{{Short description|Beach in Rakhine State, Myanmar}} {{Infobox landform |name=Ngapali Beach |other_name=ငပလီကမ်းခြေ |image=Ngapali beach and surrounding area, Rakhine State 05.jpg |image_size= |alt= |caption=View of the beach |pushpin_map=Burma |map_width= |map_caption= |pushpin_map_alt= |pushpin_relief= |pushpin_label=Ngapali Beach |mark= |marker_size= |location=Rakhine State, Myanmar |grid_ref= |grid_ref_UK= |grid_ref_Ireland= |coordinates={{coord|18.4333|94.3167|format=dms|type:landmark_region:MM|display=inline,title}} |coordinates_ref= |range= |part_of= |water_bodies=Bay of Bengal |length= |formed_by= |type=Beach |free_label_1= |free_data_1= |free_label_2= |free_data_2= |free_label_3= |free_data_3= |embedded= }}
'''Ngapali Beach''' (Burmese: ငပလီကမ်းခြေ) is a coastal beach located in Rakhine State, western Myanmar, approximately 7 kilometers (4 miles) from the town of Thandwe.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Visit Ngapali Beach, Myanmar {{!}} Tailor-Made Trips {{!}} Audley Travel UK |url=https://www.audleytravel.com/myanmar/places-to-go/ngapali-beach |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250125053033/https://www.audleytravel.com/myanmar/places-to-go/ngapali-beach |archive-date=2025-01-25 |access-date=2025-05-17 |work=Audley Travel |language=en-GB |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ngapali Beach: About the Sandy Paradise of Myanmar |url=https://www.idctravel.com/travel-guide/ngapali-beach |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=IDC Travel |language=en-US}}</ref> It is considered Myanmar’s premier beach destination.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Whitehead |first=Kate |date=2017-07-12 |title=Myanmar’s 4 best beaches |url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/myanmar-best-beaches |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Delia |date=2015-11-13 |title=The Best Beaches in Myanmar (Burma) |url=https://luxurytravelinasia.com/the-best-beaches-in-myanmar-burma/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Luxury Travel in Asia |language=en-US}}</ref> Ngapali Beach spans approximately 3 to 7 kilometers which stretches along the Bay of Bengal. The beach’s name, pronounced “Na-pal-li,” is said to derive from “Napoli” (Naples, Italy), attributed to an Italian traveler nostalgic for his homeland.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luxury beach and island holidays in Myanmar {{!}} Tribes Travel |url=https://www.tribes.co.uk/places/myanmars-beaches-islands/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Tribes |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
The beach came under the control of Arakan Army on June 24, 2024 during their Rakhine offensive in the ongoing Myanmar civil war.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Now |first=Myanmar |date=2024-06-24 |title=စစ်ကောင်စီအတွက် ကြီးမားသည့်ဆုံးရှုံးမှုဖြစ်လာသည့် သံတွဲလေဆိပ်ကျဆုံးမှု |url=https://myanmar-now.org/mm/news/53659/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Myanmar Now |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-25 |title=Myanmar ethnic armed group seizes tourist beachfront town |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/myanmar-ethnic-armed-group-seizes-tourist-beachfront-town/7669091.html |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Voice of America |language=en}}</ref>
==Geography== The beach is situated on the Bay of Bengal in southern Rakhine State, approximately 240 kilometers southwest of Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar’s capital. It has an elevation of about 11 meters above sea level.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ngapali Beach: Discover Myanmar's Stunning Coastal Paradise |url=https://www.asiatouradvisor.com/destination/ngapali/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Asia Tour Advisor |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Pearl Island |url=https://www.vivutravel.com/myanmar-travel-destinations/ngapali-beach/attractions-at-ngapali-beach/pearl-island |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=www.vivutravel.com}}</ref> The coastline features soft, white sand fringed by coconut palms with clear turquoise waters that are generally calm and free of dangerous marine life, thus it makes ideal for people to swim. The beach is part of a series of bays, with the main stretch extending between Ngapali village and the fishing village of Gyeik Taw (Jate Taw) to the south. Nearby, smaller bays like Andrew Bay and areas near Pearl Island offer additional scenic spots.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Ngapali Beach and Thandwe information |url=https://www.go-myanmar.com/nagpali-beach-and-thandwe-sandoway |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Go-Myanmar.com |language=en}}</ref>
