Hit the best beaches

As sons and daughters of beaches, we Australians are spoiled when it comes to world-class coastlines. Yet still we travel, chasing sandier shores. Here are a dozen of the best beaches in Asia.

BALI

Canggu, Bali, Indonesia. Everyone has an opinion about Bali's Kuta Beach: a heavenly shore or a hell of a circus, or something in-between? If you want to escape the Kuta-Legian-Seminyak strip mall, head about 4km up the same shore to the village of Canggu (pronounced Chang-goo). The sands are grey and volcanic, the surf is less crowded and the accommodation is low-key and low-rise. As well, Kuta's bungy-jumpers, hair-braiders and endless, walking supermarket of hawkers are far, far away.

SUMBA

Nihiwatu, Sumba, Eastern Indonesia. Four hundred kilometres east and a century apart from Bali you land on the almost unsung island of Sumba, a place that makes Bali seem like Manhattan. On its south-western coast near Waikabubak, Nihiwatu is a private resort beach so close to pristine that it almost defies description. Cupped by 200 hectares of jungle hills and grasslands, Nihiwatu's two kilometres of empty beach face a perfect left-hand reef surf.

THAILAND

Ko Adang, Andaman Coast, Thailand. Thailand's far south Andaman Sea coast has clusters of islands that are still off the radar for tour groups and full-moon ravers. The towering rock formations and crystal waters of Ko Tarutao National Marine Park, a 51-island group about 30km off the Satun mainland, are a reminder of how Phuket, Samui and Phi Phi once were. Here you'll find Ko Adang, a jungle island with pristine shores, empty beaches and hardly a bar to be heard.

MALAYSIA

Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia. Much of the east coast of Malaysia is a sleeping secret. Macaque monkeys swing through a tree canopy that borders the South China Sea. Beyond the trees, the empty swoop of Dungun Beach is one of Malaysia's least-exploited shores. No bars, cars or hawkers. Offshore is Tenggol Island, part of Terengganu Marine Park, where you can snorkel and scuba dive amid clear waters alive with turtles, grouper, wrasse and jacks.

VIETNAM

China Beach, Vietnam. The long and lovely China Beach of Vietnam War and television fame is known locally as Bai Non Nuoc. You can see fishermen paddle out through the breaking waves in unstable wicker coracles then, after fishing, surf right back in again. The message is clear: Charlie do surf. China Beach, on Vietnam's central coast near Da Nang, is 30km long with numerous resorts and restaurants near its celebrated "hub" - the temple caves of Marble Mountain.

CAMBODIA

Ochheuteal Beach, Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Sihanoukville on Cambodia's pretty south coast is home to several fine beaches, even though the best, Sokha, is mostly reserved by a private hotel. Nearby, Ochheuteal Beach comes a close second with its very long stretch of white sand lined with pine trees. Popular with Cambodians and foreigners alike, Occheuteal's northern end has become a travellers' hangout also known as Serendipity Beach.

INDIA

Calangute, Goa, India. "Christmas in Goa" was the mantra for heliotropic (and psychotropic) hippies on the 1970s "Overland Trail". Calangute's palm-fringed kilometres were annually invaded by some of the most upbeat and beat-up minds of their generation. Calangute today is both more built-up and calmed down. Overdevelopment hasn't been kind to its little fishing hamlets but the Arabian Sea full moons are as spellbinding as ever. Other Goan beaches such as Palolem to the south and Arambol to the north are still like Calangute of years ago.

TAIWAN

Kenting, Taiwan. Tropical landscape in Taiwan is a surprise until you remember that you are well south of the Tropic of Cancer and that the island's earlier Portuguese name, Formosa, means "beautiful". The name still fits. This is the Tidy Town version of China. Unhurried and warm, Kenting, at the rugged, southernmost tip of the island, has reasonable beaches for swimming plus an 18,000ha national park. While Kenting Beach will never rival Boracay or Whitehaven for white sands, there is good accommodation and the seafood is excellent.

CHINA

Yalong Bay, Hainan, China. At the same latitude as Hawaii, Hainan is where mainland Chinese come to get that Polynesian feeling without needing a passport. While Yalong Bay, near Sanya on Hainan's southern tip, may lack heaving surf and swaying grass skirts, its broad white beaches are often better than their Hawaiian counterparts. Where there once were fishing villages and rice farms along the 7km strand of Yalong Bay, new resorts are now harvesting the disposable incomes of China's leisure class. Inevitably, the postcard prettiness and the polite silence of sailboards is shredded by jet-skis.

SRI LANKA

Bentota, Sri Lanka. At Bentota Beach, some 60km south of Colombo, grand arcs of sand sweep north and south from a promontory. The Indian Ocean hammers this coast of granite headlands and uncrowded beaches that surfers and European sun-seekers long ago discovered. There is a choice of mid-range and up-market resorts from which you can contemplate simultaneously a fiery sunset and a chilled sundowner.

PHILIPPINES
Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. On the north-west coast of Luzon is the little-known Saud Beach at Pagudpud, a 2km arc of blindingly pure sand that bounds the azure waters of the South China Sea. So far, it's like an uncluttered version of the Philippines' other famous shore, White Beach on Boracay Island. Beat the developers and crowds to this gem - head for Pagudpud now. How? Fly north from Manila to Laoag, capital of Ilocos Norte province; from there is it 60km to Pagudpud.
White Beach, Boracay, Philippines. The alabaster sands of White Beach could resemble a trail of talcum spilled by some careless sea sprite. This celebrated shore, the star attraction of Boracay Island, is the subject of much "you-should-have-been-here-yesterday" opinion. The beach is now bordered by scores of small restaurants, bars and lodges but Boracay's beauty and its general languor soon make these reservations irrelevant. Plus, the beach is impeccably clean and the nightlife free of sleaze.