Mogok is commonly referred to as “Rubyland”, with 90% of the world’s rubies coming from this town and the surrounding areas – often mined out of the ground by hand.

Mogok is home to the famed “pigeon-blood” ruby – the most previous hue of ruby. As well as rubies, in the markets of Mogok you will come across sapphires, emeralds, lapis lazuli, moonstone, amethyst, peridot, garnet, and other semi-precious stones such as hibbonite and painite that are only found in Mogok and a handful of other locations.

Aside from the rubies, Mogok can be appreciated for its picturesque setting amongst the mountainous landscape. Up in these hills you can meet communities of Shan, Palaung, and Lisu.

Visitors to Mogok should visit both the morning and afternoon gem markets. Visiting an actual mine is a fascinating experience but not something that can always be done. It is possible to visit the churches and villages of Mogok’s Christian and Nepalese communities (Mogok is fiercely proud of its multiculturalism) as well as “Bernard Village”, where British soldiers from the Third Anglo-Burmese War (1885) are buried.