Dublin's best hotels
A design hotel with a saucy side, a guesthouse with a crackling grate and a restored grande dame
Guyan Mitra
From The Sunday Times Travel Magazine January, 2008, issue
The Shelbourne - ‘For Yeats, Princesses and rock stars’
Having rested on its laurels for the last 100 years, The Shelbourne Hotel emerged glamorously from a two-year renovation in March – as much to the excitement of Dubliners as to weekend tourists.
Since it opened in 1824, the hotel has been seen as a locals’ joint first and foremost, thanks to its excellent bars and key role in the city’s history and culture.
The drafting of the Irish Constitution took place in Room 112 in 1922, and, over the years, luminaries from WB Yeats to Bertie Ahern could be found propping up the oak-panelled Horseshoe Bar.
Regulars are relieved that little has been altered in the cosy Horseshoe, while the bright No. 27 Bar has attracted a fashionable new crowd for cocktail hour. Pop into the Saddle Room for dinner, however, and you might clock a Rolling Stone staggering out of the Oyster Bar.
Rooms are just as regal as when Princess Grace of Monaco stayed here back in the ’50s, but the makeover has brought in crisp Italian linens, marble bathrooms and flat-screen TVs.
The renovation has returned this grande dame back to her best, abuzz with class, prestige, and Dubliners drinking Guinness.
The Shelbourne Hotel (00 353 1 663 4500) has doubles from £210, room only.
The Dylan - ‘Indulge in a Kama Sutra massage oil’
If The Shelbourne represents the historic heart of Dublin, then The Dylan is the brazen face of new money. In a swish postcode (D4) where property prices are rivalled only by Mayfair and the Upper East Side, The Dylan elbows out the also-rans as Dublin’s latest design hotel.
Instead of the yawningly rolled-out minimalist look, The Dylan has opted for the opposite end of the design spectrum with a collage of inspirations – Georgian here, Asian there, and hints of Rococo everywhere.
Set in a Victorian townhouse, the rooms mix the obligatory hi-tech gadgetry with sensuous luxury, urging you to indulge in a Kama Sutra massage oil kit or candle-lit, rose petal-filled bath.
The main draw is the hotel bar, which plops buttoned-velvet sofas and Murano chandeliers on a lime-green and blood-red background. Here the (Dubl)-in crowd pouts and poses while raising a pinkie over the best Bellini in town.
The restaurant, Still, serves fancy fare, such as assiette of rabbit and salmon gravadlax, in swanky white surroundings – its nouveau riche decor makes it clear that this is Platinum-card territory. Like the hotel, Still is best kept for those occasions when only somewhere one-in-a-million will do.
The Dylan (00 353 1 660 3000, www.dylan.ie) has doubles from £166, room only.
Number 31 - ‘Guests come back for the “Full Irish” alone’
There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread to make you feel at home. So perhaps it’s the owners’ doughy habit – fruit, white and soda go in the oven every afternoon at 1pm – that keeps drawing visitors back to Number 31. Or maybe it’s the open peat fire licking about in the sunken lounge, imbuing the place with a cosy feel and oaky aroma.
The smells are much needed – luring you down an alley with no signpost to Number 31, where owners Noel and Deirdre extend a jovial reception, as if to congratulate you for discovering their lovely abode.
The 21-room property inhabits a Georgian townhouse and a Modernist mews. Rooms are simple but sink-into comfy, with high ceilings, wooden blinds, marble bathrooms and large, handsome beds. A few minutes’ walk from the city centre and the chic neighbourhood of Ranelagh, the location is spot-on for shopping, sightseeing and socialising.
Noel is one of those types born to run a guesthouse, dispensing volumes of local knowledge (and gossip) – which helps explain why every guest seems to be on their umpteenth visit. Most say they keep coming back for the breakfast alone: a lively affair with poached pears, muesli, the ‘Full Irish’ and, of course, plenty of fresh bread.
Number 31 (00 353 1 676 5011) has doubles from £115, B&B.
Best of the rest…
THE SCHOOLHOUSE HOTEL…is a converted Victorian schoolhouse by the canal, with a boisterous bar attached. Doubles from £199, B&B (00 353 1 667 5014, www.schoolhousehotel.com).
BROWNES… has a Georgian theme with looming ceilings and open fireplaces. Doubles from £175, room only (00 353 1 638 3939, www.steinhotels.com).
ABERDEEN LODGE… is a B&B in the chic Ballsbridge area, which garners rave reviews from guests who return time and again. Doubles from £100, B&B (00 353 1 283 8155, www.halpinsprivatehotels.com).
ELIZA LODGE GUESTHOUSE…is within stumbling distance for partying in the hip Wexford St or Temple Bar areas. The best rooms have Jacuzzis and views of the river. Doubles from £100, B&B (00 353 1 671 8044, www.dublinlodge.com).
HOTEL ISAACS… is a large hotel near O’Connell St, with a mix of rooms from regal Georgian suites to business-style twins. Doubles from £55, room only (00 353 1 813 4700, www.isaacs.ie).
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Six of the Best Irish Pubs
Six of the best Irish pubs
From Dublin to the remote taverns of Kerry’s Atlantic coast, the Irish pub scene mixes trad with the rad
Guyan Mitra
From The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
O’Connell’s, Skryne Hill, County Meath
If you think the exterior of this pub looks familiar, it’s because Guinness liked its stunning location (high above the sea on Skryne Hill) so much that they used the pub in one of their adverts. Lush green hills tumble out towards Dublin, and the noise of the waves masks the chatter around the bar.
