1,000 Places to See Before You Die

by Patricia Schultz

  Nestled on the west coast is the Baan Taling Ngam resort, which opened during Koh Samui’s pre-airport days on some of the island’s best real estate and is still the island’s ritziest property (it’s privileged with great sunsets). From its terraced guest rooms and seven pools, the resort offers uncommonly lovely views of some of the small islands and jungle-clad outcroppings scattered across the Gulf of Thailand. They are part of the Ang Thong National Marine Park, a popular destination for world-class diving and snorkeling that encompasses 42 islands. The largest inhabited key, Koh Pha Ngan (7 miles north and accessible by daily boat runs), continues to draw budget travelers and scuba lovers the way Samui once did, though it’s also showing signs of a more upmarket future. Farther north, tiny Koh Tao offers the best approximation of Koh Samui’s former days as a shoestring-traveler’s haven.

  Long sweeps of white beaches encircle Koh Samui, while the middle of the island remains dense with coconut plantations. Coconuts were once a mainstay of the local economy, when 2 million fruits were shipped to Bangkok every month. The trade is now greatly reduced, but the coconut is still used widely in Koh Samui’s increasingly sophisticated restaurants. The elegant Zazen on Bo Phut beach combines ocean views, a romantic ambience, and European-Thai fusion food. Try the crispy sea bass in a green-curry cream or silky smooth lemongrass créme brûlée. The restaurant’s accompanying Zazen Boutique Resort & Spa features Asian minimalist décor and a beachfront location.

  WHERE: 300 miles/480 km southwest of Bangkok. BAAN TALING NGAM: Tel 66/77423-019; www.baan-taling-ngam.com. Cost: from $280 (off-peak), from $530 (peak). ZAZEN BOUTIQUE RESORT & SPA: Tel 66/77-425085; www.samuizazen.com. Cost: from $190; dinner $50. BEST TIME: Dec–Apr to avoid monsoon rains.

  A Wonderland of Spectacular Limestone Peaks

  PHANGNGA BAY

  Krabi, Thailand

  James Bond fans might recall Phangnga Bay as the spectacular island setting for The Man with the Golden Gun, parts of which were filmed on Koh Phing Kan, now known as “James Bond Island.” Cinematic fame aside, this spectacular profusion of sheer limestone mountain peaks rising from the Andaman Sea’s pistachio green waters is one of the world’s most beautiful natural phenomena. Located just off the southern Thai coast near the city of Krabi, the bay’s sharp outcroppings reach up 1,000 feet, many covered by dense mounds of jungle. On a gray day, these islands with their tiny lagoons and mangrove swamps have the mystical aura of Chinese watercolors. Several of the humped and jagged islets are riddled with stalactite- and stalagmite-embellished caves. You can explore them along with idyllic beaches and fishing villages built on stilts via long-tail boats or sea kayaking excursions from Krabi, nearby Phuket, or Koh Phi Phi (see pp. 631 and 627). Paddle your way into narrow caverns with barely enough head room. An inky dusk descends at twilight creating shape-shifting shadows around these labyrinths of limestone and tangles of overgrown vegetation.

  This unique topography is what you’ll be gazing at during languid days spent in any of the 42 villas of the Tubkaak Boutique Resort, set on a beautiful remote beach north of Krabi town. But little can beat the well-known Rayavadee Resort, nestled within a tropical rain forest that’s populated by wild monkeys and exotic birdlife. Accessible only by boat through the bay’s towering karst outcroppings, it’s one of the world’s most unusual hotel locations. Three Andaman Sea beaches surround the property, one of which, Phra Nang, is renowned as one of the planet’s most perfect.

  One hour by boat from either Phuket or Krabi are two islands—Koh Yao Yai (Big Long Island) and Koh Yao Noi (Little Long Island)—that represent what Thailand was like when it was first discovered by backpackers decades ago. They are part of a national park, with simple beach-bungalow inns and village homestays—and one breathtakingly beautiful resort. The luxury on offer at the Six Senses Hideaway Yao Noi hints at what may be the island’s not-so-distant future.

  The optimal way to explore the bay’s secret caves is by boat.

  WHERE: 37 miles/60 km east of Phuket (90 scenic minutes by boat). TUBKAAK BOUTIQUE RESORT: Tel 66/75-628-400; www.tubkaakresort.com. Cost: from $250 (off-peak), from $510 (peak). RAYAVADEE RESORT: Tel 66/75-620-740; www.rayavadee.com. Cost: from $650 (off-peak), from $750 (peak). SIX SENSES HIDEAWAY YAO NOI: Tel 66/76418-500; www.sixsenses.com. Cost: from $415 (off-peak), from $850 (peak). BEST TIME: Nov–Mar for cooler, drier weather.

