Only 8.5 miles south of Mawlamyine, the monastery teaches satipatthana vipassana (insight-awareness meditation) and, at 500 acres, is one of the largest meditation centres in Myanmar. Foreigners can visit for the night or several days; sleeping and eating is free but you're up at 3am every day.
Pa-Auk-Taw-Ya Monastery
Mawlamyine
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
26.38 MILES
This football-stadium-sized cave is simply breathtaking, its entrance dominated by dozens of buddha statues, a couple of pagodas and some newer clay wall…
9.76 MILES
Directly north of Kyaikthanlan Paya and linked by a covered walkway, this is the largest temple complex in Mawlamyine and easily the most beautiful. It’s…
9.62 MILES
Rudyard Kipling’s visit to Myanmar spanned just three days, but it resulted in a poem, 'Mandalay', that turned Burma into an oriental fantasy. It began…
10.82 MILES
Bilu Kyun (Ogre Island) isn’t a hideaway for nasty monsters. Rather, it’s a beautiful island directly west of Mawlamyine. Roughly the size of Singapore,…
3.85 MILES
If you thought you’d seen some big old buddhas, just wait till you get a load of this one. Draped across a couple of green hillsides at Yadana Taung,…
4.02 MILES
The small town of Kyaikmaraw (က်ိဳက္မေရာ), 15 miles southeast of Mawlamyine, is the site of Kyaikmaraw Paya, a temple of serene, white-faced buddhas built…
9.25 MILES
Unlike most of Myanmar's regional museums, Mawlamyine's is actually worth a visit, even if the collection isn't huge. It's dedicated to the Mon history of…
9.16 MILES
Founded by American Adoniram Judson in 1827, this was the country's first Baptist church. In addition to this place of worship, Judson's legacy also…
Nearby Mawlamyine attractions
3.33 MILES
Kyauktalon Taung is a strangely shaped, sheer-sided crag rising out of the surrounding agricultural land and crowned with stupas. It’s a sticky 20-minute…
3.85 MILES
If you thought you’d seen some big old buddhas, just wait till you get a load of this one. Draped across a couple of green hillsides at Yadana Taung,…
4.02 MILES
The small town of Kyaikmaraw (က်ိဳက္မေရာ), 15 miles southeast of Mawlamyine, is the site of Kyaikmaraw Paya, a temple of serene, white-faced buddhas built…
7.81 MILES
This lake formed by Azin Dam (a water storage and flood-control facility that’s also used to irrigate local rubber plantations) also boasts a tidy…
9.16 MILES
Founded by American Adoniram Judson in 1827, this was the country's first Baptist church. In addition to this place of worship, Judson's legacy also…
9.25 MILES
Unlike most of Myanmar's regional museums, Mawlamyine's is actually worth a visit, even if the collection isn't huge. It's dedicated to the Mon history of…
9.31 MILES
On the southern spur of the ridge overlooking Mawlamyine, this pagoda was named after a former monk who dreamed of finding gems here, then dug them up and…
9.5 MILES
This temple was built to commemorate U Khanti, the hermit architect of Mandalay Hill fame. U Khanti supposedly spent some time on this hill as well. It’s…