South East Asian Trips

Ngapali is Southeast Asia's most beautiful beaches and is located on the southern Rakhine coast, and is about 10 km (6 miles) southwest of Thandwe airport. Ngapali Beach is considered as the premier beach resort of Myanmar and was named, as the story goes, by a homesick Italian after his native Naples (Napoli in Italian).

Ngapali Beach is a 3 Km ribbon of white soft-ash-talc sand beach that stretches from the village of Ngapali to Gyeik Taw. The sea is cobalt blue, clean and clear, set against an equally stunning blue sky. Its gentle waves ripple ashore on to shimmering sands fringed by coconut palms, an idyllic scene, pure and simple. It is very attractive and pretty much unspoiled. There are no windsurfers skimming over the waves and, certainly, no noisy powerboats to shatter the calm. What one can expect to see riding through the waves at the break of dawn are fishing vessels and canoes manned by sinewy fishermen. The boats come ashore as soon as they have harvested enough fish for the day.

The nearest village is Myabyin, and in the afternoon locals go beach combing looking for clams or shell. Fiery sunset, for which the Bay of Bengal is noted, are an attraction.

Ngapali Beach is a must for anyone who's a beach buff and can't do without the 'sun-sea-and-sand' combination. The beach is Myanmar's best-known beach and is great for swimming, snorkelling or plain lazing around.

It's still more or less 'undiscovered', and a quiet, pleasant place for a relaxing holiday. It's near Thandwe town in Rakhine state, and you can get to it by air from Yangon- the flight takes about 25 minutes.

The ancient city of Bagan is the Burmese equivalent of Angkor Wat or Borobodur- a huge complex of temples and buildings related to Buddhism. Bagan has been designated a World Heritage Site, and looking at it, you can see why- it consists of more than 3000 buildings, all laboriously carved and ornamented and dating back to the days of the first Burmese empire. The buildings of Bagan include pagodas, stupas, temples, pavilions and pyramids- all of them extremely impressive, and some decorated with outstanding murals. The modern town of Bagan is relatively prosaic, but is widely acknowledged as the main centre for the production of lacquer: if you're interested, this is where you should buy your lacquerware.

Ngapali Beach is the most beautiful beach among the beaches in Myanmar. Its beautiful sandy beach stretches on the Bay of Bengal and it lies in Rakhine State of Myanmar.

Apart from the normal beach activities, excursions like visiting the small fishing villages and local markets; exploring the countryside by bicycle and a boat trips to the magnificent offshore islands can be experienced in Ngapali. There is also the 18-hole Golf Course just 15 minutes drive from the hotel to fulfill the taste of beach golfers,

History

Once there was a home sick Italian who said the beach looked like the Naple beach in Italy. And it is assumed to have descended from the word "Naple". There is no meaning in Myanmar or Rakhine about Ngapali,

Travelling

Ngapali is accessible by flight which takes about 45 minutes from Yangon, by car about 14 hours drive along the Rakhine Yoma mountain range. Yangon Airways, Air Mandalay and Air Bagan fly from Yangon to Ngapali daily and there are also direct flights from Heho and Nyaung Oo to Ngapali. The best time to visit is during October to May.