Asia Travel Guide

Antalya

Turkey

Antalya is Turkey's Mediterranean capital — a city of 2.5 million wrapping a Roman harbour, with the Taurus Mountains rising behind kilometres of beach. The old town (Kaleici) packs Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman layers into a few square kilometres; just outside it sit some of Europe's most extravagant all-inclusive resorts, with Aspendos, Perge and Side close enough for day trips.

Baku

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan's Caspian-shore capital, where the UNESCO-walled medieval Old City (Icherisheher) sits beneath the flame-shaped glass towers of an oil-boom skyline. The Azerbaijan Grand Prix races through it all — a fast, walled street circuit that threads past the ancient city walls and along the Caspian boulevard, one of F1's most dramatic urban settings.

Bali

Indonesia

Bali is one of the world's most seductive islands — volcanic peaks, rice terraces, Hindu temples, and a surf culture that runs from Canggu to Uluwatu. The food scene has exploded from warung street food to world-class fine dining. For wellness, creativity, and sheer beauty, it remains unmatched.

Bangkok

Thailand

Bangkok is one of the world's great food cities — from ¥50 pad thai on a plastic stool to Asia's number-one restaurant. Layer in ornate temples, a chaotic expressway system that somehow works, rivers and canals, and a nightlife that runs until dawn. The city rewards those who get lost in it.

Doha

Qatar

Qatar's gleaming Gulf capital — the dhow-lined Corniche and restored Souq Waqif beside I.M. Pei's Museum of Islamic Art and the futuristic towers of West Bay. Host of the Qatar Grand Prix at the Lusail International Circuit, a fast, flowing floodlit track just north of the city in the purpose-built district of Lusail, and a World-Cup-polished stage for luxury travel.

Dubai

United Arab Emirates

Dubai is the city that built itself out of desert in 50 years — the world's tallest building, the world's largest mall, man-made palm islands, and some of the most ambitious architecture on earth. Beyond the superlatives, the food scene is extraordinary, the hotel stock is among the world's finest, and the city works remarkably well.

Hanoi

Vietnam

Hanoi is a sensory overload in the best possible way — motorbikes swarm ancient French-colonial streets, phở simmers on every corner, incense drifts from Buddhist temples, and the Old Quarter's 36 streets each still specialise in a single trade.

Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City — still called Saigon by most who love it — is Vietnam's restless engine of growth. A city of roaring motorbikes, French colonial architecture, world-class street food, and extraordinary war history, it pulses with energy 24 hours a day. The contrast between its chaotic streets and rooftop sky bars captures Vietnam in miniature.

Hong Kong

China

Hong Kong is a city of electric contrasts — one of the world's great skylines rises above ancient temples, Michelin-starred restaurants sit beside $2 dim sum, and the Peak tram carries you from a global financial hub to misty mountain forest in minutes.

Jeddah

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's Red Sea gateway — the coral-stone alleys of UNESCO-listed Al-Balad old town, a 30km waterfront Corniche and the world's tallest fountain, and the fastest street circuit in Formula 1, the floodlit Jeddah Corniche track that hosts the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Historic pilgrimage port turned booming coastal metropolis.

Kathmandu

Nepal

Kathmandu is the gateway to the Himalayas — a chaotic, ancient, and deeply spiritual city of 1.5 million at 1,400 metres, surrounded by eight of the world's ten highest mountains. The old city's UNESCO World Heritage temples, the living goddess tradition of the Kumari, the burning ghats of Pashupatinath, and the impossible panoramas of snow-capped peaks from viewpoints above the valley make Kathmandu one of the world's most extraordinary places to arrive.

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur is a dazzling mix of Malay, Chinese, and Indian cultures — where the iconic Petronas Towers rise above bustling hawker markets, colonial architecture neighbours futuristic malls, and the food is some of the best and cheapest in the world.

