Fodor's Expert Review Inthar Heritage House

This beautiful wooden house, on stilts in the middle of Inle Lake, was completed in 2008 but appears older, thanks to reclaimed wood from which 80% of it is built. It's a wonderfully multiuse space. Downstairs is a cat sanctuary, where pampered Burmese felines lounge about lazily. The cats are the result of a two-year breeding program, an effort to reintroduce them to their native Myanmar. Upstairs from the cats is a re-creation of a traditional bedroom with impressive dark wooden period furniture. Then there's the hotel and catering school, and the art gallery, which hosts quarterly exhibitions of local artists' work, and then Inthar Restaurant, which is excellent—mostly Chinese dishes, with coffee, tea, shakes, and desserts—and a lovely, peaceful space. The restaurant's vegetables come from the house's own organic farm; cooking classes are also offered.