Mandalay hotel offers luxurious Myanmar experience, away from the backpacking hordes

So what are those all-important first impressions? The Mandalay Hill Resort Hotel appears to be wilfully hiding its light under a bushel. Or behind palm trees, bougainvillea and other assorted tropical foliage. Turning off the dusty roads of Mandalay, the new arrival is greeted by a rather generic looking hotel, albeit one fronted with an expansive porch that incorporates traditional Myanmese designs and colours.

Things take a distinct turn for the better in the lobby – in which golds, ruby reds and traditional stonework are employed liberally – but it is not until the visitor gets beyond the impressive pool and multi-storey pagoda to the rear of the main building that the luxury senses are stimulated.

Amid 12 acres of manicured parkland and behind high walls, the Mandalar Villa is opulence itself, and so agrees its en-suite spa.

Location, location, location? Just north of the red-stone walls of the fortress that surrounds the Mandalay Palace, the resort sprawls between a golf course, the site of the racecourse at the time of empire, and the lively Kyauktawgyi Paya Buddhist temple. But it is the backdrop that steals the show. From the rear boundary of the hotel, Mandalay Hill begins a gradual rise to the golden stupa that crowns the peak.

It’s admittedly not an especially epic geographic landmark, but the view from the top over the flat river plain is worth the 40-minute hike.