Four remote paradises in Southeast Asia you need to visit before the crowds get there

Avoiding gaggles of tourists at otherwise beautiful locations is becoming increasingly difficult, but it’s not impossible. We’ve picked four of Southeast Asia’s untainted gems where the peace remains relatively undisturbed

Reading Time:3 minutes

A coracle sits on An Hai Beach on Con Son Island, part of Vietnam’s stunning Con Dao archipelago. Photo: Alamy

Published: 12:45pm, 12 Sep 2017Updated: 3:09pm, 12 Sep 2017

With anti-tourism protests hitting Barcelona and Venice recently, and visitor restrictions starting to crop up in other tourist-friendly destinations – you can’t use a selfie stick in certain parts of Milan during summer any more – the appetite for discovering quieter, more remote locations is on the rise.

Southeast Asia offers a multitude of such spots that are just waiting to be explored. Here are some places that remain relatively untainted by tourism and are well worth making the effort to get to – for now, at least.

Barcelona: the good, the bad and the ugly for visitors

Rock formations in the Myeik Archipelago.

Myeik Archipelago, Myanmar

Myanmar is full of idyllic, isolated destinations. One of its real gems is the southern Myeik Archipelago. While many of the 804 dazzling islands remain out of bounds, a handful have started welcoming tourists to their powder white sandy shores.

Lampi Island doubles as a nature reserve (Lampi Island Marine National Park) and is home to an abundance of rare flora and fauna, as well as coral reefs. Barking deer, flying lemurs, leatherback turtles, flying foxes, pythons and two elephants are among the wildlife found in the island’s dense jungle or swimming in the surrounding Andaman Sea. The island also holds a special place in the hearts of the moken – native sea gypsies – who affectionately call it Mother Island.

Getting there: Cathay Dragon flies between Hong Kong and Yangon. From there, fly to Kawthaung, from which the island is a two-hour boat trip away.