Southeast Asia has more islands than any traveller can visit in a lifetime. Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam together have tens of thousands of them, ranging from full-infrastructure resort islands to sandbars with a single family running a beach shack. The islands here operate on a different logic than European ones — the water is warmer, the cost is lower, and the diversity of landscape within a short boat ride is extraordinary.
Thailand: Koh Lanta and the Andaman Sea
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Koh Lanta is what Koh Phi Phi was twenty years ago: long beaches, clear water, laid-back pace, and a fraction of the crowds. The west coast has the main beaches — Long Beach and Klong Dao — with the kind of sunset that turns the whole sea orange. The east coast has the old town of Ban Sala Dan, stilted wooden houses above the water, and the fishing boats that supply the island’s restaurants. Koh Phi Phi is still worth a day trip for the viewpoint and the snorkelling at Bamboo Island, but Lanta is the better base.
Philippines: Palawan
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Palawan is consistently rated among the world’s best islands and the ratings are accurate. El Nido, at the northern tip, sits among hundreds of limestone karst islands with hidden lagoons accessible only through low sea-caves at high tide. Coron, to the east, has some of the best wreck diving in Asia — a fleet of Japanese warships sunk in 1944 now resting in clear, warm water. The island of Busuanga near Coron has freshwater lakes, mangrove forests, and the smallest deer in the world. Port Barton, between El Nido and Coron, is where to go when both of those feel too busy.
Indonesia: Komodo and the Nusa Islands
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The Komodo archipelago delivers the most varied island experience in Indonesia: Komodo and Rinca for the dragons, Pink Beach for the coral-sand shoreline that actually is pink, and the dive sites around Batu Bolong and Crystal Rock that regularly appear on lists of the world’s best. Closer to Bali, the three Nusa islands — Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan — are a day trip from Sanur. Nusa Penida has the Instagram cliffs at Kelingking Beach; Lembongan has the mangrove forest and the surf at Playgrounds; Ceningan connects to Lembongan by a yellow suspension bridge above turquoise water.
Vietnam: Ha Long Bay Islands
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Ha Long Bay has 1,600 limestone islands rising from the Gulf of Tonkin — karst formations draped in jungle, with caves, floating fishing villages, and kayaking routes through sea-caves at low tide. The standard tourist experience is a two-day cruise from Hanoi, which is crowded but functional. The better option is Cat Ba Island, the largest island in the bay, which has hotels, hiking in Cat Ba National Park, and day boat trips to the less-visited Lan Ha Bay to the south. Staying on Cat Ba means the early morning light on the bay — before the day-cruise boats arrive — belongs to almost no one.
