Three years after the pandemic halted global travel, most coastal vacation lands in Southern Asia have fully reopened their borders and tourism continues to pick back up.
But the pause on travelers cramming into the region's snorkeler-friendly bays and idyllic beaches afforded a rare opportunity to see Southern Asia's shorelines with a fresh set of eyes.
This week, we look at two of the region’s quieter coasts, which are perhaps lesser-known but hardly less dazzling destinations for either standalone trips or bookending a tour of South and Southeastern Asia's greatest hits.
In Vietnam, writer Chris Schalkx reports from Phú Yên, an ancient fishing village on the country's south-central coast untouched by time — and largely unseen by foreigners.
And on sleepy southernmost edge of Sri Lanka, there is a new optimism in the air, spurred by a post-crisis calm and string of innovative hospitality offerings.
Lunuganga, the private country estate of Geoffrey Bawa, the country’s most famous architect, recently made waves when it announced that a wing of the Tropical Modernist's private property will now accept guest bookings. The news, as one journalist put it, is the design-lover's "equivalent of getting to stay in Beyonce’s actual bedroom.”
And the arrival of ÀNI, a hybrid private-villa-meets-resort concept, to Sri Lanka's southernmost shores is a bellwether both for the region and new era of what one might call "seclusivity," where the exclusivity of a private-yacht experience is married with the crowds-free pleasures of a secluded destination.
A Visit to Vietnam’s Old World
You're forgiven if you can't pinpoint Phú Yên on a map of Vietnam. Even to travelers familiar with the country’s domestic terrain, this small rural province on the south-central shoreline is largely unexplored. Wedged between the foothills of the Annamite Range and over 100 miles of rugged coast, it's a territory of rice farmers and fisherfolk, one mostly out of sight for tourists flocking to the increasingly-busy resort towns of Quy Nhon and Nha Trang.
