Malaysia

Combine three distinct and ancient cultures with indigenous and colonial architecture, shake for a few centuries, and garnish with some of the best food in Southeast Asia, and you've got the irresistible urban cocktail that is George Town.

Cave temples, drowned forests, a town famous for bean sprouts – Perak's highlights are a motley group. This rugged swathe of Peninsular Malaysia is as rewarding for trekkers as gastronomes. Perak (literally 'silver', a nod to its tin-mining boom times) receives only a modest stream of international travellers, but to Malaysians, its attractions are totemic: white coffee, colonial-era architecture, limestone bluffs.

Malaysia’s northeast coast is simply beautiful. Picturesque palm-fringed beaches and bucolic kampung (villages) abound, but what brings folks back to the region time and again are the tantalising tropical islands offshore. ‘Paradise’ barely does these gems justice, though that’ll likely be the word that comes to mind when you first lay eyes on the white sands and azure waters of Pulau Perhentian, Pulau Redang or Pulau Kapas. Snorkellers and divers revel in these crystal-clear waters featuring colorful coral gardens and myriads of fishes.

Lyxbungalows på pålar är ju inte direkt förknippat med budgetresande. Men det finns hopp även för den som har en skral reskassa. I Malaysia kan man nämligen checka in i en villa på vattnet för 97 dollar per natt, eller cirka 815 kronor.

It's easy to see why the colonialist ruler Raja Brooke chose this spot for his capital. Hugging the curves of the languid Sungai Sarawak, Kuching was an ideal trading post between other Asian sea ports and Borneo's interior. It's still a gateway to both jungle and sea, and Kuching’s proximity to national parks makes it the ideal base for day trips to wild coastal and rainforest destinations.

Emerald tea plantations unfurl across Malaysia's largest hill-station area. Temperatures in these 1300m to 1829m heights rarely top 30°C, inspiring convoys of weekenders to enjoy tea and strawberries in the restorative climate. Though technically in Pahang, the highlands are accessed from Perak.

Johor is Malaysia's most populous state and a growing economic power player. Most travel itineraries skip it, but those who stray into the southern gateway to Malaysia will be rewarded with the blissful solitude of its postcard-perfect islands and wild jungles, while getting access to a taste of authentic Malaysian culture and character not easily found in bigger tourist hotspots.

For many visitors, a journey to Peninsular Malaysia's largest state begins and ends on the enchanted isle of Tioman. Between its exhilarating diving, brilliant beaches, vegetation-choked jungle treks and spirited villages, its tropical-island allure is impossible to resist.

Most travelers pause briefly in Pahang's capital and Malaysia's second-biggest port to break up longish bus trips. This is a shame; while the city isn’t especially geared towards tourism, it is definitely interesting enough to warrant a day or two’s exploration. There's an excellent museum, plenty of great places to eat, decent accommodation choices and the nearby sands of Teluk Chempedak with upmarket resort accommodation and beach views. The vast mosque is also a fantastic spectacle when illuminated at night, the padang is huge and refreshingly cool in the morning and at late afternoon, while food markets set up nearby towards evening.

If there's a more thrilling cocktail of Asian cultures than in Penang, we've yet to find it. Penang has long served as the link between Asia’s great kingdoms and an important outlet to the markets of Europe and Western Asia. At its heart is diverse, cosmopolitan George Town, Penang Island's main city and an urban centre that delivers old-world Asia in spades, from trishaws pedalling past watermarked Chinese shophouses to blue joss smoke perfuming the air. The freshest aspects of modern culture are present, too, in the exceptional art scene and free-spirited carnivals, all fed by an infectious local enthusiasm for Penang's long history and kaleidoscope of cultures.