The former palace complex of Amarapura lies within the old city walls, whose moat and earthen ramparts survive in rough outline. The palace buildings themselves were removed to Mandalay in the 1850s, but the spatial logic of the walled city is still readable: the orientation, the grid of internal roads, the positions of gates and towers. A few brick structures remain, and a large bell that was too heavy to move.
Walking the area reveals the true extent of Amarapura's brief periods of glory. The city was founded in 1783, abandoned for Inwa in 1823, reoccupied in 1841, and then finally vacated for Mandalay in 1857 — four separate periods as capital interspersed with desertion. The soil between the ruins contains ceramics, bricks, and other fragments from multiple occupation phases.
The moat on the south side of the old city retains water and has a pleasant path alongside it. In the early morning, farmers cross the fields within the old walls to tend their crops — agriculture has returned to where the palace gardens once were. The contrast with the tour groups at U Bein Bridge is complete.