5 Best remote destinations in Asia

As many Europeans return to Asia for the first time since the pandemic began, a lot may avoid the continent's crowded cities and instead unwind in isolated locations. From hidden walking trails in the jungle to valleys where tourists can float underground, here are five of Asia’s best remote destinations. 

Mae Fah Luang garden

Each day in far northern Thailand, travellers wander a lush mountainside blanketed in dozens of species of colourful flowers. Many would not realise this pretty tourist attraction, Mae Fah Luang Arboretum, was a hub of the world’s most infamous drug region until Thai royalty waged war on gangsters and converted local farms from opium to coffee, nuts and tea. 

Thailand remains plagued by the infamous Golden Triangle, the wild region where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet, which has long been an epicentre of illegal drug production and smuggling. But its impact has been slashed in the past 50 years by a Thai Royal project which encourages locals to abandon opium cultivation in favour of other forms of farming, including cultivating flowers here in this spectacular 10-acre botanic garden.  

Visitors can stroll its meticulously-landscaped grounds, earning views across the mountains towards Myanmar. They can also inspect the stately Royal villa that overlooks the arboretum, built in the 1980s for Thai Princess Srinagarinda, who spearheaded the fight against drug lords. 

Penang National Park

Tourists swarm busy Georgetown, the UNESCO World Heritage listed capital of Penang island which is decorated by a distinctive melange of heritage architecture. Just 50 minutes’ drive away is a pocket of wilderness inhabited by almost 300 species of fauna, and more than 1,000 types of flora.

This is Taman Negara Palau Pinang, which bills itself as Asia’s smallest national park, at just 25sqkm in size. The entrance to this densely-vegetated haven is alongside a magnificent, white sand beach lapped by clear, warm waters and fringed by forest.

Visitors can follow several kilometres of walking trails which lead from here along the coastline or through the interior of the park. Along the way, they pass not just memorable tropical scenery, but likely glimpse exotic wildlife, from turtles to dolphins, monkeys, monitor lizards and white-bellied sea eagles. 

A rowboat prepares to take tourists through Tam Coc

Descending beneath a mountain does not sound like a relaxing experience. Yet Tam Coc in northern Vietnam defies that assumption, with tourists slowly floating on rowboats into serene darkness along the Ngo Dong river. This waterway calmly flows through idyllic scenery of rice fields hemmed by giant karst mountains before piercing three caves.

Located in Ninh Binh Province, a quiet farming region about 2 hours’ drive south of Vietnam’s capital Hanoi, Tam Coc lets tourists hop into rowboats piloted by locals. Visitors can stop along the way to hike to historic temples and through the bucolic countryside. Tam Coc is especially photogenic between June and August when its fields turn golden thanks to the blossoming of its rice fields. 

Bitchu-Matsuyama Castle

It sits at the crest of a lofty peak, looming above an attractive, ancient town lined by original samurai residences and merchant homes. Hidden away here, among thick greenery in this sparsely-populated corner of Okayama, is Japan's oldest surviving castle. 

Dating back almost 800 years, Matsuyama Castle's design and location was intended to make it difficult to attack. It is still is not simple to reach, with visitors needing to hike for half an hour up through forest to reach this isolated castle, which straddles a 430m-tall ridge. 

Although 500 years ago Japan was cloaked by more than 1,000 castles, Bitchu Matsuyama is only of only a dozen which remain in their original form. Inside its well-preserved main hall is a small museum which explains the castle’s long history. 

Bali walking trail

Although they are on located within Bali tourist hub Ubud, the Campuhan Ridge, Jalan Subak and Cajeng Rice Field trails are wonderfully tranquil. At times, while traversing these paths, it’s easy to imagine you’re far from civilisation, ensconced in remote jungle teeming with wildlife. 

The former winds through countryside at the rear of Ubud’s impressive Pura Gunung Lebah temple. About 9km in length, Campuhan Ridge walk’s elevated path ensures visitors earn a panoramic view of the blindingly-green scenery. 

Nearby Jalan Subak and Cajeng Rice Field walks do not provide quite the same sense of being embedded in wilderness. But they do offer beguiling views of rice fields and farming communities. Following them with headphones on, listening to low key music, is a meditative experience. Then again, so is absorbing the sounds of the forest and your own footsteps. 

Read more: Spotlight on Krabi, Thailand

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