All Destinations

Kerala's port city and commercial capital, where four centuries of Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial layers stack on top of a much older Arab and Chinese spice-trade harbour. Fort Kochi - the historic peninsula across the harbour from the modern mainland - holds the Chinese fishing nets along Vasco da Gama Square, St Francis Church (where Vasco da Gama was first buried in 1524, the oldest European-built church in India), the 1568 Paradesi Synagogue in Jew Town, and the Mattancherry Palace with its Hindu mythology murals. The city is also the standard launching point for Kerala's backwater houseboats out of Alleppey, 90 minutes south.

Kuala Lumpur is a city of stunning contrasts — the iconic Petronas Twin Towers soar above colonial-era shophouses, Malay mosques sit near Hindu temples and Chinese clan houses. The food scene is extraordinary, blending Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Nyonya cuisines at hawker stalls and night markets. Incredible value for money.

Kyoto is Japan's cultural heart — over 2,000 temples and shrines, traditional geisha districts, bamboo groves, and some of the country's finest cuisine. The former imperial capital for over a thousand years, it's where Japanese tradition lives and breathes. Every season brings a different kind of beauty.

Pakistan's cultural and culinary capital — the Mughal seat where Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan all left their mark. The Walled City's bazaars open onto the colossal Badshahi Mosque and Lahore Fort across the Hazuri Bagh, Wazir Khan's tilework still glints in the Kashmiri Bazaar, and the Food Street at Fort Road serves karahi and lassi until 2 AM. The saying goes: Jine Lahore nai vekheya, o jameya hi nai — if you haven't seen Lahore, you haven't been born.

Tibet's capital at 3,656m — the Potala Palace (UNESCO 1994, former winter residence of the Dalai Lama), Jokhang Temple (holiest in Tibetan Buddhism), Barkhor Street pilgrim circuit, and the monks' debates at Sera Monastery (weekday afternoons). Required visa reality: foreigners need both a Chinese visa AND a Tibet Travel Permit via a registered operator; solo travel is not permitted. Access via Chengdu (CTU) flight or the Qinghai-Tibet Railway — one of the highest railways on Earth with oxygen piped into cabins. Best April–October.

The "Vegas of Asia" is much more than casinos — Macau's UNESCO-listed historic center showcases centuries of Portuguese-Chinese fusion in its pastel churches, temples, egg tarts, and cobblestone streets. Just a ferry ride from Hong Kong.

South India's temple capital — Meenakshi Amman Temple is one of the world's great Hindu complexes, with 14 gopuram towers encrusted in 33,000 painted stucco figures, the tallest soaring 52 metres above the old city. 15,000 pilgrims visit daily; the temple never closes. Madurai is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, with Greek accounts from 300 BCE, and is nicknamed 'the city that never sleeps.' The Gandhi Museum houses the dhoti the Mahatma was wearing when assassinated.

The Christian-majority capital of North Sulawesi province, perched on a tropical bay 1.5 degrees north of the equator and almost entirely visited as the launch point for Bunaken Marine Park — a 75,000-hectare protected reserve whose vertical reef walls drop 1,500 metres into the Sulawesi Sea and routinely deliver mantas, barracuda tornadoes, hawksbills and 70+ coral species on a single dive. Inland, the cool Tomohon plateau hosts Indonesia's most fragrant flower market and the Pasar Beriman extreme market where Minahasan cooks shop for paniki, rica-rica and tinutuan porridge. Bitung and Lembeh Strait, an hour east, deliver world-class muck diving for rare critters.

The Philippines' chaotic, colorful capital is a melting pot of Spanish colonial history, shopping malls, incredible street food, and warm Filipino hospitality — and a gateway to 7,000+ islands.

A small UNESCO World Heritage city on the Strait that gives the strait its name, layered with five centuries of conquest. Portuguese forces took the Sultanate in 1511 and left the laterite ruin of A Famosa, the Dutch arrived in 1641 and built the brick-red Stadthuys and Christ Church around the central square, the British took over in 1824 — each layer still visible inside a 30-minute walk. The old town today is trishaws decorated with plastic flowers and LED lights blasting Malay pop, the Friday-to-Sunday Jonker Street Night Market for satay celup and chicken-rice balls, and Peranakan Nyonya cuisine that originated here. About two hours south of Kuala Lumpur and four hours from Singapore by direct coach.

Mui Ne is a dust-orange fishing village strung along a single coastal road four hours east of Ho Chi Minh City, where the South China Sea hits steady cross-shore wind almost every afternoon. That wind made it the kitesurfing capital of Southeast Asia, with November-to-April peak season packing the bay with kites and beach hostels charging by the lesson. Inland, the landscape goes surreal fast. Red sand dunes glow at sunrise, white sand dunes look like a slice of the Sahara dropped near the sea, and the Suoi Tien fairy stream cuts a shin-deep ribbon of warm water through orange canyon walls. Fish-sauce factories line the back lanes and explain the smell drifting through town at low tide.

India's financial capital and Bollywood headquarters is a city of dreams built on seven islands — colonial architecture along Marine Drive, street food paradise, and relentless energy.