The region experiences a tropical monsoon climate, with average temperatures around 23°C, peaking at 28°C in March and dropping to 11°C in August.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Check Average Rainfall by Month for Ngapali |url=https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-precipitation-Rainfall,ngapali-mm,Myanmar-Burma |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=World Weather & Climate Information |language=en}}</ref> Annual rainfall averages 4,309 millimeters, with the wettest month being August (1,127 mm) and the driest January (1 mm).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ngapali climate: Average Temperature by month, Ngapali water temperature |url=https://en.climate-data.org/asia/myanmar/rakhine/ngapali-440618/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=en.climate-data.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ngapali Weather in January: Temperature, Rainfall, & More |url=https://weather-and-climate.com/ngapali-mm-January-averages |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=World Weather & Climate Information |language=en}}</ref>
The surrounding area includes mangrove forests, small islands, and hilly terrain, with spurs of the Arakan Mountains reaching the coast.<ref name=":2" />
==Tourism== Ngapali Beach is Myanmar’s most developed beach destination, though it remains less commercialized than other regional counterparts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=သင်္ကြန်ကာလရုံးပိတ်ရက်တွင် ငပလီကမ်းခြေသို့ ခရီးသွားအများဆုံးဝင်ရောက်ခဲ့ပြီး လေကြောင်းလိုင်းများ သံတွဲလေဆိပ်သို့ ခေါက်ရေ ၁၀၅ ခေါက်အထိ ပြေးဆွဲခဲ့ရ {{!}} News and Periodical Enterprise |url=https://www.moi.gov.mm/npe/sngknkaalrunpittrkttng-ngpliikmkhesiu-khriisaaamaachunwngreaakkhaipii-lekeaangliungmaa |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=www.moi.gov.mm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Myanmar Ngapali beach paradise in dire straits amid conflict – DW – 01/13/2024 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/myanmar-ngapali-beach-paradise-in-dire-straits-amid-conflict/a-67943894 |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=dw.com |language=en}}</ref> The tourism industry is primarily of international visitors with high-end resorts such as Bayview Ngapali, Amata Resort, Amazing Ngapali and the government-owned Anawa.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cohane |first=Ondine |date=2013-08-28 |title=So, You've Already Temple-Hopped in Rangoon? Go to This Low-Key Burma Beach to Unwind |url=https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-08-28/burma-myanmar-travel-guide |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Condé Nast Traveler |language=en-US}}</ref> These resorts offer amenities like beachfront views, spas and fine dining with room rates ranging from $100 to $250 per night which is significantly higher than elsewhere in Myanmar.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Room Rate {{!}} Amazing Ngapali Resort {{!}} Ngapali Beach |url=https://amazingngapaliresort.com/room-rate/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |language=en-US}}</ref> thumb|Statue of Buddha above Ngapali Beach
==Economy== The local economy benefits from tourism, providing income for nearby villages and Thadwe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Coastal tourism and local impact at Ngapali Beach |url=https://www.myanmar-responsiblebusiness.org/pdf/2016-05-Coastal-Tourism-and-Local-Impact-at-Ngapali-Beach-Initial-Findings.pdf |website=Myanmar Center for Responsible Business}}</ref> Seasonal employment is common, with high unemployment during the monsoon season when tourism declines. Fishing remains a vital economic activity, with villages like Gyeik Taw supplying fresh seafood to beachfront restaurants. Local products like as dried fish, shrimp and coconut are transported to Yangon and other parts of Myanmar.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Exploring Conflicts and Local development of Tourism in Ngapali, Burma |url=https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2%3A1221161/FULLTEXT01.pdf |website=DIVA Portal}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ngapali Beach – Waves of Change |url=https://www.bayview-myanmar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Myanmore-Bayview-article-Nov16.pdf |website=Bayview}}</ref>
The region has seen billions of dollars invested in tourism infrastructure. As of the latest data, there are 65 hotels and over 2,000 rooms across the Thandwe-Ngapali area. Most are 4- to 5-star establishments located in neighborhoods like Linthar, Zee Phyu Kone, and Jettaw.<ref name=":4" />
