Best Beaches in Southeast Asia and When to Visit Them

Known For : Rock Climbing in Railey Tham Phra Nang Cave View Point and Lagoon

Railay has no road. You reach it by longtail boat from Ao Nang in about 15 minutes, and that is what keeps the limestone headlands and the sand quieter than Phuket. Railay West is the swimming and sunset side, with water calm enough for a long float from November to April. The cliffs behind it hold some of the best sport climbing in Asia, and Phra Nang beach is a ten minute walk south. In the May to October monsoon the swell builds and boat crossings get cancelled, so this is a dry season beach. Krabi packages average around Rs 31,000 per person.

Best Time: November to March

3 Railay (Rai Leh) Attractions

Langkawi's main strip runs about two kilometres and sits 15 minutes from the airport, lined with jet ski operators, duty free shops and open air restaurants. The water is warm and shallow but silty rather than clear, because this is the Strait of Malacca and not the open Andaman. Jellyfish do turn up here in some months, so ask your hotel before letting children swim. December to March is the driest window. Langkawi packages average around Rs 33,000 per person.

A reef sits offshore at Nusa Dua, breaking the swell and leaving a calm, shallow lagoon behind it. That makes this the Bali beach where you can swim without watching for rip currents, unlike Kuta up the coast. The sand is groomed by the resorts, the crowd is thin and there is a paved coastal walkway instead of a party strip. April to October is the dry season. Bali packages average around Rs 64,000 per person.

Chaweng is the reason to know that Thailand has two coasts. It sits on the Gulf side, which is dry from February to September while the Andaman beaches are wet, and wettest from October to December when Phuket and Krabi are at their best. Seven kilometres of white sand, gently shelving water, and the island's densest run of resorts, bars and restaurants. Samui airport is ten minutes away.

Four kilometres of very fine white sand and shallow turquoise water, and the best swimming on this list. Boracay closed for six months in 2018 for a clean up, and the rules that came with reopening still hold: no drinking or smoking on the sand, no beach parties, nothing built close to the water. Getting there is the real cost. Fly to Manila or Cebu, connect to Caticlan, then take a boat and a van, and allow most of a day. Best from November to May.

Known For : Sao Beach Hon Thom Cable Car An Thoi Archipelago

Bai Sao is on Phu Quoc's southeast coast, a curve of soft, almost white sand about 45 minutes by taxi from the airport. The water is calm and shallow from November to April, which is the island's dry season, and this is the beach to pick if you want to swim rather than look. From May to October the rain is heavier and seaweed collects along the shore. Phu Quoc packages average around Rs 57,000 per person.

Best Time: December - March

46 Phu Quoc Attractions

Kata Noi is a short bay just south of Kata, backed by hills instead of shophouses, and it is the calmest of Phuket's west coast beaches through the November to April high season. From May to October the southwest monsoon brings heavy swell and strong rip currents here. Lifeguards fly red flags on those days and people do drown ignoring them, so treat a red flag as a closure and not a warning.

The most photographed view in Indonesia: a headland shaped like a dinosaur's head with a thin strip of white sand at the bottom of it. Almost everyone stops at the clifftop viewpoint and goes no further. The way down is a steep, exposed scramble on a rough staircase, 30 to 45 minutes each way, and the climb back in the heat is the hard part. Currents at the bottom are powerful and there are no lifeguards, so this is a beach to look at rather than swim off. Nusa Penida is a 45 minute fast boat from Sanur.

My Khe runs for kilometres straight off Da Nang city, so you get a wide, flat, well kept beach with a road, cafes and a hospital behind it. Marked swimming zones and lifeguards operate in season. February to August is dry and calm; September to December brings typhoon swell and rip currents. Hoi An is 30 minutes south, which makes this the easiest first beach trip in Vietnam.

At Langkawi's northern tip, Tanjung Rhu is everything Pantai Cenang is not: no jet skis, no shops, two resorts and a line of casuarina trees the beach is named after. At low tide the sand flats run out far enough to walk towards the islets offshore. There is little shade past the tree line and no food beyond the hotels, so carry what you need. Same December to March dry window as the rest of the island.

