Spend a day touring Bagan's ancient temples. Gain a new perspective on human history as you explore one of the most fascinating regions on Earth before visiting a local workshop producing the finest lacquerware in Myanmar.

Human activity in Bagan stretches back almost two millennia, but the golden period when most of the region's temples were constructed began in 1057 AD, after the conquest of Thaton. There are thousands of temples in Bagan, but spend a day touring some of the most impressive or historically significant, learning about their unique architecture and circumstances of creation from a knowledgeable guide.

Visit Shwezigon Paya, featuring a stupa with a graceful bell shape that came to inspire all of the later stupas in Myanmar. The beautiful depiction of the previous life of Buddha distinguishes the 13th-century Gubyaukhyi Temple at Wetkyi-Inn. Ananda Pahto is one of the largest and best-preserved of Bagan's temples, thought to have been constructed around 1105, symbolizing the transition between Bagan's Early and Middle periods.

See well-preserved stuccos at Gubyaukhyi Temple, Manuha Temple's unusual depiction of three seated and one reclining Buddha, and Shwesandaw Paya, considered the first monument constructed in Bagan. Afterwards, visit a local lacquerware workshop, known for producing some of the finest wares in Myanmar. Learn about the painstaking process of forming and decorating the lacquer before returning to your hotel.