Do hostels in Myanmar accept cards or only cash?

I learned the hard way in Bagan when I thought my hostel would take card - they didn’t, and the closest ATM was out of service. Since then, I always carried kyat from bigger cities like Yangon or Mandalay. Some hostels may advertise card acceptance, but power cuts or machine issues make it unreliable. To avoid any drama, pay in cash and treat card as a rare bonus.

Myanmar is still largely cash-based. Even in Yangon, the hostel owner said they “prefer cash” because their card terminal was unreliable. I ended up using KBZ Bank ATMs which worked with my Mastercard. Out in Hpa-An, the hostel flat-out refused to even try a card. If avoiding last-minute ATM scrambles is your goal, always check payment terms before booking and keep enough kyat in hand. Cards are hit-or-miss at best.

In Mandalay, I checked in at two hostels - one tried swiping my Visa but said their network was “down,” the other didn’t even have a terminal. It’s honestly safer to assume you’ll need cash everywhere. ATMs exist at airport arrivals and in city centers, but fees and outages are a pain. I avoided stress by withdrawing kyat early and carrying USD as backup. A few high-end hostels might take card, but don’t count on it if you’re traveling around the country.

When I stayed in Yangon, my hostel near Sule Pagoda had a card terminal, but it didn’t work half the time because of unstable connections. In Bagan and Inle Lake, every single hostel I stayed at asked for cash only. ATMs from KBZ and CB Bank are common in cities, but machines sometimes run out of kyat or don’t accept foreign cards. If you really want to avoid last-minute ATM runs, bring crisp USD and exchange them - hostels happily take cash in kyat, and only a handful process card payments reliably.