An Bang is the beach for Hoi An, 15 minutes by bicycle or taxi from the old town, and it is a row of low beach bars and seafood shacks with loungers out front. Erosion is a real problem along this coast and parts of the shore are held together with sandbags and seawalls, so the sand is narrower than most photos suggest. February to August is the settled season.

Pasir Panjang, or Long Beach, is the busier side of the smaller Perhentian island: white sand, water clear enough to snorkel straight off the shore, and turtles and reef sharks in the shallows. There are no cars, no roads and almost no ATMs, so bring cash. Boats run from Kuala Besut in about 40 minutes. The northeast monsoon shuts this coast from roughly November to February, when most resorts and boats stop entirely. March to October is the season.

Best Time: April to September

Lamai is Samui's second beach and the choice if Chaweng sounds like too much. Same Gulf coast sand and the same February to September dry season, with fewer people, cheaper rooms and food, and a much shorter run of bars. The Hin Ta and Hin Yai rock formations sit at its southern end. The sea shelves more steeply here than at Chaweng and there are rocky patches, so find where the swimming is clear before you get in.

Known For : Snorkelling and Scuba Diving in Koh Lipe Trash Hero Island tours in Koh Lipe

Sunrise Beach, or Hat Chao Ley, is two kilometres on the northeast side of Koh Lipe, and the water off it is the clearest in Thailand. Koh Lipe sits inside the Tarutao marine park near the Malaysian border, and in season a ferry runs straight from Langkawi, which is the simplest way to put two countries into one beach trip. Ferries thin out or stop from mid May to mid October and much of the island closes with them.

Best Time: November to March

17 Koh Lipe Attractions

A wide crescent bay on Lombok's south coast where the sand shelves so gently that the water stays waist deep a long way out. That is why every learner surf school on the island teaches here, and why it suits weak swimmers better than anywhere else on this list. It is about an hour from Kuta Lombok on a slow road, with a few warungs and loungers and not much else. Dry from April to October.

Bamboo Island is a day trip and not a stay: a small island off Phi Phi Don with a bright sandbar along its northern end and reef close enough to snorkel from the shore. Boats run from Phuket, Krabi and Phi Phi. It sits inside a national park that closes islands for part of the low season, so confirm access with your operator before booking. November to April is the reliable window.

Nacpan is four kilometres of open golden sand about 45 minutes north of El Nido town on a rough road, which is why it stays empty compared with the island hopping stops in Bacuit Bay. There is surf here rather than a flat lagoon, and the shore break can be strong, so it is better for long walks and sunsets than for taking small children into the water. November to May is the dry season.

Best Time: November - May

Kuta is where most people learn to surf in Bali: a long grey gold beach with a consistent beginner break, boards for hire and instructors down the whole strip. It is also crowded, loud and backed by traffic. Rip currents are strong and the lifeguards' flags matter. In the November to March wet season, monsoon currents wash rubbish onto the sand, which is worth knowing before you build a Bali trip around it.

The sand really is pink, coloured by crushed red coral mixed through the white. This is a stop on a boat trip from Labuan Bajo on Flores rather than somewhere you stay, usually paired with a ranger escorted walk on Komodo Island, where the dragons are wild and a ranger is compulsory. Snorkelling off the beach is good, currents inside the park can be strong, and you follow the boat crew's call on the day. April to November has the calmest seas.

Saracen Bay is the quietest beach here: a two kilometre crescent of white sand where the ferry from Sihanoukville lands after about 45 minutes. The water is shallow and calm, and there is nothing behind the sand but bungalows, some of them on generator hours. Bioluminescent plankton shows in the water on dark nights. Cambodia has no direct flights from India, so this is a beach you attach to a Siem Reap trip. November to April is dry.

Sentosa's three beaches are man made, with imported sand and a groomed shoreline, and Tanjong is the quiet one at the far end. It is a crescent of palms and cabanas with a beach club at one side. The water is warm but murky, and the Singapore Strait anchorage sits offshore with cargo ships in view. Treat this as a good afternoon inside a city trip rather than a beach holiday.

Haad Rin is the Full Moon Party beach. One night a month it holds a very large all night drinking and dancing event, and in the days around it the southern tip of Koh Phangan is booked out and priced up. If that is not your trip, avoid those dates and look at Chaweng or Lamai on Koh Samui instead, an hour away by ferry. For the rest of the month the sand is good and the bay is quiet.