The Kandawgyi Palace Hotel, Yangon situated in its privileged position on the shores of the tranquil Kandawgyi Lake (Royal Lake) and was originally opened in 1934 as the Rangoon Rowing Club.

Retaining the traditions of Myanmar architecture using local golden teak and modern conveniences blend with the beautiful environs of the lake, gardens and original old rainforest make our Hotel the preferred destination in Yangon, Myanmar for both discerning business travelers and tourists alike.

As our name suggests, Kandawgyi Palace Hotel, is located on the shores of Kandawgyi Lake, also known as the Royal Lake, which has a thrilling historical tradition. The hotel’s very proximity Yangon’s famous Shwedagon Pagoda, a Myanmar’s most ancient Buddhist temple, lends it a particularly special aura. The site where Kandawgyi Palace is built is also reputed to be the place where a member of the Burmese royal dynasty took her last breath with her eyes fixed on the golden spire of the great pagoda. She was no other than Shin Saw Bu a famous queen from the Mon State.
The hotel’s history has its modern part as well. The original two-storey massive brick building that still stands today was built during the days of British Burma prior to the Second World War. The original building was inaugurated by the British as an exclusive European Rowing Club; also known as The Boat Club, in 1934.

During the Japanese regime which followed the evacuation of the British, the old side of Kandawgyi Palace was used for various social and military purposes. One outstanding use of the building was as a Maternity Hospital.It opened here in 1943 and closed abruptly in 1945 with the surrender of the Japanese to the Allied Forces under the US General Douglas MacArthur. After Myanmar’s Independence from the British in 1948, the whole spacious vicinity of the present hotel became the National Biological Museum.This historical event explains why there is a life-size sculpture of a prehistoric dinosaur in the grounds today. The tyrannosaurus, replicated in reinforced concrete by Myanmar’s famous sculptor U Han Tin who was also the principal of Myanmar Fine Art School, is still standing tall in the spacious gardens of the hotel which is like a miniature tropical rain forest.

The construction of the present hotel was inspired by architectural ingenuity that skillfully blends Myanmar traditional golden teak with all modern conveniences.