Exploring the ancient ruins of Bagan with kids is a travel memory that will last forever.

Atmospheric photos of the ancient temples of Bagan are the very images that have inspired a thousand family travel bucket lists, including ours. Here in the heart of rural Myanmar is scenery to take your breath away and win your heart. To put it simply, Bagan with kids is incredible.

If you’re busy planning a family holiday to Myanmar, you might find this post useful Myanmar with kids: 9 Essential Questions Answered

The flat plains are scattered with thousands of handsome temples, stupas and monasteries in an area of just 104 square kilometres. Centuries ago, there were over 10,000 of these extraordinary Buddhist temples in the area of Bagan and today over 2,200 survive in various states of decay or renovation. If you and your children fancy yourselves as mini Indiana Joneses then these ancient ruins are among the very best that we’ve visited with kids.

Interested in visiting Myanmar with kids? Inle Lake is another great location to visit.

Three days in Bagan with kids gives you plenty of time to explore numerous temples, visit sights and still spend a good amount of time back at the hotel relaxing and playing. The kids may need some time out as they will probably be very popular with the locals. H and Zizi were!

Whilst the temples are the main draw to Bagan, there are plenty of other fun and interesting things to do in Bagan with kids. Keep reading for our top advice on how to get around Bagan with kids, where to watch the sunset and which restaurants we found to be child-friendly.

3 Day Itinerary for visiting Bagan with kids

Our three-day visit to Bagan with kids was over Christmas so of course, we needed plenty of time back at the hotel for opening stockings, enjoying new splash toys in the pool and building Lego! Our little ones were 3 and 5 at the time but older children may be able to handle a faster pace itinerary.

Day One in Bagan with kids: Having arrived in Bagan late the previous afternoon, we had the whole day to explore. Our temple hopping was based around Dhammayangyi Pahto and Sulamani Pahto before heading to Nyaung-U for lunch.  In the evening, he headed back out to enjoy sunset across the Ayeyarwaddy (or Irrawaddy) River at Bupaya, where there is a large golden stupa plus lots of activity on the river and beach below.

Day Two in Bagan with kids:  On our second day in Bagan with kids, we started by opening our Christmas presents! Afterwards, we toured around Old Bagan.  There are so many temples here to wander around, it would have been great not to have been in Bagan with kids, but you can’t have everything… To give the kids a break from the temples, we had a play around the grounds of the Bagan Archaeological Museum.  Lastly, we took in the sunset at one of the viewpoints that have been set-up now that the upper tiers of the temples are closed.

Day Three in Bagan with kids:  We started the day at the star attraction of Ananda Temple.  To be honest, we preferred the quieter temples we had seen the day before in Old Bagan.  So we asked our tuk-tuk driver to stop at some on our way to Minnanthu Village.  Here, we learnt about local handicrafts and a very different way of life. In the evening, we watched the sunset from the gorgeous grounds of Sunset Garden over a few beers/papaya juices.

Temples of Bagan

There are too many to describe!  So, I’ll try to categorise them instead.  Firstly, there are larger temples like Ananda and Dhammayangyi Pahto which typically have lots of visitors.  Usually, you can walk around inside them, doing an indoors circuit around the four edges.  These are the most famous of the temples but we preferred the quieter experience found elsewhere.

Next are temples which will be marked on your map, but not necessarily with a grand picture.  These templates are usually without gold-plate on them and offer a more raw, reddish sandstone experience instead.

The temples are usually found in clusters so even if there are a few people at the temple you’ve visited, just walk 50 yards away to the next one which you’ll likely have to yourself.  You can find lots of these temples on the road between New Bagan and Old Bagan but, to be honest, they’re pretty much everywhere!

Lastly, you have the ‘others’ (sorry, my classification is a bit rubbish!).  For something different, you can try the white pyramid pagoda at Shwesandaw Paya, the working temple at Bupaya for sunset, or the huge golden Lawkananda Pagoda.  Basically, there’s loads and loads of temples to enjoy in Bagan with kids!

Bagan Archaeological Museum

The Bagan Archaeological Museum is colossal and whilst it may be interesting for its archaeological discoveries and exhibitions on Old Bagan the three things that our kids enjoyed the most were:

1.  Sliding on the shiny floor in the mammoth main hall… whee…
2. Running around and around the gardens and foundation
3. The small, old but sweet children’s museum with a few broken jigsaw puzzles, some bamboo balls for kicking/hitting/throwing and some traditional drums for banging. We spent almost 45 minutes in there!

