Compare 576 Travel Destinations

Vietnam's Central Highlands hill station sits at 1,500m — cool and misty, French colonial villas, an Eiffel-designed railway station, the Crazy House, and the Valley of Love. Easy Rider motorbike tours of the Central Highlands start here. Coffee and flower capital, and the 3-hour spiral up from the coast is worth it for the climate shift.

Northern Palawan's limestone karsts rise from turquoise Bacuit Bay — Tours A through D island-hop the lagoons, hidden beaches, and coral reefs by bangka outrigger. Nacpan's four-kilometer sand strip, Las Cabanas zipline sunsets, and nightly power cuts in town. Reach it by direct ENI flight or the 6-hour drive from Puerto Princesa.

Mount Fuji's onsen escape — a mountain hot-spring resort 90km southwest of Tokyo inside Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. The iconic shot is Lake Ashi's pirate-ship cruise framed by Hakone Shrine's red torii in the water with Fuji behind on a clear day. Owakudani's volcanic valley sells black eggs cured in sulfur springs. The Hakone Open-Air Museum mixes Picasso with mountain views, and traditional ryokans deliver the kaiseki + onsen night. Hakone Free Pass covers the Tozan switchback train, ropeway, cable car, and ship loop.

The ruined capital of the Vijayanagara Empire (14th-16th century) scattered across a surreal landscape of 500 million-year-old granite boulders in northern Karnataka. UNESCO since 1986. The Virupaksha Temple still functions as an active Hindu shrine; the Vittala Temple's musical pillars and Stone Chariot are the postcard images. The Tungabhadra River divides the bazaar-and-temple side from the Hippie Island (Virupapur Gaddi) backpacker scene. Reached via overnight sleeper bus from Bangalore or Goa.

Vietnam's most charming town — a UNESCO-listed ancient trading port where lantern-lit streets meet world-class tailoring, extraordinary cuisine, and bicycle-friendly riverside life.

An 800-year-old UNESCO-listed Naxi town at 2,400 m elevation in northwestern Yunnan — a labyrinth of cobblestone lanes, stone bridges over rushing canals, and traditional wooden courtyard houses with the 5,596 m Jade Dragon Snow Mountain rising directly above. Lijiang is the cultural heart of the Naxi minority who developed Dongba, the only living pictographic writing system in the world. Sunrise over the grey-tile rooftops from Lion Hill before the tour buses arrive is the moment that justifies the trip — the Old Town is undeniably beautiful, though the daytime crush of crowds is real. Pair with Tiger Leaping Gorge, Shuhe, and the new high-speed rail to Shangri-La for a full Yunnan circuit.

Laos's UNESCO-listed former royal capital is a dreamy town at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. Saffron-robed monks collect alms at dawn, French-colonial cafés line quiet streets, and the Kuang Si waterfalls are a turquoise paradise.

Mountain shrine town 140km north of Tokyo where Tokugawa Ieyasu — the shogun who unified Japan in 1603 — is enshrined at the gold-and-vermilion Toshogu mausoleum. The UNESCO-listed shrine complex sits in a cedar forest at 600m elevation, with cooler air than Tokyo year-round. Beyond the shrines, the Iroha-zaka switchback road climbs to Lake Chuzenji and the 97-meter Kegon Falls — Japan's most celebrated autumn-foliage drive. Stay overnight in town or in the nearby hot-spring hamlet of Yumoto for the deeper Okunikko experience.

Northern Thailand's backpacker mountain town, 762 curves from Chiang Mai (bring motion-sickness pills). Dawn hot-air balloons over karst ridges, the Pai Canyon, Mo Paeng Waterfall, Shan Chinese villages, and fire shows at the walking-street market. Cool year-round, but the burning season February to April turns the air hazardous — plan around it.

The gateway to Bhutan — the country's only international airport (PBH), famously one of the most difficult commercial approaches in the world. Home to the cliff-hanging Tiger's Nest monastery (Taktsang), the fortress-monastery Paro Dzong, Kyichu Lhakhang (7th century), and the National Museum in the circular Ta Dzong watchtower. Bhutan's Sustainable Development Fee ($100-200/night) and mandatory licensed-tour-operator visa rules make it one of the most tightly-managed tourism destinations anywhere.

Northern Vietnam mountain town at 1,500m near the Chinese border — iconic terraced rice paddies carved by Hmong and Dao ethnic minorities, Fansipan's 3,143m "Roof of Indochina" cable car, and multi-day homestay treks through Muong Hoa Valley. Cool year-round, foggy often, and best in golden September-October or green April-May.

Bali's cultural and spiritual heart, set 200 m up in the foothills above Denpasar — the rice-terrace, monkey-forest, yoga-shala alternative to the surf-and-club Bali of Seminyak and Canggu. The Sacred Monkey Forest sits in the middle of town with 1,200 long-tailed macaques; Tegallalang's terraces are 9 km north; The Yoga Barn runs 15 daily classes; and a hundred warungs serve nasi campur for IDR 25,000. Eat Pray Love did the marketing in 2010, and the digital-nomad wave hasn't really left.

Laotian karst valley town on the Nam Song River that outlived its deadly tubing era — the 2012 crackdown reset it as an adventure hub. Dawn ballooning over the limestone, Blue Lagoon caves, rock climbing, kayaking. The 2021 Laos-China Railway cut Vientiane and Luang Prabang to 1 hour each.