Rooms & Rides

Destinations

Every place we cover, with what it costs, how to get in from the airport and which areas are worth staying in. We publish a country once enough of it is checked to be useful, so this list grows slowly and stays short.

France

EUR

Indonesia

IDR · Indonesia is too large for one season. The UK Foreign Office puts the rainy season at roughly October to March across most of the country, with eastern Indonesia reversed and wet from April to August. Haze from fires on Sumatra and Borneo is worst in the dry months, April to September, and does not reach Bali. Avoid the first half of March 2027 unless you want company. Nyepi falls on 8 March, Idul Fitri on 10 and 11 March, and joint leave on the 9th, 12th and 15th, so 6 to 15 March is one continuous national holiday and the heaviest domestic travel window of the year.

Indonesia is more than seventeen thousand islands and one visa, and the second part is what catches people. The thirty day visa on arrival costs IDR 500,000, extends once for another thirty days, and is otherwise rigid. Overstay it and…

  • BaliDiving, surf, two-base trips, long cheap stays · 10 to 14 days across two bases3 guides

Japan

JPY · Late March to May, and November

Japan is cheap to move around and expensive to sleep in, which is the reverse of what most first trips budget for. A seven-day nationwide rail pass costs 50,000 yen. A Tokyo hotel room averaged 33,168 yen a night in…

  • TokyoBook-ahead attractions, food, rail day trips · 4 to 5 days3 guides

Malaysia

MYR · June and July are the driest over most of the peninsula, with a second drier spell in February. October and November are the wettest. The east coast islands run on the opposite pattern and take their heaviest rain in November, December and January.

Malaysia is two landmasses under one government, and they make two different trips. Peninsular Malaysia holds Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Melaka and the east coast islands, linked by a good motorway network and a cheap intercity railway. Malaysian Borneo, meaning Sabah…

  • Kuala LumpurHawker food, cheap central rooms, rail day trips · 3 to 4 days3 guides

Singapore

SGD · February and March, the driest and sunniest. November and December are the wettest.

Singapore is a city-state of about six million people on an island roughly 50km across, which is why it has no hinterland, no second city and no bad transport links. Almost everything a visitor wants sits within half an hour…

South Korea

KRW · Late March to May, and late September to November

South Korea prices its sights like a public service and its hotel rooms like a scarce commodity. A royal palace in Seoul costs 3,000 won to enter. Hotel rates across the Seoul and Incheon area averaged about 296,000 won a…

  • SeoulPalaces, food, late-night shopping · 4 to 5 days0 guides

Spain

EUR

Thailand

THB · November to February

Thailand is cheap to be in and expensive to tick off. Street food and local transport cost a fraction of what they do in Europe, while the headline attractions run a published foreigner rate that is often five to ten…

  • BangkokTemples, street food, river transport · 3 days4 guides