Mandalay rewards thin wallets: most working monasteries charge nothing, curry houses serve unlimited side dishes for the price of a coffee back home, and the public ferry to Mingun costs less than a taxi across town. Sunsets are free everywhere.
Myanmar's most venerated Buddha image, buried under 15cm of gold leaf pressed on by male devotees. Open 04:00-22:00, no entry charge — only a 1,000 MMK camera fee. The 04:00 face-washing ritual is also free.
An 1895 teak monastery built by Chinese jade merchants, carved with mythical beasts along every eave. Still a functioning monastery, so entry is by donation box only — 1,000-2,000 MMK is generous by local standards.
A gilded 1847 stupa built by King Pagan Min on the site of his pre-coronation residence, hemmed in by a residential grid west of Zegyo. Free entry, almost no foreign visitors, and covered walkways on all four sides.
A low hill east of the city with covered stairways, catfish ponds where pilgrims feed the sacred fish, and a west-facing terrace over the Mandalay plain. No entry fee and no ticket-zone requirement at all.
Mandalay's central bazaar, rebuilt in concrete but unchanged in function: longyi bolts, thanaka bark, dried fish and tamarind flakes. Browsing is free and a bag of fried snacks from the ground-floor stalls costs 500-1,000 MMK.
A Burmese curry canteen where you point at trays of pork, catfish or bean curries. The 3,000-4,000 MMK plate comes with unlimited rice, soup, pickled tea leaf and a table of vegetable sides refilled without charge.
Hundreds of traders grind, wet and haggle over jade boulders in an open yard south-west of downtown. Entry is 1,000 MMK for foreigners; watching the cutting wheels and the finger-under-cloth price signals costs nothing more.
Plastic stools spill across 27th Street after dark for skewered barbecue, shan noodles and grilled tofu. Skewers run 200-500 MMK each, a bowl of noodles 1,500 MMK, and a large Myanmar beer around 2,500 MMK.
The 09:00 government ferry from Mayan Chan jetty reaches Mingun in an hour for about 5,000 MMK return. The unfinished Pahtodawgyi is the world's largest brick base, split open by the 1839 earthquake.
Seven undulating white terraces representing the mountain ranges around Mount Meru, built in 1816. It's covered by the same Mingun zone ticket already paid, so the climb and the Irrawaddy view add nothing to the day's cost.
Shared pickup trucks cross Yadanabon Bridge to Sagaing for around 1,000 MMK. From the hilltop terrace, hundreds of white and gold stupas scatter across the ridge above a bend in the Irrawaddy.
A 1.2km teak footbridge across Taungthaman Lake, built from salvaged palace timbers in the 1850s. Walking it at sunset is free — the boats cost 8,000-10,000 MMK, and the bridge deck itself gives the better silhouettes.