22 of the best places to visit in Asia

17.12.2024 - 21:27 / lonelyplanet.com

Dec 17, 2024 • 17 min read

Travel across Asia and you’ll have a lifetime of stories to share, from its sun-dappled beach towns to towering Himalayas, expanse deserts, historic old towns and futuristic cities.

Asia is massive. It covers nearly a third of the Earth’s land, and more than half of the world’s population resides across the continent. Its strength lies in its incredible diversity. You can spend a week in Tokyo’s buzz before napping in a sleepy remote island village in Cambodia, sipping hot chai on a buzzy street in north India, or meditating to the faint hum of mantras from a Tibetan Buddhist temple in Bhutan. For visitors, the experiences are endless: hiking the world’s tallest peaks, snorkeling in the Indonesian archipelago dotted with thousands of islands, sleeping under the stars in Jordan’s Wadi Rum or biking Vietnam’s mountain loops. 

Wherever you go in Asia, you are in for a treat, whether it’s phenomenal dining, friendly people or diverse scenery. Plan well, learn, and respect local customs and values before you embrace everything Asia has to offer. These are our recommendations for the best places to visit in Asia.

A nostalgic town by the mighty Mekong

Every morning, Luang Prabang wakes up before the sun when hundreds of saffron-robed monks meditatively walk the town’s frangipani-studded lanes and bylanes while residents gather to offer alms. Forget maps because this is a town that really pulls at your heartstrings, shaped by the influences of Buddhism, royal dynasties, French colonial powers and generational artists tending to their crafts. Meander the old town that sits on a peninsula where the two rivers – the Mekong and the Nam Khan – confluence, housing over 30 temples and monasteries alongside the city’s Royal Palace Museum. 

Spend your days sampling Lao cuisine, watching Mekong sunsets, and learning local textile weaving traditions at the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (TAEC). Don’t forget to take a day trip to swim in the cascading Tat Kuang Si falls, cruise the Mekong to the village of Ban Xang Hai where locals distill their own alcohol, and head further afield to Pak Ou, where two riverfront limestone caves house hundreds of Buddha images.

One of the world’s most atmospheric cities 

Bangkok is a city that has it all! We are talking about a Thai grandma wearing a floral bucket hat quietly sipping coffee next to a vintage gay magazine stall while the BTS or the Sky Train – the city’s mass transit system – rides past some of Asia’s glitziest shopping malls. You could spend your morning aimlessly wandering its streets lined up with gilded Buddhist shrines, grab pour-over coffee from a bean-to-cup brew bar, and watch a street vendor toss up rice noodles for dinner.