Regulars don’t come to O’Connell’s for the view though, or the interior design: the only furniture in its two rooms is a line of rickety wooden benches along the wall, a few stools at the bar and a battered old pool table. But Mrs O’s (as it’s known in these parts) has one of the warmest welcomes in the country.
Smiley soaks turn their heads to the door and greet every newcomer, while the elegant old landlady shuffles around the pub solicitously until she’s sure that everyone’s happy.
The only evidence that you haven’t been transported back to an older, friendlier time is the dates on the newspapers (although there’s still a few yellowing cuttings decorating the place – mostly concerning sports and the ancient Hill of Tara burial site down the road).
As the evening draws in and the stout and whiskey take hold, the banter among the locals and the landlady reaches an almighty crescendo (Mrs O shells out so many free pints to help the atmosphere along that it’s a wonder she keeps a roof over her head).
Her favourite nights, she says, are when the fiddles and bodhráns (shallow one-sided drums) take over the corner by the grate fireplace – and everyone joins in a singsong.
O’Connell’s, Skryne Hill, County Meath (00 353 46 902 5122).
The Bulman, Kinsale, County Cork
Why does a pub need its own pier? Well how else are they going to source their famous claw-cluttered trays of crustaceans?
And the exquisite seafood isn’t the only reason to moor up at The Bulman: after an afternoon spent boating around a yacht-filled harbour, where baby-blue skies blend into bottle-green briny, this solitary little watering-hole on the edge of the shore is a welcome stop-off point.
Known, incongruously, as the Monte Carlo of Ireland, the south coast town of Kinsale earns its nickname with clement weather, posh food and glamorous residents. In fact, anybody who’s achieved anything in Ireland has a palatial home here – and spends plenty of time in The Bulman.
Chris de Burgh and film director Neil Jordan can often be heard setting the world to rights under the kitsch glass lampshades that hang from the stone ceilings, in front of a backdrop of ragged stone walls and an open fireplace. But nobody gets much serious talking done on Wednesdays or Thursdays, when violins, harpsichords and tin whistles invade the bar for the always-raucous traditional music nights.
To pass yourself off as a Bulman regular though, order a pint of Murphy’s (the local stout of choice in Cork, not ‘that Dublin muck’ Guinness), and join the patter among the punters outside, where the singsong lilt of the Cork accent and the lapping Atlantic provide a jovial soundtrack to a drink or few in the sunshine.
l The Bulman, Summercove, Kinsale, County Cork (00 353 21 477 2131, www.thebulman.com).
Cassidy’s, Dublin
Cassidy’s is the latest arrival to make a ripple in the boozy ocean of pubs on the Dublin scene.
The five-storey building couldn’t be more central, just a stone’s throw south of the Liffey Bridge, which unofficially marks the city’s mid-point.
And – despite having been open for little more than a year – the place already feels like a city institution thanks to the constant crowd of agreeably scruffy hacks who work around the corner in the Irish Times offices. Wednesday night is student night though, when Trinity College’s debating and traditional music societies make the short walk from their lecture halls to intellectualise, sing and dance.
It’s a seriously merry affair with deliberating academics shouting over humming bagpipes in the pub’s two ecclesiastically-themed lower floors. On the second storey, meanwhile, Cassidy’s
26-year-old landlord Barry has ambitiously changed tack and installed a Charleston-themed cocktail bar. A white grand piano stands out against the red, black and purple velvet cushions.
And, as you’d expect, it’s serving slightly more exotic tipples: try the Tipsy Trinity – a lethal mix of fresh cranberry juice, vodka and Jägermeister. Or, if you want to go straight for the mainline, they also serve vodka and Red Bull. On tap.
Strangely, the combination of traditional Irish pub and burlesque cocktail bar works, and Cassidy’s brings in Dublin’s young and beautiful crowd for a very mixed kind of craic.
Cassidy’s, 27 Westmoreland Street, Dublin (00 353 1 670 8604, www.cassidysbar.ie).
South Pole Inn, Annascaul, County Kerry
An old chap spinning a yarn is the essential accompaniment to any pint in Ireland.
At the South Pole Inn, the yarn spins to the other side of the Earth and back. Founding landlord Tom Crean opened for business in the village of Annascaul in 1927, after Antarctic expeditions with Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton.
He’d decided to dedicate the rest of his life to the less demanding career of pulling pints, but word has it that his wife, Ellen, did all the work while he regaled wide-eyed patrons with tales of his travels.
Now, decades later, the pub has been carefully restored to its original 1920s state, with wooden tables, stone walls and a crackling fireplace that toasts the toes of ramblers stopping off on hikes along the Dingle Peninsula. Photos of ‘Tom the Pole’ on his various expeditions adorn the walls; pull a stool up to the bar, invest in a nice Jameson for any of the elderly flat-capped regulars and ask them to tell you about the time Tom bravely strode alone for 50km to get help for his snowed-in, scurvy-ridden companions.
It’s a heroic story (no doubt enriched by years of whiskey-induced poetic licence), and made all the grander for the rural Kerry drawl it’s told in.
l South Pole Inn, Annascaul, County Kerry (00 353 66 915 7388).
The Gravity Bar, Dublin
It’s shamelessly touristy but no visit to the capital would be complete without a trip to The Guinness Storehouse and its brewery. It’s the thumping heart of alcoholic Ireland, from which thousands of kegs of the ‘black stuff’ are pumped through the main arteries of the country each day.
