Boutique Hotels in Asia

Asia is not one destination but a dozen, and the pleasure of it is how far they sit from one another. A continent that runs from the Maldivian atolls to the mountains of Japan holds more variety than any other, and the way to travel it well is not to rush between capitals but to choose a corner and go deep.
 
Our collection leans, unapologetically, towards the parts of Asia that suit the independent traveller: the boutique hotels and private villas where the owner is often still on site, the design is rooted in local craft, and the sense of place is the whole point. That means the teak houses and hill retreats of Northern Thailand as readily as its islands; the ryokan and design hotels of Japan; the converted shophouses and jungle lodges of Southeast Asia; and the tea estates and backwaters of South Asia.

What connects them is a certain kind of stay, small, characterful and personal, rather than a certain kind of place. Whether you are after a beach with your own pool, a city bolthole within walking distance of the best food of your life, or a genuine retreat a boat-ride from anywhere, the trick is matching the season and the setting to what you actually want. Below, a country-by-country guide to where to begin.

Where to go in Asia

Asia divides, loosely, into a handful of regions, each with its own rhythm and its own best season.
 

Southeast Asia

The heart of our Asian collection. Thailand is the natural starting point, and the most enjoyable to travel slowly: the Gulf and Andaman islands of Koh Samui, Phuket, Koh Phi Phi and Koh Phangan for beaches and pool villas; Hua Hin for an easy weekend by the sea; the cool northern hills of Chiang Mai for teak houses, temples and wellness; and Bangkok for heritage suites and rooftop pools. Neighbouring Vietnam is best travelled north to south, between the beaches of Nha Trang and Phu Quoc and the cities and coast between; Laos is quieter and more contemplative, built around the temple town of Luang Prabang; and

Malaysia pairs Kuala Lumpur with rainforest and islands. For beaches, Indonesia and its island of Bali remain hard to beat.
 

South Asia and the Indian Ocean

For pure beach, the Maldives is the definitive Indian Ocean escape, a matter of choosing the right atoll and the right island. On the mainland, Sri Lanka packs beaches, tea country and ancient cities into a compact, characterful whole, while India is a continent in itself, best approached one region at a time, whether the palaces of Rajasthan, the backwaters of Kerala or the tea estates of the Himalayan foothills.

East Asia

Japan stands slightly apart, and earns the distance: a country where a design hotel in Tokyo, a traditional ryokan with its own hot spring, and a machiya townhouse in Kyoto can all sit within a single trip, and where the change of seasons, cherry blossom, autumn leaves, deep snow, genuinely shapes when to go.
 

When to go

Timing matters more in Asia than almost anywhere. Much of Southeast Asia is at its best from about November to March, drier and cooler, with the monsoon shifting the picture between coasts and months; the Maldives and Sri Lanka have their own two-monsoon rhythm worth checking island by island; and Japan is a year-round proposition that changes character entirely with the seasons. As a rule, decide what you want, beach, culture, mountains, food, then let the season point you to the right country.