Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → Myanmar → Taunggyi Balloon Festival

♦ Intrepid Top Pick!

Location: Western Shan State, Myanmar

Time Required: 5 hours+

Red Tape/Notes: Taunggyi is about an hour from Inle Lake, but there’s typically quite a bit of traffic during the festival, so plan on some waiting around. The festival is crowded and occasionally raucous so be prepared – you may want to wear closed toed shoes. And bring a fire extinguisher (just kidding).

What’s Nearby?: Cycling to Inle Lake, Inle Lake, Sagar

If you’re lucky enough to be in the area during the Taunggyi Balloon Festival, go! Please please please go! The festival celebrates the end of the rainy season and is usually planned to coincide with the first full moon after the end of Buddhist lent (generally some time in November) and is the largest festival in the country. Tens of thousands of visitors from around Myanmar descend on Taunggyi for the show. And what a show. Participants build massive, beautifully decorated hot air balloons rigged with pyrotechnics that explode in showers of fireworks (often right over the crowds and low enough to send people running for safety). There are also balloons that launch during the day which are safer, but who wants safer?? You won’t see many tourists here, since Taunggyi isn’t a popular destination, and the festival isn’t that well advertised in a tourism sense, but it’s close enough to drive over from Inle Lake and is well worth the effort if your trip coincides.

Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → Myanmar → Taunggyi Balloon Festival