You can take a tour and learn about the brewing process, find out how to pull the perfect pint, and visit a tasting laboratory – or just head straight up to the seventh-floor Gravity Bar. The circular room feels like a spaceship hovering 40m above ground, but is actually perched on top of the old 1904 brewery building – with spectacular 360º views across Dublin from its floor-to-ceiling windows.
Take in a panorama of grey skies etched with the ragged chimneys of the Georgian city to the west; pull up a pew on the south-facing side to drink in the shadow of the Dublin Mountains; or look east to the sights of the city centre, with the River Liffey snaking out to the Irish Sea.
You can’t just walk in on views this good, though; in fact, there are only two ways of getting in: you either come on one of the daytime tours, or blag your way into one of the regular evening private parties (not as hard as it sounds; Dublin’s an open-book sort of city).
And aside from the views and celeb-filled bashes, there’s another reason to visit: this place serves the best pint of Guinness in the world.
l The Gravity Bar, Guinness Storehouse, St James’s Gate, Dublin (00 353 1 408 4800, www.guinness-storehouse.com). Tours cost £10 (includes a free pint).
Moran’s Oyster Cottage, Kilcogan, County Galway
It’s the picture-postcard image of an Irish lunch: the silky black pint, the creamy ribbon on top, and the ramshackle pile of oysters. The argument as to where you’ll find the best aphrodisiac mollusc in Ireland is an old one, but Moran’s has featured heavily in that discussion since the mid-1700s, when the thatched-roof cottage-cum-pub served its first.
Landlord Willie Moran grows his own oysters for the bar in a Bond-like secret location nearby. Fittingly, Roger Moore has popped in for a visit, as has Woody Allen. The oysters have even been given royal approval by the Emperor of Japan – who probably knows a thing or two about fine seafood.
And when gourmet types descend on Galway for the annual September Oyster Festival in Clarenbridge, Moran’s is always their first stop.
Indeed, with the sun peeking through the West Country drizzle, there are few finer places to slurp at shellfish than the wooden tables on the shores of this weir, which opens on to the Atlantic. Swans glide by, while in the distance oyster fishermen work knee-deep in water. If it’s raining – it occasionally happens here – grab an inside table by the peat fire and breathe in its homely, oaky aroma. Order slivers of smoked salmon and some freshly baked soda bread.
You’re only a thick layer of Irish butter and a lemon squeeze away from cosy culinary perfection.
Moran’s Oyster Cottage, The Weir, Kilcogan, Galway (00 353 91 796113, www.moransoystercottage.com)
From Dublin to the remote taverns of Kerry’s Atlantic coast, the Irish pub scene mixes trad with the rad
Guyan Mitra
From The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
O’Connell’s, Skryne Hill, County Meath
If you think the exterior of this pub looks familiar, it’s because Guinness liked its stunning location (high above the sea on Skryne Hill) so much that they used the pub in one of their adverts. Lush green hills tumble out towards Dublin, and the noise of the waves masks the chatter around the bar.
Regulars don’t come to O’Connell’s for the view though, or the interior design: the only furniture in its two rooms is a line of rickety wooden benches along the wall, a few stools at the bar and a battered old pool table. But Mrs O’s (as it’s known in these parts) has one of the warmest welcomes in the country.
Smiley soaks turn their heads to the door and greet every newcomer, while the elegant old landlady shuffles around the pub solicitously until she’s sure that everyone’s happy.
The only evidence that you haven’t been transported back to an older, friendlier time is the dates on the newspapers (although there’s still a few yellowing cuttings decorating the place – mostly concerning sports and the ancient Hill of Tara burial site down the road).
As the evening draws in and the stout and whiskey take hold, the banter among the locals and the landlady reaches an almighty crescendo (Mrs O shells out so many free pints to help the atmosphere along that it’s a wonder she keeps a roof over her head).
Her favourite nights, she says, are when the fiddles and bodhráns (shallow one-sided drums) take over the corner by the grate fireplace – and everyone joins in a singsong.
O’Connell’s, Skryne Hill, County Meath (00 353 46 902 5122).
The Bulman, Kinsale, County Cork
Why does a pub need its own pier? Well how else are they going to source their famous claw-cluttered trays of crustaceans?
And the exquisite seafood isn’t the only reason to moor up at The Bulman: after an afternoon spent boating around a yacht-filled harbour, where baby-blue skies blend into bottle-green briny, this solitary little watering-hole on the edge of the shore is a welcome stop-off point.
Known, incongruously, as the Monte Carlo of Ireland, the south coast town of Kinsale earns its nickname with clement weather, posh food and glamorous residents. In fact, anybody who’s achieved anything in Ireland has a palatial home here – and spends plenty of time in The Bulman.
Chris de Burgh and film director Neil Jordan can often be heard setting the world to rights under the kitsch glass lampshades that hang from the stone ceilings, in front of a backdrop of ragged stone walls and an open fireplace. But nobody gets much serious talking done on Wednesdays or Thursdays, when violins, harpsichords and tin whistles invade the bar for the always-raucous traditional music nights.
To pass yourself off as a Bulman regular though, order a pint of Murphy’s (the local stout of choice in Cork, not ‘that Dublin muck’ Guinness), and join the patter among the punters outside, where the singsong lilt of the Cork accent and the lapping Atlantic provide a jovial soundtrack to a drink or few in the sunshine.
l The Bulman, Summercove, Kinsale, County Cork (00 353 21 477 2131, www.thebulman.com).
