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The charms of Asia are many and varied, from exotic food to colourful temples and palaces stuffed with priceless jewels. There’s a Forbidden City in China, super trees in Singapore and sandy beaches in Indonesia. With many attractions and cities on or near the coast, a cruise is the easy way to see a lot on one holiday as you unpack once and wake each morning somewhere different – or en route to a new adventure. Collectors can notch up six or more countries in a couple of weeks; those who prefer more focus can choose from a growing number of one-country cruises.
Country collectors
You accumulate plenty of memories and passport stamps on holidays that visit five or six Asian countries – a gruelling prospect by air but none-too-testing on a cruise with a few days at sea.
Calls into Hong Kong and Singapore are always popular, the latter for the sheer audacity of a country that packs giant shopping malls, a rainforest biodome and spectacular high-rise hotels into an area less than half the size of London.
Bangkok has buzzing tuk-tuks, street markets and the sprawling Grand Palace, housing the sacred Temple of the Emerald Buddha and a 26-inch Buddha carved from one piece of jade. In Ho Chi Minh City, chaotic markets exist side by side with hipster bars. A cruise that stays in port two days means you can see the city and visit the nearby Cu Chi Tunnels where the Viet Cong lived during the Vietnam War.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ 15-night Bali to Hong Kong voyage visits Singapore and Ko Samui and Bangkok (overnight) in Thailand, Sihanoukville in Cambodia, Ho Chi Minh City (overnight) and Nha Trang in Vietnam, and ends with a night in Hong Kong in China. From £11,479pp including flights departing February 22, 2021 (rssc.com).
Trace two centuries of Thai regal history at Bangkok’s Grand Palace Credit: GETTY
Rising sun
Japan is so popular with cruisers that shipping lines are devoting whole itineraries to discovering its allure. It’s the easy way to be dazzled by its cities and uncover its culture without worrying about the language. Go in spring to see the famed cherry blossom.
Some names will be familiar. Exciting Tokyo, the imperial city where neon lights, sushi restaurants and busy streets coexist with quiet gardens, shrines and temples; Kobe, a cosmopolitan city with shogun shrines, palaces and castles; Kyoto, the imperial capital until 1869; Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where peace parks remember the atomic bombs dropped in 1945.
Elsewhere there are hot springs, festivals and ancient castles to discover. Aomori’s Nebuta Museum displays colourful floats that fill the streets during the August Nebuta Festival; Kanazawa’s DT Suzuki Museum is dedicated to the eponymous writer who introduced Zen Buddhism to the west.
Azamara Club Cruises’ 15-night Circle Japan Intensive Voyage round-trip from Tokyo calls into Hakodate, Aomori, Akita, Kanazawa and Sakaiminato, visits Busan in South Korea, then returns to Japan, calling into Kitakyushu, Hiroshima, Takamatsu and Kobe (overnight). Shimizu and an overnight in Tokyo complete the cruise. From £5,153pp (excluding flights) departing April 7, 2021 (azamaraclubcruises.com).
Docking in Japan doesn’t mean you have to stay on dry land, with boating on a lake a popular activity in Kyoto Credit: GETTY
Island fling
Island nations such as the Philippines and Indonesia are hard work if you get the urge to venture from one atoll to another to see what treasures you might be missing there. Mostly it’ll mean taking a ferry; even if there are flights, that’s good holiday time wasted getting to and from airports.
Travel on a cruise and you’ll visit a different island every day. Indonesia has beaches, excellent scuba diving and great snorkelling. On Komodo Island, rangers armed with sticks take visitors in search of the eponymous ‘dragons’.
Philippines cruises pair the traffic-laden streets of Manila with blissful islands ringed with beaches, rainforest, limestone karsts and granite cliffs. Palawan is a favourite for snorkelling. Coron has the peaceful Kayangan Lake. Borocan promises white sands now it has reopened after a six-month clean-up.
Star Clippers’ seven-night Eastbound Indonesia cruise round-trip from Benoa in Bali visits Gili Kondo, Komodo National Park and Pink Beach on Komodo Island, Santonda Island, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan and Gili Nanggu. From £1,565pp (excluding flights) departing July 4, 2020 (starclippers.co.uk).
Many cruises in the Philipppines combine clogged Manila with the beautiful snorkel-friendly Palawan (pictured) Credit: getty
China in your hands
Climbing the Great Wall and exploring the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in Beijing are exciting enough, but cruise around China and the Far East and it’s easy to add many more experiences to just one holiday and not come home in need of another break.
Still in China, Shanghai has narrow alleyways, colonial architecture and acrobat shows; in Hong Kong, stay up late and join the crowds for an exciting night out in Temple Street night market.
Incheon is the gateway to Seoul and the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea. Tours beneath the DMZ visit tunnels dug by the north but discovered before an invasion could be launched. In Busan at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula try some local (raw) specialities at the lively fish market. Taiwan has temples, museums and Taipei 101, one of the world’s tallest buildings.
Celebrity Cruises’ 14-night China and South Korea cruise from Hong Kong to Shanghai calls at Taipei in Taiwan, Nagasaki in Japan, and Busan and Jeju Island in South Korea. Three days in Tianjin (for Beijing) in China and Incheon (Seoul) in South Korea round off the cruise. From £1,049pp (excluding flights) departing March 14, 2020 (celebritycruises.co.uk).