The museum is a great way to break up a day in Bagan with kids. Whilst nothing on the amazing hi-tech children’s museums in South Korea and Kuala Lumpur, it was a great break for two temple-weary pre-schoolers.

Exploring village life at Minnanthu Village, Bagan

Whilst exploring the temples of Bagan with kids, you don’t need to stick to the towns. Instead, organise a trip to one of the several local villages accepting tourists. We paid a visit to Minnanthu Village, a very traditional village of around 600 people. A teenage school-girl showed us around Minnanthu village introducing us to the local artisans and explaining the plants and equipment around the village to us.

Where to watch the sunset in Bagan with kids

We watched the sunset in Bagan from three different locations during our stay in Bagan with kids. However, the most beautiful sunset we saw was the one from our taxi window on the evening we landed and we didn’t ask the driver to stop for a photo – gutted!

The first night, we watched the sunset from Bu-Paya. This is a busy working temple but the views over the Irrawaddy are stunning. Many tourists rent boats to take them out on to the water for sunset.

The second night and on Christmas Day, we watched the sunset with the kids from a viewpoint near Sulamani Pahto temple. Again the view was spectacular but the crowds were gigantic. It was very overwhelming for the children who were constantly pulled into group photographs with strangers and of course, they couldn’t see much without being lifted up.

Family Travel Tip: walk all the way to the end of the viewing mound where the fence stops or get there early if you want the little ones to have a view.

Our last night, we took a more tranquil approach and went to a restaurant called Sunset Garden near New Bagan. Here, we watched a bucolic scene of country and river life unfold at dusk in the shadow of a great golden stupor and the majestic Irrawaddy River. The kids were exhausted so they watched some cartoons whilst Rhino and I enjoyed ‘several’ Myanmar beers and left just as the busloads of Korean tourists showed up.

Getting around Bagan with kids

Travelling around Bagan with kids was surprisingly easy. We hired tuk-tuks by the half-day and always had really friendly and patient drivers. One word of caution though, it gets incredibly dusty at times so you might want to pack scarves to cover your children’s mouths.

We saw many families with older children cycling through the countryside and even families on mopeds but I didn’t feel brave enough for that! Many families with kids also hire horse and carts for shorter sight-seeing excursions which looked fun but bumpy!

Kid-friendly restaurants in New Bagan and Nyaung U.

Myanmar is not known for its cuisine but by using a combination of our Lonely Planet guidebook and Tripadvisor online we had some very enjoyable and some incredibly scrumptious meals. Whilst restaurants aren’t geared towards children in the way they might be in the West, the waiting staff and owners were so friendly and kind to our children and we always found something on the menu for them to eat.

Our favourite restaurants to eat at in Bagan with kids were:

• Weather Spoons in Nyaung U: who doesn’t love a ‘spoons? This basic little backpacker place was so friendly and the curries and salads were excellent.
• San Thi Dar near Old Bagan: the food was basic but this little cafe is so popular. Maybe because our children left with arms full of Christmas ‘gifts’ and a bag of oranges!
• Black Bamboo in Nyaung U: The garden courtyard is a tranquil change from the other restaurants in town which is why we chose to have our Christmas lunch here.
• Delicious in New Bagan: a beautiful courtyard-style setting with fairy lights. We loved the food here. Really popular so get here early.

Note: we did go to a few others but they aren’t worth mentioning here.

Family Travel Tip: Never let young kids go to the toilet by themselves. Not only are the facilities sometimes very basic but they are often in a backyard area filled with all kinds of junk and equipment.

Thinking about travelling to Bagan with kids?

Yay! You got to the end of the page which means that you’re either very interested in a trip to Bagan with kids or you’re my mum. Either way, check out our other comprehensive posts about family travel in Inle Lake with kids and Yangon with kids.

Most visitors to Myanmar fly in and out of the international airport at Yangon. If you’re planning to spend a day there check out our awesome Yangon with kids: A 1 Day Family Travel Guide

If you have any other tips or questions on Bagan with kids, we’d love you to comment below.