Cassidy’s, Dublin
Cassidy’s is the latest arrival to make a ripple in the boozy ocean of pubs on the Dublin scene.
The five-storey building couldn’t be more central, just a stone’s throw south of the Liffey Bridge, which unofficially marks the city’s mid-point.
And – despite having been open for little more than a year – the place already feels like a city institution thanks to the constant crowd of agreeably scruffy hacks who work around the corner in the Irish Times offices. Wednesday night is student night though, when Trinity College’s debating and traditional music societies make the short walk from their lecture halls to intellectualise, sing and dance.
It’s a seriously merry affair with deliberating academics shouting over humming bagpipes in the pub’s two ecclesiastically-themed lower floors. On the second storey, meanwhile, Cassidy’s
26-year-old landlord Barry has ambitiously changed tack and installed a Charleston-themed cocktail bar. A white grand piano stands out against the red, black and purple velvet cushions.
And, as you’d expect, it’s serving slightly more exotic tipples: try the Tipsy Trinity – a lethal mix of fresh cranberry juice, vodka and Jägermeister. Or, if you want to go straight for the mainline, they also serve vodka and Red Bull. On tap.
Strangely, the combination of traditional Irish pub and burlesque cocktail bar works, and Cassidy’s brings in Dublin’s young and beautiful crowd for a very mixed kind of craic.
Cassidy’s, 27 Westmoreland Street, Dublin (00 353 1 670 8604, www.cassidysbar.ie).
South Pole Inn, Annascaul, County Kerry
An old chap spinning a yarn is the essential accompaniment to any pint in Ireland.
At the South Pole Inn, the yarn spins to the other side of the Earth and back. Founding landlord Tom Crean opened for business in the village of Annascaul in 1927, after Antarctic expeditions with Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton.
He’d decided to dedicate the rest of his life to the less demanding career of pulling pints, but word has it that his wife, Ellen, did all the work while he regaled wide-eyed patrons with tales of his travels.
Now, decades later, the pub has been carefully restored to its original 1920s state, with wooden tables, stone walls and a crackling fireplace that toasts the toes of ramblers stopping off on hikes along the Dingle Peninsula. Photos of ‘Tom the Pole’ on his various expeditions adorn the walls; pull a stool up to the bar, invest in a nice Jameson for any of the elderly flat-capped regulars and ask them to tell you about the time Tom bravely strode alone for 50km to get help for his snowed-in, scurvy-ridden companions.
It’s a heroic story (no doubt enriched by years of whiskey-induced poetic licence), and made all the grander for the rural Kerry drawl it’s told in.
l South Pole Inn, Annascaul, County Kerry (00 353 66 915 7388).
The Gravity Bar, Dublin
It’s shamelessly touristy but no visit to the capital would be complete without a trip to The Guinness Storehouse and its brewery. It’s the thumping heart of alcoholic Ireland, from which thousands of kegs of the ‘black stuff’ are pumped through the main arteries of the country each day.
You can take a tour and learn about the brewing process, find out how to pull the perfect pint, and visit a tasting laboratory – or just head straight up to the seventh-floor Gravity Bar. The circular room feels like a spaceship hovering 40m above ground, but is actually perched on top of the old 1904 brewery building – with spectacular 360º views across Dublin from its floor-to-ceiling windows.
Take in a panorama of grey skies etched with the ragged chimneys of the Georgian city to the west; pull up a pew on the south-facing side to drink in the shadow of the Dublin Mountains; or look east to the sights of the city centre, with the River Liffey snaking out to the Irish Sea.
You can’t just walk in on views this good, though; in fact, there are only two ways of getting in: you either come on one of the daytime tours, or blag your way into one of the regular evening private parties (not as hard as it sounds; Dublin’s an open-book sort of city).
And aside from the views and celeb-filled bashes, there’s another reason to visit: this place serves the best pint of Guinness in the world.
l The Gravity Bar, Guinness Storehouse, St James’s Gate, Dublin (00 353 1 408 4800, www.guinness-storehouse.com). Tours cost £10 (includes a free pint).
Moran’s Oyster Cottage, Kilcogan, County Galway
It’s the picture-postcard image of an Irish lunch: the silky black pint, the creamy ribbon on top, and the ramshackle pile of oysters. The argument as to where you’ll find the best aphrodisiac mollusc in Ireland is an old one, but Moran’s has featured heavily in that discussion since the mid-1700s, when the thatched-roof cottage-cum-pub served its first.
Landlord Willie Moran grows his own oysters for the bar in a Bond-like secret location nearby. Fittingly, Roger Moore has popped in for a visit, as has Woody Allen. The oysters have even been given royal approval by the Emperor of Japan – who probably knows a thing or two about fine seafood.
And when gourmet types descend on Galway for the annual September Oyster Festival in Clarenbridge, Moran’s is always their first stop.
Indeed, with the sun peeking through the West Country drizzle, there are few finer places to slurp at shellfish than the wooden tables on the shores of this weir, which opens on to the Atlantic. Swans glide by, while in the distance oyster fishermen work knee-deep in water. If it’s raining – it occasionally happens here – grab an inside table by the peat fire and breathe in its homely, oaky aroma. Order slivers of smoked salmon and some freshly baked soda bread.
You’re only a thick layer of Irish butter and a lemon squeeze away from cosy culinary perfection.
