The easiest, cheapest, more convenient way for a solo traveler to explore Dawei beaches is by motorbike. For me, it is the scariest one, but I’ll give it a try. I rented a motorbike at my hostel per 11000 kyats a day and off I go to explore the empty Dawei beaches.
Expect the street not to be the best, to be scary, very scary, and extremely scary. You have all levels depending on the beach you are heading to. I’ve been hearing that the streets to some beaches are scary, but luckily I have been riding a motorbike on my own in Naypyidaw, Monywa, and Hpa-An, so I think I’m ready to give it a try.
The first day of “beach exploring” is dedicated to two beaches. On this day I visited Maungmagan beach and San Maria beach.
Dawei beaches: Maungmagan beach
The street to get from Dawei to Maungmagan beach, the closest to the city, is actually good, but there are many turns and twists and up and downhills. Anyway, I would classify it as not scary. I headed to a place on Maps.me called Colorful Village where I had fresh fish for lunch.
There are many restaurants where you can sit and enjoy the beach view at Maungmagan beach, and also some shopping stalls with clothes and souvenirs. The beach itself is empty. I guess the Burmese are not people to lay on the beach to get some tan, and I only saw another two foreigners, so this beach is very empty. It’s so wide that it looks even more empty than it actually is. It’s km and km of sand and many insects flying all around you as you walk by the sea. They were bothering me a lot and for that reason, I didn’t walk much distance.
There are no people on the sand, but there are many Burmese in the restaurant area and the street next to the beach. I wasn’t feeling comfortable to go for a swim, or even just lay on the sand. Maungmagan beach was actually a disappointment as I don’t consider it a beautiful beach. It is just a normal beach that you could see anywhere else in the world. I was actually so disappointed that I was thinking to myself: Are these the most beautiful beaches in Myanmar?! I hope not!! The idea of staying in town and go to this beach every day immediately disappeared once I faced this fact. I will really have to ride further than this, and Maungmagan beach is already 30 minutes away from Dawei. There are some accommodations nearby Maungmagan beach like Coconut Guesthouse and some other bungalows.
I didn’t stay much longer and decided to ride to the next of Dawei beaches on the map: San Maria beach. The street to this beach is also ok but it took me about 1 hour to get from Maungmagan beach to San Maria beach. The street is ok, but for Myanmar standards…
Dawei beaches: San Maria beach
Once I get to San Maria beach itself it was another disappointment. Another empty beach, so empty that it feels weird to be there… Here there are no facilities besides what appears to be an empty and closed restaurant. It doesn’t look that amazing either so I keep following the street to Hmyawyit pagoda. Before reaching the pagoda, you cross a very beautiful mangrove area. That was the most exciting thing I have seen that day. The mangrove area is pretty dry and you can see boats parked on the sand, so far from the water. There is a village just there and the sight is charming. This is a very beautiful area, but the best was to come.
Hmyawyit pagoda Dawei
Hmyawyit pagoda is on a small island near the coast. You need to cross a little bridge to get there. I was excited about the view I could get from there as it stands tall. Hmyawyit pagoda actually has a nice view 360º all around. There are a few people sitting there, but overall there isn’t much movement around. From here I see another beach, way smaller than the previously seen Dawei beaches. It is just a bit of sand and it actually looks cozier than being alone in the middle of a giant beach. For that reason, I decided to go there for a while as it will be my only chance of laying down on the beach this day.
Dawei beaches: no-name beach
The beach has no name, or I can’t see one on the map. But it is only when I go further than the rocky corner, that seems to put an end at this small beach, that I see the most beautiful sight of the day. Once you pass all those rocks that don’t allow you to have a wider view, you find a piece of ocean that reveals many sandbanks. So many, they look so wonderful. I was delighted with the sight so this no-name Dawei beach was my spot for the rest of the day. There was no one there and almost no sand to lay on too. But I didn’t even lay on the sand. I took pictures and more pictures walked into the sand bars, and stay there enjoying this wonderful view by myself. It feels like I have the whole world for me and this Dawei beach is so truly beautiful. I had never seen anything like that before so I was very happy that I decided to go on further and further. But climbing the rocks standing there is the best viewpoint. The place gets so much better if you see it from an upper view. So I was trying to climb the tallest rock I could to get the best view.
But I wasn’t totally alone. There were many crabs at this Dawei beach, and one almost got inside my bag! It would have been scary to open my bag and have a crab inside.
Later on, there were two women from the nearby village fishing. I actually saw them fishing a lot. It looked very easy. The sight in the direction of their village is super awesome as the water level is very low revealing ginormous amounts of sand. There the low tide withdraws a huge distance.
I was very happy about this day that I visited a no-name Dawei beach. The best one of Dawei beaches this day. Unfortunately, I still have a long way back, so I head to Dawei sooner that I wanted. I couldn’t avoid stopping near the mangrove forest and go in to discover beautiful landscapes. What an exciting day of discoveries! I definitely felt like I was discovering things because there is nothing on the web about this place. As a beach without a name, it would be hard anyway to find info.
Here is a video of the 10 Dawei beaches I visited:
You can buy bus tickets within Myanmar HERE!
