9 grand journeys to take across Southeast Asia

From island-hopping in Indonesia to a foodie tour through Cambodia, it’s time to tick these incredible journeys across Southeast Asia off your bucket list.

1. Island-hopping in Indonesia

Travelling with: Carla Grossetti

a phinisi at sunset, Indonesia — A Phinisi (traditional sailing ship) at sunset. (Image: Nicky Ryan)

There’s a lesser-known Indonesian gem that’s a world of picturesque islands, astonishing wildlife and culinary delights: the Lesser Sunda Islands. And the best way to explore them? On a liveaboard phinisi (traditional sailing ship).

a Komodo Dragon up close in Bali, Indonesia — See the infamous Komodo Dragon. (Image: Getty/EyeEm Mobile GmbH)

Get (a little too) close to majestic Komodo dragons, catch a migration of fruit bats as they head out to hunt, dive beneath the waves to spot green sea turtles and manta rays, or spend a day lounging on pink-, black- and white- sand beaches that don’t need a saturation filter.

traditional sailing ships (phinisi) in Indonesia — The iconic ship sails through the exotic regions of Indonesia. (Image: Nicky Ryan)

2. Southeast Asia by rail

Travelling with: Megan Arkinstall

the Eastern & Oriental Express, A Belmond Train — The Eastern & Oriental Express travels between Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. (Image: Ludovic Balay)

When it opened in 2021, the billion-dollar Laos-China Railway transformed travel within the culturally rich Buddhist country of Laos, reducing the travel time between Vientiane and Luang Prabang from a whopping 10 hours to two. High-speed trains have their place, but the real romance of rail travel is found at a slower pace.

a private suite onboard the Eastern & Oriental Express, A Belmond Train — A private suite onboard the Eastern & Oriental Express. (Image: Ludovic Balay)

Travel between Singapore and Malaysia on the Eastern & Oriental Express, A Belmond Train, on a four-day itinerary that takes in lush jungle landscapes, royal towns, rice plantations and sparkling coast. In Central Vietnam, The Vietage by Anantara skirts along the coast from Danang to Quy Nhon and Quy Nhon to Nha Trang. The five- and six-hour journeys are made incredibly comfortable with bespoke carriages, gourmet dining and free-flowing drinks, relaunching old-world train travel for modern explorers.

the food onboard the Eastern & Oriental Express, A Belmond Train — The menu features elevated Malaysian cuisine. (Image: Ludovic Balay)

3. Malapascua Island, The Philippines

Travelling with: Emma Ventura

a thresher shark in Malapascua, Philippines — Thresher sharks rise from the deep at Kimud Shoal. (Image: Getty/Soonyoung Han)

Every morning, in the cobalt-blue waters off the Philippines’ Malapascua Island, endangered pelagic thresher sharks rise from the deep at Kimud Shoal, where they are cleaned by resident wrasse. Sharing the water with these elegant, silvery sharks, characterised by enormous, whip-like tails, is a spellbinding experience, albeit one that requires strong diving skills (PADI Advanced Open Water Diver minimum), as advocated by the sustainably minded Evolution Diving Resort. Here, you’ll find expert underwater guiding by a passionate Filipino dive crew, all the mango you can eat, and the thrill of witnessing this keystone species gliding Zeppelin-like overhead, occasionally breaching in great, surface-shattering leaps.

4. Wellness retreats of Bali

Travelling with: Carla Grossetti

meditation by the river, Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan — Head to Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan for some chakra balancing. (Image: Roberto Frankenberg)

Gone are the days when visitors to Bali were happy with a morning yoga session and green smoothie. The Global Wellness Institute notes travellers to the Indonesian province are increasingly demanding more restorative retreats.

the exterior of Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan — Seek a peaceful escape at Four Seasons Resort Bali. (Image: Roberto Frankenberg)

These days, holidaymakers seeking transformation might visit Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach by IHG Bali for reflexology, Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan for some chakra balancing, and Asa Maia in Ubud for hydrothermal therapy. It’s a grand journey from within.

5. The Mekong River

Travelling with: Kassia Byrnes

a fisherman casting net at Mekong River — A fisherman casting a net in the Mekong River. (Image: Venus VI/Shutterstock)

The Mekong River is one of Southeast Asia’s most mysterious and fascinating destinations. While its full length stretches over 4000 kilometres, a cruise with AmaWaterways along its lower portion from Cambodia to Vietnam is truly unforgettable.

cruising the Mekong River at sunset — Cruise the mighty Mekong River. (Image: Kassia Byrnes)

Watch as the mighty Mekong changes from a peaceful, almost empty river in Cambodia into a hotbed of life in Vietnam. Stop at small river villages along the way to discover a culture unique from the cities. And do it all in luxury aboard the AmaDara.