Moran’s Oyster Cottage, The Weir, Kilcogan, Galway (00 353 91 796113, www.moransoystercottage.com)
South East Asia's Best Beaches
Southeast Asia's best beaches
It’s hard to find a scrap of white sand to call your own these days – but they do exist. Try these pure shores...
Guyan Mitra
From the December issue of The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
Think of a Southeast Asian beach holiday, and you’ll probably imagine vast swathes of sand, shaded by coconut trees that lean in to sip at mouthwash-blue water.
Book a Southeast Asian beach holiday, however, and you may find yourself on a strip crowded with hulking chain hotels, neon-lit go-go bars and cackling, dollar-hungry hawkers.
The hunt for untouched, idyllic beaches around these parts has traditionally been the preserve of intrepid backpackers: the only types with the time, the temperament and the trust funds to sort the brash from the beautiful.
But with Asian infrastructure modernising at an Industrial Revolution pace and low-cost airlines spreading their wings across the continent, buses and rucksacks are not the only way. You, too, can find your own slice of serenity.
BEST FOR
LITERATURE-LOVERS: Matinloc Island, Philippines
The novel of choice for Southeast Asian sunseekers is Alex Garland’s The Beach, based in an undiscovered paradise. Ironically, most flick through it while sprawled shoulder-to-shoulder on a sunlounger-heavy stretch. Perhaps it’s because they followed Garland at his word and headed for Thailand – where the film version was shot – when the isolated haven that is thought to have inspired him is actually in the northern Philippines.
Hidden on the east coast of sparsely populated Matinloc Island (pictured), ‘Secret Beach’ is word-for-word accurate to the cult novel’s depiction: a pond-still, mint-green lagoon circled by milky-white sand and sealed in by soaring limestone cliffs, which stand as protectorates defending it.
Don’t miss: The entrance. As described in the novel, the best way to reach the beach is by swimming into the lagoon through a crack in the outer limestone wall.
Stay: Miniloc Island Resorts (00 63 2894 5644, www.elnidoresorts.com), a 20-minute speedboat ride away from Matinloc Island, is a strip of cottages sandwiched between rainbow coral and green limestone cliffs. Garden cottage from £122pp, full board.
Get me there: Cathay Pacific (020 8834 8888, www.cathaypacific.com) flies to Manila from Heathrow, from £540 return. Sea Air (00 63 2849 0100, www.flyseair.com) flies from Manila to El Nido from £52, one way.
BEST FOR CRUSOE WANNABES: Gili Meno, Indonesia
The smallest and quietest of the three Gili Islands, just off Lombok’s northwestern tip, is no more than a sun-baked mound of sand sprouting coconut trees. A near-perfect hoop of beach (above) circles the one-by-one kilometre patch, and there’s little to do but listen to the waves and count grains of sand… Which is exactly why you washed up here.
Don’t miss: Turtles, reef sharks and the neon-hued coral and marine life (the fishermen are paid not to dynamite their catch here).
Stay: Villa Nautilus (www.villanautilus.com) has comfy Balinese-style villas with private sundecks facing the beach, from £42, B&B.
Get me there: Singapore Airlines (0844 800 2380, www.singaporeair.com) flies from Heathrow to Lombok, via Singapore, from £665 return. Villa Nautilus (see above) can arrange boat transfers from Lombok (one hour).
BEST FOR FRANCOPHILES: Kep, Cambodia
Once Indochina’s homage to the Côte d’Azur, the golden coves around Kep-sur-mer (as it used to be known) made up the region’s most famous beach resort. These days, many of the splendid old French villas are as overgrown as the temples of Angkor, but Kep (above) is slowly being spruced-up and the tourists are trickling back. Gallic touches are everywhere – from Provençal architecture to the steaming pots of bouillabaisse-influenced crab curry.
Don’t miss: A day trip to Rabbit Island. This uninhabited cluster of beaches is reminiscent of those found in Thailand 30 years ago.
Stay: Knai Bang Chatt (00 885 2321 2194, www.knaibangchatt.com) harks back to Kep’s pre-civil-war heyday, with its Art Deco exterior and dark woods. Doubles from £92, room only.
Get me there: Thai Airways (0870 606 0911, www.thaiair.com) flies from Heathrow to Phnom Penh, via Bangkok, from £657 return. It’s a three-hour taxi ride to Kep (£30).
BEST FOR DIVERS: Sipadan, Malaysia
No more than a speck of sand in the fluorescent waters of the Celebes Sea, Sipadan (pictured) has desert-island looks and heart-stopping aquatic beauty. Jacques Cousteau described the islet ‘an untouched piece of art’. It’s also a diver’s Holy Grail: a couple of lengths out to sea and you’re floating above a 600m coral wall that’s home to more than 3,000 species of fish. Look out for sharks, eagle rays, turtles and barracudas.
Don’t miss: Diving with endangered scalloped hammerhead sharks. Sipadan is one of the few places in the world where you can see these odd-looking creatures with their dustpan-shaped heads. Don’t worry: the schools that head to Sipadan’s reef wall are here to breed, not feed, so the chances of being eaten are slim.
Stay: Sipadan Water Village (00 60 8975 1777, www.swvresort.com) is a 10-minute speedboat ride away on Mabul island. Your home will be in one of 45 ‘Bajau Laut’ (local sea gypsy) cottages on stilts above the water. Morning dips are a cinch: throw yourself off the balcony into the coral garden below. Doubles from £210, room only.
Get me there: Air Asia (0845 605 3333, www.airasia.com) flies from Stansted to Tawau, via Kuala Lumpur, from £300 return. Sipadan Water Village can arrange car and boat transfers (three hours) from Tawau.
