All tagged India
Could your idea of a dream Asian holiday be a three-week bar hop visiting some of the best cocktail bars in Asia? If so, here’s an itinerary that you can combine with visits to some of the most exciting cities in Asia, enjoying their cultural and culinary delights during the day, and dressing up for a relaxing evening to sample exquisite cocktails created by Asia’s best mixologists using local ingredients blended with traditional spirits.
Tripadvisor has just published it’s annual top hotel awards for 2023, based on the reviews that travellers leave on its website, and Asian hotels rate highly. Six Asian properties ranked in the prestigious World’s Top 10 Hotels category, and of the Top 25 Hottest New Hotels globally, 12 are in Asia. Here’s a rundown of the Asian winners.
Asia is home to many superstitions and beliefs, some of which date back centuries. Whilst many Westerners may scoff at the rituals that supposedly bring health, wealth and happiness, millions of people continue to follow traditions to bring luck that have been handed down through generations. We take a look at some of the rituals you’ll likely come across in the coming months.
Booking train, bus and ferry tickets in Asia can be difficult if you are not familiar with the routes and transport operators, but online booking apps and websites can make the task much easier. But with hundreds of such online ticketing platforms vying for your business, how can you tell which are the best ones to use. We take a look at reviews of these sites to determine which are the most reliable.
South India has a bewildering number of magnificent temples, many of which attract visitors from all over the world. But for the first time visitor, it’s hard to know where to start. Here one of our local writers who is an experienced world traveller recommends six of the best to visit to help you plan a South India itinerary that won’t disappoint.
Goa on India’s west coast has long been known as a beach and party destination for young Europeans, but it has a lot to offer older travellers too. Aside from its tropical beaches, there are spice plantations, a bird sanctuary, local markets and interesting historic and cultural places to visit, as well as good restaurants to enjoy the local seafood.
Asia is blessed with many of the world’s greatest religious sites, some dating back centuries. While the finest of them enjoy near-universal acclaim, others are less well-known, and many people will have visited sites that mean something special to them. Here are 12 of the best to visit ranging from the famous to some lesser known.
Asia has a surprisingly good number of locations where it is possible to take hot air balloon flights. Drifting over a scenic landscape as the sun rises is both exciting and relaxing, and many travellers who are nervous about flying or suffer vertigo in tall buildings have said that flying in a hot air balloon was one of their most exhilarating experiences ever. It’s a wonderful way to see places from a new perspective.
xyzAsia senior correspondent Alan Williams first visited Asia in 1973 on an overland backpacking trip from South Africa to Kathmandu. It was an era long before the internet or email. He wrote this account soon afterwards, with the trip fresh in his memory. He publishes it now with only minor changes, and without allowing himself the benefit of hindsight. This is the journey as he saw it at the time.
Shaggy and hard-working, the yak plays an essential role in the lives of people on the high plateaus of the Himalayas. It’s a pack animal and important provider of milk, food and much else for communities across the far-flung region. Here are some facts about this distinctively Asian animal.
With some countries opening up in Asia, but no way to get there because many airlines have grounded their international flights, small group travel on private jets offers a way around the restrictions for those who can afford it. We take a look at what one Singapore charter operator is doing to help travellers get around the region.
Some people like to travel on their own while others prefer to travel with partners, friends or in groups. We take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of solo travelling to help you decide whether it’s something you’d like to try in Asia when we are able to get back on the road again.
During periods that we are unable to travel because of coronavirus lockdowns, closed borders or quarantine restrictions, there is only one way to satisfy the travel bug — and that’s through virtual travel from our computers and tablets. We take a look at which websites offer the best virtual travel experiences for when we are stuck at home.
With thousands of international travellers still stranded in Asia, those affected are placing the blame squarely on airlines who prematurely cancelled flights and provided no alternative options for them to get home. Slow and disorganised responses by some governments in mounting repatriation flights have also come in for criticism. However, with death tolls still increasing in the U.S. and some European countries, some travellers have decided to sit out the pandemic in Asia.
In these days of social distancing, health experts recommend that we no longer shake hands given that is a common means by which viruses and other germs are passed from one person to another. For many in Asia, that’s not a problem as local cultures have traditionally used other means of greeting and saying goodbye. For those in the west, there is a lot to be learned from those countries that do not use the handshake as a means of greeting.
The novel coronavirus pandemic is causing many older travellers to put on hold their plans to travel in Asia. People over 60 face the highest risk of dying if they contract the virus. But those who choose to stay at home can still find ways of giving rein to their wanderlust. Here are a few ways how.
