All in Accommodation
Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, is one of Asia’s most off-the-beaten-track tourist destinations. For years it’s been considered primarily a backpacker destination, mainly for those island hopping their way between Bali and Australia, but for those seeking a more upmarket hotel experience, Dili now offers some surprisingly good accommodation options.
The iconic Tudor-style Grand Hotel at Nuwara Eliya in the central highlands of Sri Lanka is nearly 200 years old. It looks like it has been plucked directly from the English countryside and oozes old-world charm and sophistication. With luxury accommodation, elegant lounges. and world-class food and beverage outlets, it's the ultimate place to stay when visiting Nuwara Eliya.
If you’re visiting Manila’s historic walled city of Intramuros, it’s best to stay nearby or inside Intramuros if you want to avoid Metro Manila’s notorious traffic jams. We review the accommodation options on offer which includes one of the best and one of the worst hotels in the Philippines. This helpful guide will help you to make the right choice.
If you are looking for a hotel in the $50-100 price range close to the Royal Palace and Sisowath Quay in Phnom Penh, then these reviews of the best value budget hotels in Cambodia’s capital should help you to select a hotel that meets your needs. Phnom Penh offers some of the best value-for-money accommodation options in Asia and is fast becoming one of the most popular destinations on the continent for food lovers.
Southeast Asia has many colonial hotels with rich and varied histories. There are some that once hosted well known literary figures, stars of stage and screen, and were instrumental in the lives of foreign correspondents whilst covering wars in Southeast Asia. Those travellers who love literature and reminiscences of bygone eras will find these hotels worth a visit.
Home exchanges are a wonderful way to experience different cultures. More so if it can be combined with sightseeing in the destination country. This story describes how one couple travelled overland from Istanbul, using ferry, train and buses, to visit some of Turkey’s great UNESCO World Heritage sites on their way to a home exchange in Sarigerme on the Mediterranean coast.
If you are looking for a hotel in Bangkok that combines art deco with the opulence of a bygone era, then the Shanghai Mansion in Chinatown might fit the bill. And if you are lucky enough to be there during Chinese New Year, you’ll have a front row seat to an extravagant street party that is one of the best to experience in Bangkok during that auspicious festival.
As tropical Asia hurtles into the future, much of its colonial heritage is being lost. But reminders of those times are being preserved in the form of some fine old hotels that have been renovated and converted into luxury accommodation. They’re likely to appeal to anyone with an interest in Asia’s colonial history. We take a look at six of them. If staying there is beyond your budget, you can always go for a meal or a drink and take a look around.
Indonesia’s second largest city, Surabaya, is home to one of Asia’s most elegant colonial hotels — the Hotel Majapahit. It’s East Java’s version of Singapore’s Raffles Hotel. With room rates on offer at about a quarter of the price of the Raffles Hotel, it provide travellers with the opportunity to enjoy the stylish elegance of this meticulously maintained historic Southeast Asian hotel at a more affordable price.
Yabbiekayu is a small eco-resort near Yogyakarta, Indonesia, that offers older travellers the chance to relax and de-stress in a rural environment of sustainable living. It provides the opportunity too to learn a little about Javanese culture and visit some of the nearby UNESCO World Heritage listed places such as the Buddhist temple of Borobudur and the Hindu temple of Prambanan.
TIME magazine’s 2018 World’s Greatest Places listing featured many places to visit, eat, drink and stay in Asia. We reviewed the list and came up with the top 20 places that we think will be of most interest to older travellers. These include some diverse and interesting places that have only opened in the past year.