BEST FOR GROWN-UP BACKPACKERS: Bottle Beach, Koh Phangan, Thailand
Best reached by long-tail boat from the fishing village a few coves along the coast of Koh Phangan, this perfect banana-like curl of beach (left) is cut off from the rest of the island by impassable jungle. It made its name as the ‘chill out’ beach during Koh Phangan’s Full Moon Party heyday in the ’80s, and is now drawing second visits from grown-up hippies.
There’s one important difference though: now, instead of didgeridoos and bongos in well-worn backpacks, tourists bring BlackBerries and trolley suitcases stuffed with nappies. Despite the more mature crowd, this stretch has a relaxed vibe, with open-to-all games of beach volleyball and nightly bonfires.
Don’t miss: The tastiest Thai curry on the island at Smile Restaurant. At the far western end of the beach, guests play cards around knee-high tables, while ‘Mama’ -– as she’s affectionately known -– whips up fiery hot kingfish curries.
Stay: Haad Khuad Resort (book through www.phangan.info/bottlebeach/index.htm) has the fanciest digs for the newly discerning clientele, with split-level beach bungalows. From £20, room only (closed Oct 21 to Dec 20).
Get me there: Thai Airways (0870 606 0911, www.thaiair.com) flies from Heathrow to Koh Samui, via Bangkok, from £620 return. Haad Kuad Resort (see above) can arrange boat transfers to Koh Phangan (30 minutes).
BEST FOR TRAILBLAZERS: Karma Beach, Koh Lipe, Thailand
Hate those smug I-was-there-before-anyone-knew-about-it travellers? Go to Koh Lipe and you’ll get one over on them. This paradise island in the Andaman Sea has been home to the semi-nomadic Chao Leh people (known as sea gypsies) for centuries. And, for the moment, it’s still more a fishing base than a tourist hotspot.
Just north of Koh Lipe’s only fishing village you’ll find Karma Beach – the island’s prettiest stretch – with a Maldivian-style, squeaky-white sandbank that juts out into luminous, coral-filled waters. What you won’t find are any major hotel developments: the big guns haven’t made it here… yet.
Don’t miss: The rest of the islands that make up the Butang archipelago. Kho Rawi (20 minutes by taxi-boat from Karma Beach) has some spectacular dusk-orange coves to explore, as well as a Bounty-ad beautiful (but ice-cold) waterfall.
Stay: Scattered across the clifftop overlooking Karma Beach, Mountain Resort (www.mountainresortkohlipe.com) has basic-but-comfy wooden bungalows, with yawning views across the Andaman Sea. Doubles from £22, B&B.
Get me there: Thai Airways (0870 606 0911, www.thaiair.com) flies from Heathrow to Hat Yai, via Bangkok, from £677 return. From here, Mountain Resort (see above) can arrange car and boat transfers (three hours).
BEST FOR SEAFOOD-LOVERS: Bai Sao Beach, Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam
Phu Quoc is a classic example of the double-sided Southeast Asian beach scene. Its over-developed corners are a clutter of concrete and Coca-Cola parasols, but slices of solitude can be unearthed if you know where to look. Head for Bai Sao Beach on the east coast for a glimpse of how the island looked before the tourists conquered: a long silk scarf of white sand, with only fishermen to disturb the peace.
Don’t miss: Nearby Han Ninh fishing village, where local traders gather daily with mounds of wriggling catch. You’ll see freshly caught mackerel, langoustine and anchovy – vital for the pungent fish sauce that’s made locally.
Stay: My Lan has the only rooms on Bai Sao Beach itself – pretty basic wooden shacks from £10pp. Luxury-lovers should head for Cassia Cottage (00 84 7738 48395, www.cassiacottage.com), 30 minutes away on Ba Keo Beach; from £90, room only.
Get me there: Thai Airways (0870 606 0911, www.thaiair.com) flies from Heathrow to Ho Chi Minh City, via Bangkok, from £700 return. Vietnam Airlines (00 84 8383 20320, www.vietnamairlines.com) flies from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc from £47 return.
BEST FOR WILDLIFE-ENTHUSIASTS: Golden Beach and Turtle Beach, Malaysian Borneo
These slivers of sand in Similajau National Park are where the undergrowth of Borneo tumbles down to the South China Sea. On Turtle Beach, a waterfall cascades through a succession of rapids onto the sand, gloriously announcing to the ocean that the jungle has arrived.
This is a place for lovers of creatures great and small: hornbills screech and squawk over the honeyed beaches, while salt-water crocs sunbathe on the banks of the estuaries and rock pools (needless to say, these stretches aren’t for swimming). You’ll even see two kinds of dolphins: river and ocean dwellers.
Don’t miss: The chance to watch sea turtles laying their eggs in April. It can be a tiring vigil to stay up all night staring at the silvery moonlight – but it’s worth the wait, when you see mama turtles emerging from the sea to deposit their tiny eggs on the beach.
Stay: Accommodation is run by the National Park (00 606 082 391284, www.forestry.sarawak.gov.my). Expect a range of options, from camping to wooden chalets on the seafront, which are simple, but clean and comfortable. Doubles around £30, room only – nightly macaque-led serenades included.
Get me there: Air Asia (0845 605 3333, www.airasia.com) flies from Stansted to Bintulu, via Kuala Lumpur, from £440 return; it’s a 45-minute taxi ride to the National Park.