==Accessibility== Ngapali Beach is accessible primarily via Thandwe Airport (SNW), located 5 kilometers north of the beach. Domestic airlines, including Myanma Airways, Air Mandalay, and Air KBZ, operate flights from Yangon, Mandalay, and Bagan, though schedules are reduced during the monsoon season.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} The airport was closed in mid-2024 due to Arakan Army control.<ref>{{Cite web |last=sara0376 |date=2024-08-06 |title=Conflict Monitoring Report: July 2024 |url=https://www.dyami.services/post/conflict-monitoring-report-july-2024 |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Dyami |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ko |first=Aung Thura Ko |date=2024-08-12 |title=Operation 1027 rapidly changing Myanmar's security landscape |url=https://asiatimes.com/2024/08/operation-1027-rapidly-changing-myanmars-security-landscape/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Asia Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Overland travel is less common due to poor road conditions. Some hotels offer free Wi-Fi, but connectivity can be slow.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hotel ACE Ngapali Beach |url=https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g612368-d12004568-Reviews-Hotel_ACE_Ngapali_Beach-Ngapali_Rakhine_State.html |website=Tripadvisor}}</ref>
==Controversies and conflict== Hotels in the area are largely owned by individuals with military ties. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has been a regular visitor to Ngapali with his wife Kyu Kyu Hla. The Myanmar military has held official events at local resorts, including a 2023 meeting with Thai military officials at the Jasmine Ngapali Resort.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2024-07-07 |title=ဘီလျံနာ သူဌေးတွေရဲ့ ငပလီ သောက |url=https://www.bbc.com/burmese/articles/c51y89571nqo |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=BBC News မြန်မာ |language=my|archive-date=3 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250203205705/https://www.bbc.com/burmese/articles/c51y89571nqo}}</ref>
In the early 2000s, Myanmar’s military confiscated over 100 acres of coastal land from residents in Thandwe, including areas around Ngapali Beach, Ziphyu Kone village, and Shwewachai Beach. The compensation offered to landowners was reportedly 7,000 kyats per acre. The land was later leased to military-linked companies and individuals, many of whom had close ties with senior military leaders or held positions in military-affiliated business networks.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=အောင်ခမ်း |date=2024-08-23 |title=“မြေတစ်ဧက လျော်ကြေး ကျပ် ၇၀၀၀”- ငပလီကို လက်ဝါးကြီးအုပ်ခဲ့သူများ (အပိုင်း-၂) |url=https://myanmar-now.org/mm/news/56770/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |archive-date=8 November 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251108085839/https://myanmar-now.org/mm/news/56770/|website=Myanmar Now |language=en-US}}</ref>
Much of the land used for hotels was previously military-owned or confiscated from locals. Some was leased to companies at low rates. U Ba Shein, a former MP, raised this issue in parliament in 2013. Compensation was reportedly provided to some affected farmers, though not all accepted or received it.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":4" />
The Arakan Army, which took control over the area in 2024, expressed intent to reevaluate land ownership based on local rights. The AA leader, General Twan Mrat Naing, has a background in tourism. The AA also stated it would stop collecting money from hoteliers under the name "AE".<ref>{{Cite web |title=ငပလီကမ်းခြေအနီး စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်နဲ့ AA တိုက်ပွဲပြင်းထန် |url=https://www.rfa.org/burmese/program_2/aa-junta-battle-ngapali-06042024032044.html |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Radio Free Asia |language=my}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-24 |title=ငပလီကမ်းခြေနဲ့ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ် နေရာအချို့မှာ တိုက်ပွဲပြင်းထန် |url=https://burmese.voanews.com/a/heavy-fighting-in-ngapali-beach-and-some-parts-of-rakhine-state/7710717.html |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=ဗွီအိုအေ |language=my}}</ref>
==Gallery== <gallery> File:Ngapali Beach, Myanmar (10860198796).jpg File:Ngapali Beach, Myanmar (11007417563).jpg File:Ngapali Beach, Myanmar (10860299754).jpg File:Ngapali Beach, Myanmar (10860491203).jpg File:Ngapali Beach, Myanmar (10860312194).jpg File:Ngapali Beach, Myanmar (10860313194).jpg File:Ngapali Beach, Myanmar (10860300554).jpg </gallery>
==See also== *Mrauk U *Kanthaya Beach *List of tourist attractions in Myanmar
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Tourism in Myanmar Category:Tourism in Southeast Asia Category:Rakhine State Category:Beaches of Myanmar Category:Tourist attractions in Myanmar