Photo: Andrea Pepoli from Rimini, Italia, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A nice looking "garden" with 1,150 sitting and quadratically placed Buddhas at the foot of Zwegabin mountain. In early 2017 a cable car was inaugurated to get a glance of the garden from above.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Mount Zwe Kabin
From the top it offers a spectacular 360° views of the surrounding planes, especially when the air is still clear, i.e. in the morning and during wet season. It takes up to 4 hr to walk up the 723 m mountain and down again. Bring enough water for the climb and heat. There are at least two main tracks, one leading up north from "Lumbini Garden" and another one going down and east towards the main road that serves Kaw Ka Taung Cave, Ein Du village and Saddan Cave. However it will be hard to use both tracks if you come with rented motorbike. After an accident in February 2017 it is not possible to stay overnight at the top.
A nice swimming pool in a cool surrounding. Unfortunately, women are not allowed to swim in the upper pool. Following up the hill to the right of the pool there are many white pagodas standing in a geometrical and quite picturesque order.
A monastery in the middle of an artificial lake filled with uncountable amounts of small (jumping around) and big fish (sticking out their mouths). It contains a pillar-like and interestingly stable or to say impossibly still standing rock with a pagoda mounted on top. Looks very nice for a couple of pictures. The rock can be climbed. Before the lake another golden temple with a nice looking Buddha statue can be visited.
This is a small and low cave built using tiles and filled with numerous small and big Buddhas. Bring a torch since there is something in the end to explore. Going further just by the cave, after 200 m there is a nice swimming pool with very clear water from the mountain and hundreds of fish in it, circled by half a dozen restaurants right next to beautiful rice fields. Take a swim and get off the salt.
Sometimes also spelled Lat Ka Na. This concrete bridge is a famous and picturesque destination. Explore the village behind the bridge.
This used to be a great experience and impressive nature spectacle when an endless stream of 100,000s of bats came flying out of their cave at sunset (check the sunset time). However locals seem to dislike the colony and each evening departure sit banging drum & shacking noisy rattle which disturbs the bat departure causing bats to emerge and scatter rather than forming the dramatic ribbon formation (the "ribbon" formation eventually reforms some distance away). The bats start coming out of the cave almost exactly at sunset, and the whole spectacle now takes less than 1 hr (although the vast majority of bats fly out of the cave in the first 10 min). Bring patience and a torch (for the walk back). Go a bit earlier and climb up the nearby hill in front of the cave with a stupa on top to have a stunning view of the river and countryside. The best place to see the bats is near the stupa at the base of the stairs. About 5,000 kyat for a taxi to get there and back from Hpa-an. It can also be booked as a tour with most of the guest houses.