Paradise Travel
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Ryokan garden in Kyoto, Japan, on an Asia luxury travel itinerary

Asia

Asia luxury travel, planned around the season and the pace you keep.

Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Bali. I build each trip around when you're going, what the weather is doing that month, and the rooms worth the flight.

How I plan Asia

The season decides the trip.

Asia punishes bad timing more than any other region I plan. Cherry blossoms sound wonderful until you're sharing them with forty tour buses, and Thailand's smoke season catches people who booked on price alone. I start every itinerary from the calendar, then work out the routing, the hotels, and the guides.

The hotel layer matters here more than anywhere else. The difference between a good room and the right room in Kyoto or on the river in Bangkok is the difference between seeing the city and staying in it. I vet the properties I recommend through partners I trust on the ground.

Trip shapes

Three ways these trips usually go.

Japan, ten to fourteen days

Three or four nights in Tokyo, then Kyoto with a ryokan night in the hills outside the city. Dinner reservations made before you land, a private guide who gets you to Fushimi Inari at dawn before the buses, and a day in Nara with the deer and Todai-ji. In March or April, timing is everything, and I book the rooms the moment the calendar opens.

Thailand and Vietnam, two weeks

Bangkok on the river at one of the Chao Phraya hotels, then Chiang Mai for the hills and a cooking class that's actually worth the morning. From there it's Hoi An or an overnight junk on Lan Ha Bay, quieter than its famous neighbor. Shoulder season, November or February, keeps the weather dry and the crowds thin.

Bali and the islands, ten days

Ubud first, up in the rice terraces, at a hotel like Four Seasons Sayan, where you arrive across a bridge over the jungle. Then the coast, Amankila on the east side, or a boat east to the smaller islands if you've had enough of driving. I plan the private drivers, the temple mornings, and the one beach club that's worth an afternoon.

Start here

Every one of these starts with a consult.

We'll spend 30 minutes on who's going, when, and what you want the trip to feel like. Then I'll come back with a routing and a hotel list that makes sense for you, not for a brochure.

These trips are built from scratch, and my custom luxury itineraries page explains how.

Begin your trip

Questions I get asked

Before you plan Asia.

Late March into early April for the blossoms, late October through November for the maple color, and honestly, January and February are underrated if you don't mind cold, the cities are quieter and the snow monkeys and powder skiing are at their best. I steer clients away from Golden Week, the last week of April into early May, when the whole country travels at once.

Six to nine months for Japan, especially if you want a top ryokan or a specific suite in spring. Thailand, Vietnam, and Bali are more forgiving, but the best rooms in the best hotels still go first. Safari camps, on any continent, book out a year ahead.

Japan is one of the best first long-haul trips there is. It's clean, safe, the trains run to the minute, and the language barrier matters less than people expect. I build in private guides for the first days, dinner reservations handled before you land, and a pace that doesn't turn the trip into a checklist.

A private-guided luxury trip in Japan usually runs $1,000 to $2,500 per person a day before international flights. The spread comes down to room categories and how much is private. I'll give you a real number after the consult, not a range pulled from a blog.

That's how most of these trips work. Japan with a stop in Taipei, Thailand with Laos, Vietnam with Cambodia for Angkor Wat. The routing decides the trip, so I build the flights first and the hotels around them, not the other way around.

Yes. I'll also tell you when premium economy is the smarter spend, which on most Asia routes it is.

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