Malaysia

Malaysia quietly holds some of Asia's best of everything. Kuala Lumpur is a skyline city where hawker stalls outshine fine dining and three great cuisines, Malay, Chinese and Indian, compete for your appetite at every corner. Penang takes that food story and turns it into a way of life among shophouse streets and street art lanes. Then the wild side: national parks older than the Amazon, tea plantations rolling through the Cameron Highlands, and Malaysian Borneo's orangutans a short flight away. The islands seal it. Langkawi for rainforest resorts and sunset sails, the Perhentians for water so clear boats appear to levitate. It is easy, affordable and far less crowded than its neighbours. Malaysia does not chase attention. It just delivers, meal after meal, island after island.