It’s hard to find a scrap of white sand to call your own these days – but they do exist. Try these pure shores...
Guyan Mitra
From the December issue of The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
Think of a Southeast Asian beach holiday, and you’ll probably imagine vast swathes of sand, shaded by coconut trees that lean in to sip at mouthwash-blue water.
Book a Southeast Asian beach holiday, however, and you may find yourself on a strip crowded with hulking chain hotels, neon-lit go-go bars and cackling, dollar-hungry hawkers.
The hunt for untouched, idyllic beaches around these parts has traditionally been the preserve of intrepid backpackers: the only types with the time, the temperament and the trust funds to sort the brash from the beautiful.
But with Asian infrastructure modernising at an Industrial Revolution pace and low-cost airlines spreading their wings across the continent, buses and rucksacks are not the only way. You, too, can find your own slice of serenity.
BEST FOR
LITERATURE-LOVERS: Matinloc Island, Philippines
The novel of choice for Southeast Asian sunseekers is Alex Garland’s The Beach, based in an undiscovered paradise. Ironically, most flick through it while sprawled shoulder-to-shoulder on a sunlounger-heavy stretch. Perhaps it’s because they followed Garland at his word and headed for Thailand – where the film version was shot – when the isolated haven that is thought to have inspired him is actually in the northern Philippines.
Hidden on the east coast of sparsely populated Matinloc Island (pictured), ‘Secret Beach’ is word-for-word accurate to the cult novel’s depiction: a pond-still, mint-green lagoon circled by milky-white sand and sealed in by soaring limestone cliffs, which stand as protectorates defending it.
Don’t miss: The entrance. As described in the novel, the best way to reach the beach is by swimming into the lagoon through a crack in the outer limestone wall.
Stay: Miniloc Island Resorts (00 63 2894 5644, www.elnidoresorts.com), a 20-minute speedboat ride away from Matinloc Island, is a strip of cottages sandwiched between rainbow coral and green limestone cliffs. Garden cottage from £122pp, full board.
Get me there: Cathay Pacific (020 8834 8888, www.cathaypacific.com) flies to Manila from Heathrow, from £540 return. Sea Air (00 63 2849 0100, www.flyseair.com) flies from Manila to El Nido from £52, one way.
BEST FOR CRUSOE WANNABES: Gili Meno, Indonesia
The smallest and quietest of the three Gili Islands, just off Lombok’s northwestern tip, is no more than a sun-baked mound of sand sprouting coconut trees. A near-perfect hoop of beach (above) circles the one-by-one kilometre patch, and there’s little to do but listen to the waves and count grains of sand… Which is exactly why you washed up here.
Don’t miss: Turtles, reef sharks and the neon-hued coral and marine life (the fishermen are paid not to dynamite their catch here).
Stay: Villa Nautilus (www.villanautilus.com) has comfy Balinese-style villas with private sundecks facing the beach, from £42, B&B.
Get me there: Singapore Airlines (0844 800 2380, www.singaporeair.com) flies from Heathrow to Lombok, via Singapore, from £665 return. Villa Nautilus (see above) can arrange boat transfers from Lombok (one hour).
BEST FOR FRANCOPHILES: Kep, Cambodia
Once Indochina’s homage to the Côte d’Azur, the golden coves around Kep-sur-mer (as it used to be known) made up the region’s most famous beach resort. These days, many of the splendid old French villas are as overgrown as the temples of Angkor, but Kep (above) is slowly being spruced-up and the tourists are trickling back. Gallic touches are everywhere – from Provençal architecture to the steaming pots of bouillabaisse-influenced crab curry.
Don’t miss: A day trip to Rabbit Island. This uninhabited cluster of beaches is reminiscent of those found in Thailand 30 years ago.
Stay: Knai Bang Chatt (00 885 2321 2194, www.knaibangchatt.com) harks back to Kep’s pre-civil-war heyday, with its Art Deco exterior and dark woods. Doubles from £92, room only.
Get me there: Thai Airways (0870 606 0911, www.thaiair.com) flies from Heathrow to Phnom Penh, via Bangkok, from £657 return. It’s a three-hour taxi ride to Kep (£30).
BEST FOR DIVERS: Sipadan, Malaysia
No more than a speck of sand in the fluorescent waters of the Celebes Sea, Sipadan (pictured) has desert-island looks and heart-stopping aquatic beauty. Jacques Cousteau described the islet ‘an untouched piece of art’. It’s also a diver’s Holy Grail: a couple of lengths out to sea and you’re floating above a 600m coral wall that’s home to more than 3,000 species of fish. Look out for sharks, eagle rays, turtles and barracudas.
Don’t miss: Diving with endangered scalloped hammerhead sharks. Sipadan is one of the few places in the world where you can see these odd-looking creatures with their dustpan-shaped heads. Don’t worry: the schools that head to Sipadan’s reef wall are here to breed, not feed, so the chances of being eaten are slim.
Stay: Sipadan Water Village (00 60 8975 1777, www.swvresort.com) is a 10-minute speedboat ride away on Mabul island. Your home will be in one of 45 ‘Bajau Laut’ (local sea gypsy) cottages on stilts above the water. Morning dips are a cinch: throw yourself off the balcony into the coral garden below. Doubles from £210, room only.
Get me there: Air Asia (0845 605 3333, www.airasia.com) flies from Stansted to Tawau, via Kuala Lumpur, from £300 return. Sipadan Water Village can arrange car and boat transfers (three hours) from Tawau.
