A guide to Cambodia's top places, plus our lesser-known favourites

Ko Yao Yai, or "Big Long Island" in Thai, is only 30km from tip to tip despite its ideas of grandeur, and sits in the middle of Phang Nga Bay roughly halfway between Phuket and Krabi.

India’s coolest and most progressive state capital, Kochi feels like a European city transplanted to the palm-fringed Keralan coast.

A beach town on the edge of a serene freshwater lagoon bursting with wildlife and dotted with fishermen on traditional stilts.

Cambodia’s southwestern province is a fast-developing ecotourism hub sandwiched between the sparkling waters of the Gulf of Thailand and the rolling, jungle-covered mountains of the Cardamom range.

Think barefoot luxury on a tropical desert island and it’s unlikely Cambodia will spring to mind, but if anywhere’s likely to change that – it's the unspoilt gem of Koh Krabey.

The second largest of Cambodia’s islands, Koh Rong is a proper tropical paradise: think white sand, luminous turquoise waters, and chilled-out, palm-shaded beach bars.

Koh Russey, also known as Bamboo Island, is so small that you can cross it in under ten minutes, and so idyllic that it feels like a cliché brought to life.

There’s never a dull moment in Kolkata, a city known in India for its cultural and intellectual life, its enthusiastic sports fans, and its delicious desserts.

Hidden in the mountains of central Laos, the vast chambers, twisted rock formations, and glowing emerald pools of Kong Lor Cave are a geological wonder accessible only on a wet-and-wild sampan ride through the darkness.

Beyond its colonial clock towers, lakeside mosques and ocean-fresh seafood, Sabah’s up-and-coming capital is the gateway to the tallest peak in Southeast Asia and one of the most important areas of biodiversity in the world.

If you’re looking for nostalgic Hong Kong — the gritty, neon-lit street-food markets of post-war photograhs, or perhaps the saturated cityscapes of 1990s Hong Kong as envisioned by Wong Kar-wai — Kowloon is where you’ll find it (or remnants of it, at least).

Krabi’s coastline is the stuff travel dreams are made of. Emerald vegetation clings to dramatic, gravity-defying cliffs, towering limestone pinnacles teeter precariously over the sea, and hundreds of little islands lie waiting to be explored.