facilities and also bathtubs, though it does appear that not quite as much care was taken with the bathroom renovations as with the bedrooms.
The older wooden building has around a dozen rooms split between standard and family. They’ve been well renovated too, with woven bamboo wall coverings, but some of the ground floor rooms are a bit dark. WiFi doesn’t seem to stretch to the older block, though otherwise facilities are comparable. Note that while a pool may be a big plus for those travelling with kids, family rooms are for three people only, with an extra bed another $20. Ditto for the suite rooms.
Breakfasts get good reviews and the staff we encountered were friendly and helpful. For now they don’t accept bookings via any online travel agents, so you’ll have to use their own website. Furthermore, be warned that neither room categories nor prices on their site corresponded at all to the information reception provided us with -- so allow for some flexibility in our descriptions matching theirs. You are of course paying extra for the pool here, so do take into consideration whether you think you’ll use it; for the room alone, there are better deals about in Nyaung Shwe.
Min Ga Lar Inn is located in with a bunch of hotels and guesthouses on Phaung Daw Pyan Road, so plenty of eateries can be found nearby, and it’s roughly equidistant to both the jetties and market.
Note that we have quoted low (May-June) and high (October-April) rates only; mid rates are charged July to September. Staff didn’t seem too sure about prices anyway, especially for the 2016-2017 high season, so consider prices here approximate.
Address: Phaung Daw Pyan Rd, Nyaung Shwe
T: (081) 209 198, (081) 209 899, (095) 216 278;
Email: mingalarinn@gmail.com
Web: http://www.hotelmingalarinn.com
Coordinates (for GPS): 96º55'50.89" E, 20º39'27.82" N
See position in Apple or Google Maps: Apple Maps | Google Maps
Room rates: US$20 to $40
What we were quoted as a walk-in.
| Standard double room With bathtub, add $5. | US$30 | US$45 |
| Suite | US$45 | US$75 |
| Family room | US$50 | US$75 |
Reviewed by
Mark Ord
Based in Chiang Mai, Mark Ord has been travelling Southeast Asia for over two decades and first crossed paths with Travelfish on Ko Lipe in the early 1990s.
Our top 10 places to stay in and around Inle Lake