Feast on local cuisine, pick up some pretty local trinkets and much more at Hong Kong’s bustling Temple Street night market Credit: DuKai photographer
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/articles/why-a-cruise-is-the-best-way-to-visit-asia/
Country collectors
You accumulate plenty of memories and passport stamps on holidays that visit five or six Asian countries – a gruelling prospect by air but none-too-testing on a cruise with a few days at sea.
Calls into Hong Kong and Singapore are always popular, the latter for the sheer audacity of a country that packs giant shopping malls, a rainforest biodome and spectacular high-rise hotels into an area less than half the size of London.
Bangkok has buzzing tuk-tuks, street markets and the sprawling Grand Palace, housing the sacred Temple of the Emerald Buddha and a 26-inch Buddha carved from one piece of jade. In Ho Chi Minh City, chaotic markets exist side by side with hipster bars. A cruise that stays in port two days means you can see the city and visit the nearby Cu Chi Tunnels where the Viet Cong lived during the Vietnam War.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ 15-night Bali to Hong Kong voyage visits Singapore and Ko Samui and Bangkok (overnight) in Thailand, Sihanoukville in Cambodia, Ho Chi Minh City (overnight) and Nha Trang in Vietnam, and ends with a night in Hong Kong in China. From £11,479pp including flights departing February 22, 2021 (rssc.com).
Trace two centuries of Thai regal history at Bangkok’s Grand Palace Credit: GETTY
Rising sun
Japan is so popular with cruisers that shipping lines are devoting whole itineraries to discovering its allure. It’s the easy way to be dazzled by its cities and uncover its culture without worrying about the language. Go in spring to see the famed cherry blossom.
Some names will be familiar. Exciting Tokyo, the imperial city where neon lights, sushi restaurants and busy streets coexist with quiet gardens, shrines and temples; Kobe, a cosmopolitan city with shogun shrines, palaces and castles; Kyoto, the imperial capital until 1869; Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where peace parks remember the atomic bombs dropped in 1945.
Elsewhere there are hot springs, festivals and ancient castles to discover. Aomori’s Nebuta Museum displays colourful floats that fill the streets during the August Nebuta Festival; Kanazawa’s DT Suzuki Museum is dedicated to the eponymous writer who introduced Zen Buddhism to the west.
Azamara Club Cruises’ 15-night Circle Japan Intensive Voyage round-trip from Tokyo calls into Hakodate, Aomori, Akita, Kanazawa and Sakaiminato, visits Busan in South Korea, then returns to Japan, calling into Kitakyushu, Hiroshima, Takamatsu and Kobe (overnight). Shimizu and an overnight in Tokyo complete the cruise. From £5,153pp (excluding flights) departing April 7, 2021 (azamaraclubcruises.com).
Docking in Japan doesn’t mean you have to stay on dry land, with boating on a lake a popular activity in Kyoto Credit: GETTY
Island fling
Island nations such as the Philippines and Indonesia are hard work if you get the urge to venture from one atoll to another to see what treasures you might be missing there. Mostly it’ll mean taking a ferry; even if there are flights, that’s good holiday time wasted getting to and from airports.
Travel on a cruise and you’ll visit a different island every day. Indonesia has beaches, excellent scuba diving and great snorkelling. On Komodo Island, rangers armed with sticks take visitors in search of the eponymous ‘dragons’.
Philippines cruises pair the traffic-laden streets of Manila with blissful islands ringed with beaches, rainforest, limestone karsts and granite cliffs. Palawan is a favourite for snorkelling. Coron has the peaceful Kayangan Lake. Borocan promises white sands now it has reopened after a six-month clean-up.
Star Clippers’ seven-night Eastbound Indonesia cruise round-trip from Benoa in Bali visits Gili Kondo, Komodo National Park and Pink Beach on Komodo Island, Santonda Island, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan and Gili Nanggu. From £1,565pp (excluding flights) departing July 4, 2020 (starclippers.co.uk).
Many cruises in the Philipppines combine clogged Manila with the beautiful snorkel-friendly Palawan (pictured) Credit: getty
China in your hands
Climbing the Great Wall and exploring the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in Beijing are exciting enough, but cruise around China and the Far East and it’s easy to add many more experiences to just one holiday and not come home in need of another break.
Still in China, Shanghai has narrow alleyways, colonial architecture and acrobat shows; in Hong Kong, stay up late and join the crowds for an exciting night out in Temple Street night market.
Incheon is the gateway to Seoul and the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea. Tours beneath the DMZ visit tunnels dug by the north but discovered before an invasion could be launched. In Busan at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula try some local (raw) specialities at the lively fish market. Taiwan has temples, museums and Taipei 101, one of the world’s tallest buildings.
Celebrity Cruises’ 14-night China and South Korea cruise from Hong Kong to Shanghai calls at Taipei in Taiwan, Nagasaki in Japan, and Busan and Jeju Island in South Korea. Three days in Tianjin (for Beijing) in China and Incheon (Seoul) in South Korea round off the cruise. From £1,049pp (excluding flights) departing March 14, 2020 (celebritycruises.co.uk).
Feast on local cuisine, pick up some pretty local trinkets and much more at Hong Kong’s bustling Temple Street night market Credit: DuKai photographer
Inspiration for your inbox
Sign up to Telegraph Travel’s new weekly newsletter for the latest features, advice, competitions, exclusive deals and comment.
You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Thank you
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/articles/why-a-cruise-is-the-best-way-to-visit-asia/