  “City of Mist”

  MAE HONG SON

  Thailand

  Once you spend a morning in Bangkok’s traffic, you may be ready to escape to Mae Hong Son, in the cool hills 600 miles to the northwest and near the border of Myanmar. Tourism has left few Thai towns free of Western impact, but the lovely town of Mae Hong Son, known as the “City of Mist,” fits the bill better than most. (Venture to nearby riverside villages like Soppong and slow-paced Pai for an even more authentic ambience.)

  Mae Hong Son was founded as an elephant training camp in the 1830s and remained cut off from the world until the late 1960s, when a paved road was built from Chiang Mai (see p. 624), 160 miles away. A distinct Burmese influence lingers, especially in the town’s brightly colored and zinc-trimmed temples and stupas.

  Local guides can arrange bamboo rafting trips down the gentle Pai River, bush trekking by elephant, or hiking to tribal villages. It’s a wonderfully peaceful scene; the only time downtown Mae Hong Son really comes alive is for the early-morning market when hill tribe women arrive to buy from and barter with the locals. Things calm down again by breakfast, while the swirling mists that give the town its name lift by late afternoon. That’s the time to motorbike to the top of Doi Kong Mu hill and the 19th-century Wat Phra That temple for a spectacular view of the Pai Valley and the surrounding mountains.

  This area of Thailand is also home to a small but growing number of fine eco-resorts. Set among rice paddies and gentle streams just south of Mae Hong Son, Fern Resort features 40 bungalows built in the Shan style (an ethnic group from this part of Southeast Asia). Airy rooms and stand-alone suites are accented with silk, bamboo, and teak, and the resort’s open-sided restaurant features excellent local food, including the unusual dish of fried tree fern. As for how to spend your days, bird-watching excursions and nature walks provide immersion in the local flora and fauna, while mountain biking and river trips offer gentle thrills.

  Dewy mist gives Mae Hong Son its nickname, the “City of Mist,” or sometimes, the “City of Three Mists.”

  WHERE: 160 miles/257 km northwest of Chiang Mai. FERN RESORT: Tel 66/53-686110; www.fernresort.info. Cost: $85. BEST TIMES: Nov–Feb for cooler and drier weather; early Apr for Poi Sang Long, celebrating the initiation of young boys into Buddhist monkhood.

  Island Trailblazer and Perennial Favorite

  PHUKET

  Thailand

  Known as the Pearl of the Andaman Sea, Phuket—Thailand’s largest island at 210 square miles—offers a cavalcade of gorgeous beaches, inspiring resorts, and more interesting heritage architecture than one might expect. Although much of its innocence and character was diluted in the tourist boom of the 1980s and ’90s, visitors continue to come, these days looking for luxury. In 1988, Amanpuri opened as the inaugural property of Amanresorts, the exclusive hotel chain that is now the standard-bearer of Asian luxury, and it remains the premier property on the island. On a coconut-palmed hillside, 40 open-sided teak pavilions with curved roofs and vaulted ceilings overlook the private Pansea Beach and create the one-with-nature solitude for which Aman is renowned.

  The Banyan Tree, long considered one of Asia’s finest spa hotel groups, was also the first-ever property of the prestigious chain to be built. Twenty open-air spa pavilions offer aromatic and hedonistic treatments, such as the 3-hour Banyan Indulgence, using methods such as Thai acupressure massage and ingredients including lemongrass and cucumber. Tre, the Banyan Tree’s premier restaurant located beside the resort’s private lagoon, showcases French-Vietnamese fusion food using such diverse ingredients as star anise and lotus seeds to accent dishes featuri
ng Wagyu beef and scallops.

  Travelers with deep pockets have long flocked here, but the island is also accessible to vacationers with more modest budgets. The Marina Phuket Resort, on jungle-backed Karon beach, has a can-do staff who gladly arrange day trips by boat to Phangnga Bay (see p. 629) and excursions to the twin islands of Koh Racha Noi and Koh Racha Yai, where divers swim among graceful manta rays and easily accessed wrecks.

  WHERE: 430 miles/690 km southwest of Bangkok. AMANPURI: Tel 66/76-324-333; in the U.S., 800-477-9180; www.amanresorts.com. Cost: pavilions from $525 (off-peak), from $850 (peak). BANYAN TREE PHUKET: Tel 66/76-324-374; in the U.S., 800-591-0439; www.banyantree.com. Cost: villas from $485. MARINA PHUKET RESORT: Tel 66/76-330625; www.marinaphuket.com. Cost: from $100 (off-peak), from $200 (peak). BEST TIMES: Dec–Apr for cooler, drier weather; late Sep–early Oct for Vegetarian Festival with colorful processions, fire walking, and body piercing.