6. Thailand’s Golden Triangle

Travelling with: Carla Grossetti

treetop dining at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort — A treetop dining experience at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort.

The mountainous region where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet was once infamous for its production of opium. But the Golden Triangle is now drawing travellers for both its blend of natural beauty and unique culture shaped by centuries of trade, conflict, migration and religion.

canopy at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort — Canopy pays homage to the region’s rich culinary heritage.

Learn about its complicated past at The Hall of Opium Museum, cruise along the Ruak River and cap it all off with an immersive stay at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort.

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7. The Backpacker Trail

Travelling with: Carla Grossetti

a karst mountain in Thailand — Explore stunning karst mountains in Thailand. (Image: Getty/ Oleh Slobodeniuk)

The backpacker trail through Southeast Asia has long been a rite of passage. But the classics on every gap year list are attractions you can return to at any age.

From the transformative experience of visiting the temple complex of Angkor Wat to enjoying street food in Bangkok, Southeast Asia’s charms remain as riveting as ever. Ditch the dorm and stay in a seaside retreat such as Vietnam’s luxury InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort.

8. Singapore’s dining scene

Travelling with: Kassia Byrnes

Have a tipple at Writers Bar at Raffles Singapore. (Image: Ralf Tooten)

Singaporeans will plan their whole day around a meal. And with gastronomical adventures ranging from the famous hawkers to Michelin-starred fine dining, it’s impossible not to share their enthusiasm. With such a melting pot of cultures, the flavours are varied.

Saboteur cocktail at Writers Bar at Raffles Singapore — Saboteur is a special cocktail with a whimsical twist on the classic martini.

And with such demand, there’s no room for mediocrity. From British-influenced high tea at the luxe Mandarin Oriental to a cocktail with a cult following at Raffles, authentic Peranakan cuisine at Violet Oon’s, and cooked-to-order naan or hearty popiah at a local hawker stall, the true word for Singapore is: mouthwatering.

9. A foodie tour through Cambodia

Travelling with: Lara Picone

fried insects in Cambodia — Insects fried to a crisp in Cambodia. (Image: Getty/T Bradford)

The food culture in Cambodia is highly approachable, steeped in tradition and redolent of the region’s ingredients, best experienced on Intrepid Travel’s eight-day Cambodia Real Food Adventure from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. Our guide, the liberally smiling Fila Heng, is frequently given to directing our driver to pull over so he can bound off to purchase this or that for us to try, from bags of sugary, fried biscuits to rustic rotisserie pork.

Cambodian yellow noodle soup with pork and pig blood in Phnom Penh. (Image: Getty/Nalidsa Sukprasert)

With each snack is a story, a recounting – national or personal – and a ceaseless spring of exuberance. There is a palpable arc of history, some of it uplifting, some heartbreaking, that canopies Cambodia. But the essence of warmth and light that lives in its people is rich and tantalising and finds its way into the incredible food of this country.

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.

Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?

Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.

Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.

“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.

Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”

Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”

CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.

A new generation demanding more

Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”

We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”

Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels — Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…

bouda stupa prayer flags — Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.

Boudha Stupa vendors — Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.

Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

tharu woman — Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.

Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.

Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.

Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.

On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.

community homestay entrance — A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.

The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.

In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.

food at community homestay — Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.

The power of community homestays

community homestay owners in Nepal — Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.

“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”

The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.

Sonara community room — An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.

Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.

CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.

“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.

In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.

“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”

Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”

Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.

9 grand journeys to take across Southeast Asia

From island-hopping in Indonesia to a foodie tour through Cambodia, it’s time to tick these incredible journeys across Southeast Asia off your bucket list.

1. Island-hopping in Indonesia

2. Southeast Asia by rail

3. Malapascua Island, The Philippines

4. Wellness retreats of Bali

5. The Mekong River

6. Thailand’s Golden Triangle

7. The Backpacker Trail

8. Singapore’s dining scene

9. A foodie tour through Cambodia

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Indonesia, unfiltered: 3 destinations beyond Bali to put on your travel list

These community homestays are changing how travellers experience Nepal

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

A new generation demanding more

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

The power of community homestays

Weekly travel news, experiences
insider tips, offers, and more.

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