SOUTHEAST ASIA BEACH GUIDE

The Seasons are changing rapidly, and it won’t be long until 2022 is coming to an end, and we welcome in the new year of 2023.
Asia is Open and as we head into the Winter months, it turns out that now is the perfect time to be planning a Beach getaway  to some stunning locations in Thailand, Vietnam & Cambodia and Malaysia and Borneo. Malvern World Travel works with Inside Asia, a specialist Tour Operator that offers  Malvern World Travels Clients  plenty of Culture and relaxation for your next holiday. We are happy to share our handy, Inside Asia, Southeast Asia Beach guide with you.
BEACHY KEEN
Travellers can fit in a beach stay in almost any of our Tour Operators destinations with Cultural adventures in any season, but the early half of the year has some of the best options for Beach extensions. Let Malvern World Travel help Tailormake your perfect Asian holiday
Here are the best options for January to August.

THAILAND (Khao Lak, Ko Phi Phi, Ko Pha-Ngan,Koh Samui,Krabi and Phuket)

VIETNAM & CAMBODIA ( Hoi An/Da Nang, Ninh Vanh Bay,Phu Quoc and Cambodias Island’s )

MALAYSIA AND BORNEO ( Langkawi, Penang, Perhentian Islands, Redang,Gaya Island and Kota Kinabalu)

THAILAND.

For many people, Thailand is their introduction to Southeast Asia — and for good reason. This welcoming and beautiful country encompasses much of what makes the continent so special, without the headaches that so often come with straying from the beaten path.
While its neighbours have been variously dominated by Dutch, Portuguese, French and British powers, the Kingdom of Thailand has remained defiantly and resolutely independent, with a much-loved monarchy and a history quite distinct from any other country in the region. What’s more, with its huge, hectic cities and laid-back towns, its prehistoric rainforests and its picture-perfect tropical islands, it has all the makings of an unforgettable Southeast Asian holiday.

Thailand first began welcoming tourists back in the 1970s, long before its neighbours, and while this means it’s by no means untouched (in fact, it’s one of the most popular holiday destinations in the world) it does means that this is one of the most well-connected, well-developed, and all-round delightful places to travel in the whole of Asia.

Getting around is a breeze, accommodation is outstanding at all budgets, and the national cuisine is unbeatable, from the lowliest beach shack curry to the most lauded Michelin-starred restaurant. It’s also friendly to a fault, so expect smiles and good humour everywhere you go.

VIETNAM & CAMBODIA

What makes Vietnam so special? Ask a hundred different people and you’ll get a hundred different answers. For us, that’s exactly it.
Tracing the eastern coast of continental Southeast Asia from the high mountains of southern China to the tropical islands of the Gulf of Thailand, Vietnam encompasses a huge range of different climates and geographies, and is bookended by two rival cities: Hanoi in the north, steeped in tradition and defiantly Vietnamese; Ho Chi Minh City in the south, outward-looking and ready to embrace the world.

What all this means is that, in Vietnam, you can have several holidays for the price of one. Combine an overnight cruise through the dramatic karst scenery of Halong Bay with a city break sampling street food in Hanoi. Mix a trekking holiday in the remote jungles and cave systems of Phong Nha with some beach lounging beneath the palm trees of tropical Phu Quoc Island.

As far as we’re concerned, Vietnam has the perfect combination of adventure, exoticism, ease and comfort. It’s Asia’s greatest hits album – and all you need is one visa, one currency, and one language.

With miles and miles of unspoilt countryside and some of the friendliest people we’ve ever met, Cambodia is a place where that old cliché rings true: it’s as much about the journey as the destination.
It’s impossible to think of Cambodia without picturing the temples of Angkor. Vast, vine-entangled, and magnificently atmospheric: temples and country have become so synonymous that few tourists know what lies beyond them – and even fewer ever find out.

Don’t get us wrong, Angkor deserves all the attention it gets, and more. It’s one of those disappearingly rare places that doesn’t just live up to expectations, it exceeds them every time.

But Angkor is not Cambodia. Did you know, for a start, that Cambodia has some of the best wildlife experiences in Asia outside of Borneo? Or that it’s currently witnessing a remarkable artistic flowering born out of the ashes of the Khmer Rouge? Did you know that it has tropical beaches to rival any in Thailand, devoid of crowds and unsightly development?

Perhaps you did know those things, but if you didn’t, let us tell you – you’re in for a treat.

MALAYSIA AND BORNEO

Standing on the shores of the Strait of Malacca, the main artery of the spice trade between India and the South Pacific, Malaysia has been buffeted by cultural crosswinds since antiquity.
Over the centuries, Chinese settlers, Sumatran empires, Islamic sultanates and a string of European colonies have all left their mark on the peninsula’s indigenous culture. This tangled skein of history is apparent today in the jumble of mosques, temples, and colonial buildings of its World Heritage ports — but Malaysia isn’t all about the past.

Malaysia is a taste of a very different sort of Southeast Asia: one where you can go from unspoilt beaches by glittering seas to 130-million-year-old rainforest on smooth, paved roads, stopping in rural towns and villages where even the farmers speak English. It’s one where you can see hipster street art at a colonial port, or get a drip coffee in a little mining town in the mountains — and where the cities are among the most modern and connected in the world. This is Southeast Asia for the future, with all the best bits of the past.

Borneo: the very name is redolent with exoticism, evoking impenetrable jungles, isolated tribal villages, eccentric colonial kingdoms and steamy tropical towns.
Its forests are more than twice as old as the Amazon, and home to around 20% of the world’s animal species. Within some of the most remote and inaccessible regions on earth, wild orangutans, clouded leopards, and pygmy elephants roam in a wonderland of giant Rafflesia flowers and flesh-eating pitcher plants. All this is watched over by Mount Kinabalu, whose hiking trails wind their way to the highest summit in Southeast Asia.

Quite simply, Borneo represents everything that’s magnificent and precious about the natural world. Formerly the preserve of grizzled adventurers and the very rich, today the growth of ecotourism has made the world’s third-largest island more accessible to the ordinary traveller than ever, and its natural wonders are complemented by buzzing, cosmopolitan towns and a thrilling street food scene.

Come for the teeming rainforests; stay for the spicy laksa and rich local culture: Borneo is one of the world’s greatest treasures.