BEST FOR GROWN-UP BACKPACKERS: Bottle Beach, Koh Phangan, Thailand
Best reached by long-tail boat from the fishing village a few coves along the coast of Koh Phangan, this perfect banana-like curl of beach (left) is cut off from the rest of the island by impassable jungle. It made its name as the ‘chill out’ beach during Koh Phangan’s Full Moon Party heyday in the ’80s, and is now drawing second visits from grown-up hippies.
There’s one important difference though: now, instead of didgeridoos and bongos in well-worn backpacks, tourists bring BlackBerries and trolley suitcases stuffed with nappies. Despite the more mature crowd, this stretch has a relaxed vibe, with open-to-all games of beach volleyball and nightly bonfires.
Don’t miss: The tastiest Thai curry on the island at Smile Restaurant. At the far western end of the beach, guests play cards around knee-high tables, while ‘Mama’ -– as she’s affectionately known -– whips up fiery hot kingfish curries.
Stay: Haad Khuad Resort (book through www.phangan.info/bottlebeach/index.htm) has the fanciest digs for the newly discerning clientele, with split-level beach bungalows. From £20, room only (closed Oct 21 to Dec 20).
Get me there: Thai Airways (0870 606 0911, www.thaiair.com) flies from Heathrow to Koh Samui, via Bangkok, from £620 return. Haad Kuad Resort (see above) can arrange boat transfers to Koh Phangan (30 minutes).
BEST FOR TRAILBLAZERS: Karma Beach, Koh Lipe, Thailand
Hate those smug I-was-there-before-anyone-knew-about-it travellers? Go to Koh Lipe and you’ll get one over on them. This paradise island in the Andaman Sea has been home to the semi-nomadic Chao Leh people (known as sea gypsies) for centuries. And, for the moment, it’s still more a fishing base than a tourist hotspot.
Just north of Koh Lipe’s only fishing village you’ll find Karma Beach – the island’s prettiest stretch – with a Maldivian-style, squeaky-white sandbank that juts out into luminous, coral-filled waters. What you won’t find are any major hotel developments: the big guns haven’t made it here… yet.
Don’t miss: The rest of the islands that make up the Butang archipelago. Kho Rawi (20 minutes by taxi-boat from Karma Beach) has some spectacular dusk-orange coves to explore, as well as a Bounty-ad beautiful (but ice-cold) waterfall.
Stay: Scattered across the clifftop overlooking Karma Beach, Mountain Resort (www.mountainresortkohlipe.com) has basic-but-comfy wooden bungalows, with yawning views across the Andaman Sea. Doubles from £22, B&B.
Get me there: Thai Airways (0870 606 0911, www.thaiair.com) flies from Heathrow to Hat Yai, via Bangkok, from £677 return. From here, Mountain Resort (see above) can arrange car and boat transfers (three hours).
BEST FOR SEAFOOD-LOVERS: Bai Sao Beach, Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam
Phu Quoc is a classic example of the double-sided Southeast Asian beach scene. Its over-developed corners are a clutter of concrete and Coca-Cola parasols, but slices of solitude can be unearthed if you know where to look. Head for Bai Sao Beach on the east coast for a glimpse of how the island looked before the tourists conquered: a long silk scarf of white sand, with only fishermen to disturb the peace.
Don’t miss: Nearby Han Ninh fishing village, where local traders gather daily with mounds of wriggling catch. You’ll see freshly caught mackerel, langoustine and anchovy – vital for the pungent fish sauce that’s made locally.
Stay: My Lan has the only rooms on Bai Sao Beach itself – pretty basic wooden shacks from £10pp. Luxury-lovers should head for Cassia Cottage (00 84 7738 48395, www.cassiacottage.com), 30 minutes away on Ba Keo Beach; from £90, room only.
Get me there: Thai Airways (0870 606 0911, www.thaiair.com) flies from Heathrow to Ho Chi Minh City, via Bangkok, from £700 return. Vietnam Airlines (00 84 8383 20320, www.vietnamairlines.com) flies from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc from £47 return.
BEST FOR WILDLIFE-ENTHUSIASTS: Golden Beach and Turtle Beach, Malaysian Borneo
These slivers of sand in Similajau National Park are where the undergrowth of Borneo tumbles down to the South China Sea. On Turtle Beach, a waterfall cascades through a succession of rapids onto the sand, gloriously announcing to the ocean that the jungle has arrived.
This is a place for lovers of creatures great and small: hornbills screech and squawk over the honeyed beaches, while salt-water crocs sunbathe on the banks of the estuaries and rock pools (needless to say, these stretches aren’t for swimming). You’ll even see two kinds of dolphins: river and ocean dwellers.
Don’t miss: The chance to watch sea turtles laying their eggs in April. It can be a tiring vigil to stay up all night staring at the silvery moonlight – but it’s worth the wait, when you see mama turtles emerging from the sea to deposit their tiny eggs on the beach.
Stay: Accommodation is run by the National Park (00 606 082 391284, www.forestry.sarawak.gov.my). Expect a range of options, from camping to wooden chalets on the seafront, which are simple, but clean and comfortable. Doubles around £30, room only – nightly macaque-led serenades included.
Get me there: Air Asia (0845 605 3333, www.airasia.com) flies from Stansted to Bintulu, via Kuala Lumpur, from £440 return; it’s a 45-minute taxi ride to the National Park.
Cork by Kayak – Sunday Times
Cork by kayak
Why splash around in the sea when you can paddle on a kayak into the centre of Ireland’s second city?
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