Karnataka's heritage capital, a 3-hour drive south of Bangalore on the Deccan Plateau, organized around the Indo-Saracenic Mysore Palace - the Wodeyar royal residence rebuilt in 1912 and lit by 100,000 incandescent bulbs every Sunday evening and on every public holiday. Beyond the palace gates, Mysore is the country's silk, sandalwood, and agarbathi (incense) capital, with Devaraja Market piling jasmine garlands and turmeric pyramids in the centre of the old town. Chamundi Hill and its 12th-century temple watches the city from a 1,000-step staircase to the south, and the city's slower pace and cleaner air make it the standard cultural counterweight to Bangalore's tech sprawl.

Japan's first permanent capital, where friendly deer roam freely among UNESCO temples. Todai-ji houses the world's largest bronze Buddha. A perfect day trip from Osaka or Kyoto.

Vietnam's premier beach resort stretches 6 km along the South China Sea — a crescent bay backed by mountains, the ancient Po Nagar Cham towers on a headland (2nd–17th century), and an island-hopping scene off Hon Mun Marine Protected Area with excellent snorkeling. The mud baths at Thap Ba and I-Resort are a Vietnamese spa tradition. Alexandre Yersin — the Swiss-French scientist who isolated the plague bacillus — lived and died in Nha Trang; his house and laboratory are now a museum.

Hokkaido's premier ski region, two hours by road from Sapporo's New Chitose airport. Four interconnected resorts — Grand Hirafu, Hanazono, Niseko Village, Annupuri — share a single all-mountain pass on the slopes of Mount Niseko Annupuri, with the conical Mount Yotei staring across the valley like a small Mount Fuji. The 15+ metres of dry, light powder per season is the most reliable in the world, which is why an Australian and Singaporean expat scene has set up a year-round base. December through March is ski; July and August add hiking, rafting, and onsen-and-green-season pricing.

Osaka is Japan's kitchen — a city that lives to eat. Dotonbori's neon-lit food street, takoyaki (octopus balls) stalls, and the finest street food culture in Japan define this boisterous, working-class city. The Osakans are famously friendly and funny, the castle is impressive, and Universal Studios Japan is a massive draw for families.

Thailand's Gulf-coast resort city, 150 km southeast of Bangkok and 90 minutes by minivan from Ekkamai bus terminal. Pattaya is unapologetically commercial — the 4 km arc of Pattaya Beach faces the Walking Street nightlife strip while quieter Jomtien Beach stretches south for families and weekenders. Beyond the bars sit the half-finished 105-metre all-wood Sanctuary of Truth, the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden with its Thai dance and elephant show, Coral Island day trips from Bali Hai Pier, the Khao Phra Tamnak hilltop viewpoint, Cartoon Network water park, and more than 25 golf courses within an hour. U-Tapao (UTP) airport sits 30 minutes south, but most travellers still arrive via Bangkok BKK or DMK.

Cambodia's rapidly changing capital where French colonial architecture meets modern riverside development. The Royal Palace, sobering Tuol Sleng museum, and legendary street food scene at Central Market make it a compelling stop between Angkor Wat and the southern beaches.

The only fully intact Ming and Qing Han Chinese walled city in the country — a UNESCO-listed grid of grey-brick courtyards in Shanxi province ringed by 6km of 14th-century walls you can climb for the panorama. Rishengchang on South Street was the world's first draft bank when it opened in 1823, sending silver bills as far as Mongolia. The Confucian Temple, the County Government complex, and Shuanglin and Zhenguo temples nearby fill out the historical depth. Four hours from Beijing by G-train via Taiyuan, with siheyuan courtyard guesthouses inside the walls.

Nepal's adventure capital sits at 830m on Phewa Lake with the Annapurna massif filling the horizon — Annapurna I (8,091m), the sacred unclimbed Machhapuchhre Fishtail (6,993m), and Dhaulagiri all visible from town on a clear morning. Lakeside (Baidam) is the laid-back tourist district — paragliding from Sarangkot is world-class. Trek launch point for Annapurna Circuit, ABC, and Poon Hill. The new Pokhara International Airport opened 2023. Domestic flight from Kathmandu is 25 minutes.

A small Hindu pilgrimage town in central Rajasthan built around a sacred lake ringed by 52 ghats and dominated by the only major Brahma temple in India - the rare temple to the creator god in a country that overwhelmingly favours Vishnu and Shiva. Pushkar is a strict vegetarian and alcohol-free zone year round, anchoring a slow backpacker scene of rooftop cafes and Aravalli sunset hikes for most of the calendar. Once a year, on the November full moon, the desert outside town fills with the Pushkar Camel Fair: 50,000-plus camels, horses, and cattle traded over five days in the year's flagship Rajasthani spectacle. Ajmer railhead is 30 minutes east.

The self-styled Yoga Capital of the World sits where the Ganges descends from the Himalayas into the plains of north India — 280+ ashrams, 100+ yoga schools, the iconic Lakshman Jhula and Ram Jhula suspension bridges, and the abandoned Beatles Ashram (Chaurasi Kutia) where Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr wrote much of the White Album in February-April 1968. The entire city is officially vegetarian and alcohol-free by municipal law. Add white-water rafting on the Class III-IV upper Ganges, the nightly Ganga Aarti fire ceremonies at Triveni Ghat and Parmarth Niketan, and the spectacular setting in the Himalayan foothills, and Rishikesh is the most spiritually distinctive destination in India that doesn't require pilgrim-level commitment.

The jewel of the Silk Road, Samarkand's Registan Square is one of the most breathtaking architectural ensembles on earth. Turquoise-tiled madrasas, the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, and Tamerlane's mausoleum transport you to the height of the Timurid Empire.