Kyoto

Japan

Kyoto was Japan's imperial capital for over a thousand years, and its extraordinary concentration of temples, shrines, and traditional culture has made it the country's most visited city. Seventeen UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the geisha districts of Gion and Pontocho, bamboo forests at Arashiyama, and a kaiseki cuisine tradition that influenced world gastronomy make Kyoto an essential destination. The city is most magical in cherry blossom season and autumn foliage.

Manama

Bahrain

The compact, liberal capital of the Gulf's island kingdom — souk spice lanes and the Bab al-Bahrain gate beside glass towers and the twin Bahrain World Trade Center. Home base for the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sakhir desert circuit, 30 minutes south, whose night race and after-parties define the racing calendar's opening.

New Delhi

India

New Delhi is one of the world's great megacities — a chaotic, magnificent collision of ancient Mughal grandeur and modern ambition. From the soaring minarets of the Jama Masjid to the colonial grandeur of Lutyens' Delhi, the aromatic lanes of Chandni Chowk to the sleek galleries of the Lodhi Art District, it delivers sensory overload and extraordinary depth in equal measure. Street food here is among the best on earth.

Osaka

Japan

Osaka is Japan's culinary capital and most exuberant city — a place where the food is extraordinary, the people are famously warm, and the streets pulse with neon and street food from dusk until dawn. The locals' saying "kuidaore" (eat until you drop) is not an exaggeration.

Phuket

Thailand

Phuket is Thailand's largest island — a heady mix of Andaman Sea beaches, limestone karst scenery, and a vibrant old town dripping with Sino-Portuguese architecture. From budget beach bungalows to ultra-luxury private pool villas, it offers something compelling at every price point.

Seoul

South Korea

Seoul is a city of dizzying contrasts — ancient palaces sit beneath neon-lit skyscrapers, street food stalls neighbour Michelin-starred restaurants, and K-pop culture coexists with centuries-old Buddhist temples. It's fast, electric, and endlessly surprising.

Shanghai

China

China's neon-lit financial capital — the colonial Bund facing the futuristic Pudong skyline across the Huangpu, plane-tree lanes of the old French Concession, and the F1 Chinese Grand Prix at the vast Shanghai International Circuit in Jiading each spring. A city of dumpling houses, rooftop bars and the world's busiest metro.

Singapore

Singapore

Singapore is Asia's cleanest, most efficient, and most gastronomically extraordinary city-state. From a $3 hawker centre chicken rice to a $400 tasting menu at Odette (Asia's best restaurant), the food spans the continent and excels at every level. Changi Airport is the world's finest, and the city's green architecture and tropical gardens are spectacular.

Taipei

Taiwan

A city of night markets, hot springs and mountains that start where the streets end. Taipei 101 anchors a skyline ringed by volcanic ridges, the National Palace Museum holds the imperial collection that left the mainland in 1949, and you can be soaking in a Beitou sulphur bath twenty-five minutes from downtown by metro.

Tbilisi

Georgia

Tbilisi is Europe's best-kept secret — a city of sulphur baths, ancient churches, crumbling Art Nouveau balconies, and one of the world's oldest wine cultures. The food is extraordinary, the people are impossibly generous, and everything is absurdly cheap.

Tel Aviv

Israel

Tel Aviv is the Mediterranean's most vibrant startup capital — a city that never sleeps, built on Bauhaus architecture and beach culture. The White City's 4,000 UNESCO-listed International Style buildings line tree-shaded boulevards, while the ancient port of Jaffa adds millennia of history to the most resolutely forward-looking city in the Middle East. The food scene is world-class, the beaches are excellent, and the nightlife is legendary.

Tokyo

Japan

Tokyo is the world's greatest city for food — from a ¥600 standing ramen bar to a ¥60,000 kaiseki dinner, the quality is extraordinary at every level. Layer in the cleanest subway system on earth, convenience stores that would be destination restaurants in most countries, and a depth of culture that takes a lifetime to explore.