The best places to visit in Asia in 2023, according to guidebook publishers, bloggers and travel companies, include Kyoto, Cebu and Busan (above). Photo: Shutterstock
As we approach the end of the year, guidebook publishers, travel companies and bloggers have been busy compiling their lists of happening holiday spots for 2023.
Some of the destinations are on the verge of being discovered by a wider audience, others are too remote for mainstream tourism and a handful of familiar favourites are back after a deep clean and a spruce-up.
Many of the lists are lengthy and need pruning, so the places featured here are limited to East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
Travel + Leisure asked its editors where they would like to visit in 2023 and divided the 50 answers into categories ranging from Food and Wine to Cultural Riches, Big-City Thrills and Beach Vibes.
A train pulls into Vientiane station on the China-Laos Railway. Photo: Xinhua
The American travel magazine thinks highly of Bhutan, reopened to tourists in September – and the red, white and blue bullet trains that zip across Laos from the capital, Vientiane, to Boten, on the Chinese border, at 160km/h (the World Heritage town of Luang Prabang is the stand-out stopover).
In a list short on Asian entries (not a single beach!) Kyoto makes the cut, despite suffering the effects of overtourism before the pandemic. The Gion Matsuri (said to be Japan’s biggest festival) takes place during July – the raucous street party began in AD869 as a purification ritual to rid Kyoto of an epidemic.
Char kuay teow, a spicy rice noodle dish with prawns, cooks at a roadside stall in Malaysia. Photo: Shutterstock
There is some spectacular diving in Rajah Ampat, in Indonesia’s West Papua Province. Photo: Shutterstock
Kuala Lumpur receives plaudits for its street food in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2023. Roadside hawkers serve up a medley of Chinese, Malay and Indian dishes while Nyonya creations, such as assam laksa (hot and sour noodles in fish soup), have gone global.
The travel publishing titan also raves about Raja Ampat, in Indonesia’s West Papua province. The 1,500-island archipelago benefits from its isolation, including 540 types of coral and more than 1,000 fish species.
The steep, jungle-covered limestone pinnacles, washing-powder-white beaches and bottle-green lagoons would entice many more tourists – if only they could work out how to get there.
National Geographic lists three Asian destinations in its 25 Breathtaking Places and Experiences for 2023. The high-speed Laotian train receives more praise and South Korea’s second city, Busan, is included, thanks in part to its role as host of one of Asia’s most prestigious film festivals.
The Longmen Grottoes with Buddha statues in Henan province, China. Photo: Shutterstock
Then there are the Longmen Grottoes in China’s Henan province. More than 100,000 Buddhist statues were chiselled out of the limestone cliffs of Mount Longmen and Mount Xiang over five centuries from in AD493. The rock art figures vary in size from a few centimetres to 17 metres tall.
Travel publisher Fodor’s has organised its 2023 Go List by continent and offers six Asian suggestions. The 4,000 islands that comprise Si Phan Don (Laos again) get the thumbs up.
Si Phan Don is an archipelago of 4,000 islands in the Mekong River in Champasak, Laos. Photo: Shutterstock
Clear water and tropical rainforest in El Nido, Palawan, the Philippines. Photo: Shutterstock
The remote beauty spot usually sneaks under the tourist radar but in-the-know travellers who make the effort are rewarded with roaring waterfalls, secluded swimming holes and sandy beaches. Which brings us to pristine Palawan.
From Puerto Princesa, the first carbon-neutral city in Southeast Asia, to its gorgeous beaches, world-class dive sites, dense tropical rainforests and the world’s longest navigable underground river, the Philippine island is regularly ranked among the planet’s most beautiful and most environmentally sustainable.
Mausoleums and domes of the historical cemetery of Shahi Zinda, Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Photo: Shutterstock
A snorkeller meets a whale shark in Cebu, the Philippines. Photo: Shutterstock
In its 50 Best Places to Travel in 2023, online guide Travel Lemming focuses on emerging destinations. Asia is represented by clean, green, serene Bhutan and Uzbekistan’s ancient Silk Road cites of Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent.
In another nod to the Philippines, the island of Cebu is hailed for its beaches, waterfalls and whale-shark-watching tours. Also enjoying a spell in the limelight is Xiaoliuqiu, aka Lambai Island, off the coast of Taiwan (scuba diving, kayaking and swimming with sea turtles).
Chiang Rai receives a name check, thanks to the privately owned White Temple art exhibition, sprawling outdoor food court and night bazaar, where sightseers haggle for hill tribe handicrafts.
An elephant crosses the river in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Photo: Shutterstock
Talking of which, the northern Thai city is a convenient base for trekking and elephant rescue centre visits, but choose your tour company carefully. All claim to be culturally sensitive and ethical – not all are. Look for treks hosted by the hill tribe villagers themselves and sanctuaries that don’t feature elephants kicking footballs.
International media company Forbes outsourced its 23 Best Places to Travel in 2023 to the Ovation Travel Group, which selected three Asian candidates.
Naoshima, in Japan, is nominated, principally for its peace and quiet, along with Siem Reap – there’s more to the Cambodian city than proximity to the temple complex of Angkor Wat – and Shimla, Once the summer capital of British India, which was ruled from the cedar-scented settlement in the Himalayan foothills.
The Torii Gate on Naoshima’s sandy beach, in Kagawa, Shikoku, Japan. Photo: Shutterstock
Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, India. Photo: Shutterstock
A tiger in Nagarahole tiger reserve forest, Kabini, Karnataka, India. Photo: Shutterstock
The venerable Clarkes Hotel, Gaiety Theatre, where Rudyard Kipling performed, and Christ Church, with its brass plaque marking the viceroy’s pew, hark back to a bygone era. Nowadays, the Queen of the Hills attracts mainly domestic tourists keen to escape furnace-like conditions on the Indian plains.
The Indian state of Karnataka is one of two Asian representatives in Frommer’s 23 Places for 2023. Bandipur National Park has grown its Bengal tiger population tenfold since it was established almost 50 years ago. Formerly the private hunting grounds of maharajas, the wildlife sanctuary is one of the last refuges of the wild Asian elephant.
The travel guidebook publisher also plumps for the “ancient temples, sushi bars, and neon-soaked, anime-inspired nightlife” of Japan, which, thanks to the weak yen, is “within reach for budget-conscious travellers”.
Narigama beach, Sri Lanka. Photo: Shutterstock
I’ll finish with a recommendation of my own. The tourism industry has faced unprecedented challenges over the past three years. According to a United Nations report, the collapse of international travel cost the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Brunei and Mongolia 1.6 million jobs.
Another nation hit especially hard has been Sri Lanka; earlier this year oil supplies ran out, the economy ground to a halt and acute food shortages led to unrest, culminating in the resignation of the president.
Holidaymakers are finally returning to the teardrop-shaped Indian Ocean island so I’ll flag up the palm-fringed Narigama Beach, and the small town of Ella, hidden high in the hill country amid rolling tea plantations, cloud forests and hiking trails. The locals will be glad to see you.
Source: scmp