  Highland Honeymoon in the City of Eternal Spring

  DA LAT

  Vietnam

  A cool retreat from the sweltering heat of Vietnam’s coastal plains, Da Lat was a favorite hill station for royalty and the colonial French, who created their own petit Paris here almost 5,000 feet above sea level. Enjoying mild, springlike weather year-round, Da Lat is known as the “City of Love” to Vietnamese honeymooners, who come for the high-country landscape scattered with clear lakes, waterfalls, evergreen forests, and flowering gardens. You’ll want to come for all that too—as well as for the lingering bohemian ambience. Expect to see a few Gauloises-smoking types amongst all the newlyweds. With pedal-your-own giant swan boats and horse-drawn carriages cruising around town, Da Lat can be kitschy, but the glorious scenery and a relative absence of Western visitors make it a delightful detour.

  Daily flights arrive from Ho Chi Minh City, but opt instead to make the 4-hour journey by road, which traverses some of Vietnam’s finest scenery, winding through villages lined with coffee drying at the roadside and eventually emerging in Da Lat’s scenic valleys. Stay at the lakeside Dalat Palace Heritage Luxury Hotel, where traditional French elegance blends with Vietnamese graciousness. Built in 1922, the hotel features a world-class, 18-hole golf course. The Ana Mandara Villas Dalat Resort & Spa, which was built during the same period, comprises 17 renovated villas spread across 35 acres of parkland in the hills surrounding the city. The luxury and attention to detail are definitely 21st century, but an old-world ambience lingers, courtesy of a few telling touches: antique gramophones, period furniture, and the vintage Peugeots used to chauffeur guests around town.

  WHERE: 191 miles/308 km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City. DALAT PALACE: Tel 84/63-3825444; www.dalatpalace.vn. Cost: from $175. ANA MANDARA VILLAS: Tel 84/63-355-5888; http://anamandara-resort.com. Cost: from $125. BEST TIME: Dry season is Nov–Mar; temperatures are consistent through the year.

  The Mythical Bay of Dragons

  HA LONG BAY

  Vietnam

  Vietnamese legend maintains that dragons once descended from heaven and spouted streams of jade droplets into the waters of Ha Long Bay (Vin Ha Long), forming thousands of islands to protect the bay and its people from invading marauders. Today this mysterious body of water on the edge of the Gulf of Tonkin is studded with more than 2,000 outcroppings of all shapes and sizes. The soaring limestone monoliths resemble dogs, elephants, toads, and monkeys—creatures that have inspired the islands’ names. It’s an area that has the shimmering, surreal quality of classical Chinese and Vietnamese paintings, especially when the sails of sampans and junks are silhouetted like giant butterflies against the horizon.

  More than 100 miles long, Ha Long Bay features mostly uninhabited islands and sandy, deserted beaches. Away from the mainland, the bay’s chief population centers are the floating villages and fish farms of local Sea Gypsies. Wooden cruise boats ply the bay’s waters, serving freshly grilled seafood—including huge tiger prawns—that is often caught just minutes before mealtime.

  The largest island in the bay is Cat Ba, a popular overnight stopping point. The Cat Ba National Park features caves and grottoes to explore, including the multichambered Trung Trang Cave. To really experience Ha Long Bay’s hidden lagoons, caves, and fantastic rock formations, consider joining a kayaking trip through the maze of jagged isles. Or sign up for a cruise. More than 300 boats make excursions ranging from a few hours to several days in length. An overnight adventure affords the chance to see craggy limestone peaks being slowly revealed in the indigo dawn of a misty morning. Cruise Halong runs three thoroughly retrofitted boats, including the Halong Violet, a stylish junk imbued with the glamour and style of 1930s Indochina.

  Outcroppings and rock formations make for a unique bay backdrop.

  WHERE: 103 miles/160 km east of Hanoi. CRUISE HALONG: Tel 84/4-3933-5561; www.cruisehalong.com. Cost: 2-day cruise from $700 per cabin, inclusive. Originates in Hanoi. HOW: U.S.-based Mountain Travel Sobek offers 13-day adventure trips that include 4 days kayaking on Ha Long Bay. Tel 888-8317526 or 510-594-6000; www.mtsobek.com. Cost: $4,795, all-inclusive. When: Mar–Oct. WHERE TO STAY: The contemporary Novotel in Ha Long City has large rooms, most with views of the bay. Tel 84/3-3384-8108; in the U.S., tel 800-668-6835; www.novotelhalong.com.vn. Cost: from $80 (off-peak), from $160 (peak). BEST TIMES: Oct–Nov and Mar–Apr are the nicest months of the cooler, drier season.

