The pagoda sits on a small hill, with smaller towers and shrines spread out around it. People walk up wide marble staircases to reach the top, taking their shoes off at the door. The whole walkway around the base is open to the sky and paved in cool stone.
What makes Shwedagon special is the gold. Real sheets of gold leaf - so thin they almost float - are pressed onto the brickwork in their thousands. Right at the very top is a special umbrella-shaped piece covered in real diamonds, rubies and sapphires.
Families come to Shwedagon to sit, talk, and let the children run around the wide marble floor. There is a 'day-of-the-week' corner for each of the seven days, and people often pour a little water over the day they were born on - a tradition that goes back hundreds of years.
The pagoda has been here for a very, very long time - locals say more than 2,000 years, though scholars think the building you see today is around 600 years old. Either way, it has stood through earthquakes, storms and big city changes, and it is still polished by hand every few years to keep its gold bright.