You can take a train as far as Shwe Nyaung, which is a 20 minute bus or 15 minute taxi journey away from Inle Lake. The journey in total takes 30 hours to around travel 640 km.
Train Times to Inle Lake
There is a single direct train per day from Yangon to the closest train station to Inle Lake which is available to book online.
Train | Yangon | Shwe Nyauang | Journey |
141 | 11:00 | 17:00 | 30 hrs 00 m |
Online Train Ticket Prices from Yangon to Shwe Nyaung (US Dollars):
- Upper Class Seat: $23.10
Two Part Journey
This is a train journey of two halves. The first half of the journey is a relatively fast train from Yangon to Thazi junction. This roughly 500 km first section of the journey takes 11 to 12 hours depending on which train you catch. The second half of the journey is on the ‘Slow Train From Thazi’. This second train journey takes around 10 hours to travel the 140 km up to Shwe Nyauang, which is the nearest train station to Nyaungshwe, a village on the edge of Inle Lake. The slow train from Thazi up to Inle Lake is one of Myanmar’s great train journeys. As well as fantastic scenery as you wind up through the hills, travellers also get a glimpse into traditional Myanmar life. This is a proper local train which people use to transport goods and animals for sale. At the moment few foreign tourists undertake this journey and it remains an authentic travelling experience.
Buy Train Tickets to Shwe Nyaung
Use the Search Form below to book your train ticket from Yangon to Shwe Nyaung.
In Myanmar you need a ticket prepared at the station from where you journey starts in order to travel on a train, the benefit of the online ticket ordering system is that you confirm your seat on the train several days in advance of the day you will go to the train station. This is is how the Myanmar Trains ticket purchase system works:
- Step 1: You select your train ticket via the Search Form below.
- Step 2: 12Go, our ticket agent, purchases tickets for you in Myanmar.
- Step 3: 12Go send you an e-mail when the ticket is available for collection at an office near the train station where your journey commences.
Location of Yangon Station
Location of Shwe Nyaung Station
About Inle Lake
Inle Lake is the 2nd largest freshwater lake in Myanmar with a surface are of approximately 116 square kilometres located at an altitude of 880 metres (2,900 feet) above sea level in the Shan Hills of Northern Myanmar. There are around 70,000 living in towns at the edge of the lake most making their living, in one way or another, from Inle Lake.

One of the reasons for Inle Lake becoming an increasingly popular tourist attraction is as a consequence of this being a shallow lake. Depending on the time of year, the average water depth of the lake is between only 2.1 and 3.7 metres. For this reason Inle Lake is home to a unique and diverse range of plants, animals, birds and insects. Furthermore, from November through to January each year the lake is visited by tens of thousands of migratory birds wading in the shallows for food and this annual event is a major attraction for bird watchers.