  A Culinary Outpost, Now a Hot Spot

  THE FOOD SCENE IN HANOI

  Hanoi, Vietnam

  If diving headfirst into a country’s local food culture is one of your reasons for traveling, Hanoi could be your perfect destination. Discerning locals expect the freshest food at their daily markets, and foreign visitors are spoiled for choice with great street food, outstanding local eateries, and well-priced restaurants serving international cuisine. Hanoi’s iconic dish is bun cha—a bowl of fresh rice noodles, shredded herbs and vegetables, and grilled pork, served with a sweet-salty-spicy sauce, crispy crab spring rolls, and as much or little chile and garlic as you’d like. People from all walks of life flock to bun cha stalls, such as the humble Bun Cha Dac Kim.

  The Doan family at Cha Ca La Vong has spent five generations serving up cha ca, or curried Red River fish, its famous solitary dish. The restaurant’s longevity inspired the city to rename the lane out front in its honor. In the no-frills upstairs restaurant, diners cook themselves chunks of seasoned garrupa fish on a clay charcoal brazier, stirring in chives and dill before spooning it into bowls of vermicelli and topping it with shrimp sauce, fried peanuts, and pickled vegetables.

  Among Hanoi’s many excellent modern-Vietnamese, fusion, and international restaurants is the upscale La Verticale, where dishes like lamb with five spices innovatively blend European and Asian influences. More local but equally interesting is Highway 4, with fare inspired by Vietnam’s northern mountain region; its four buzzing outlets serve dishes such as catfish spring rolls and chicken in passion fruit sauce—and, for adventurous palates, locusts roasted with lemon leaves.

  To experience the full range of Vietnamese cuisine in one place, dine at the Spices Garden restaurant, in the Sofitel Legend Metropole. Restored to its original 1920s style, the Metropole sits amid the wide, tree-lined boulevards of Hanoi’s French Quarter, built while the city was capital of French Indochina. In colonial times, the elegant hotel was a gathering place for artists, writers, and government officials, and today it’s the city’s top address again. Book a room in the original building, where the buffed hardwood floors, green-shuttered windows, and other European elements have been carefully preserved. Keen gastrotourists can sign up for Vietnamese cooking classes with the Metropole’s skilled chefs, while everyone else repairs to the top-notch spa—possibly the finest in the city.

  BUN CHA DAC KIM: Tel 84/4-828-5022. Cost: $5. CHA CA LA VONG: Tel 84/4-8253929. Cost:$8. LA VERTICALE: Tel 84/43944-6316; www.verticale-hanoi.com. Cost: dinner $70. HIGHWAY 4: Tel 84/4-37150577; www.highway4.com. Cost: dinner $25. SOFITEL LEGEND METROPOLE: Tel 84/4-8266919; in the U.S., 800-763-4
835; www.sofitel.com. Cost: from $255; dinner at Spices Garden $35. BEST TIMES: Oct–Apr has the least rainfall; Dec–Jan can be cool.

  A Street for Every Ware

  HANOI’S OLD QUARTER

  Vietnam

  Tucked between the green oasis of Hoan Kiem Lake and the Red River, the ancient, mazelike Old Quarter of Hanoi has been a shopping venue since the 15th century. Forty of the quarter’s narrow, crowded streets—Rice Street, Silk Street, and Gold Street among them—are named after the goods once sold there (Bootleg DVD Street and Fake iPad Street have yet to be designated). Open, dilapidated storefronts—compact cubbyholes sometimes just spacious enough to hold a wizened merchant surrounded by goods stacked to the ceiling—give new meaning to “window shopping.” Noodles, flowers, antiques, and handicrafts are yours for the bargaining. The Old Quarter is also one of the city’s most charming neighborhoods. Tree-lined streets, centuries-old temples, and Colonial architecture, including the 19th-century St. Joseph Cathedral, all provide balance to its more mercantile thrust. When the weather is cooler, the Quarter is best explored on foot, but if the tropical heat roils, flag down a cyclo, the city’s ubiquitous pedal-powered version of a rickshaw. When you’re in need of refreshment, ask your driver to drop you at Green Tangerine. This haven from the area’s enjoyable chaos fills a beautifully restored 1928 French town house and offers cuisine that skillfully combines Vietnamese and French flavors. Try the delicious mango tarte tatin.

  If you want a coffee break, ignore the Western-style clones sprouting up around Hanoi, and instead pull up a (very small) plastic chair at a traditional neighborhood café. The sidewalk seating arrangements may be more suitable for preschoolers, but a robust Vietnamese-style café den—with or without a shot of condensed milk—is an adult treat. The Old Quarter also has many fine places to stay, including the trendy, design-conscious Maison d’Hanoi Hanova. The recently built 55-room hotel combines traditional Vietnamese design with modern comforts, and is just a short stroll from serene Hoan Kiem Lake.