Top 10 Hidden Beaches in Southeast Asia

Four kilometers of golden sand that makes Boracay feel like a construction site. The twin beach of Calitang creates a natural amphitheater that has converted hardened travel cynics into true believers.

Three-colored beach in East Java where mineral deposits create a natural gradient of red, white, and black sand. Technically a conservation area requiring a guide, which keeps the crowds minimal.

Before the airport made Phu Quoc a resort island, Long Beach was a fisherman's coast. The northern 8km section still retains that character — the resort hotel section is a different country entirely.

Everyone knows Full Moon Beach. Nobody bothers with the northern coast where Thong Nai Pan Yai and Noi offer white sand solitude just 45 minutes from the party mayhem in the south.

Bali gets the tourism; Lombok gets the beaches. Selong Belanak's horseshoe bay with shallow water so turquoise it looks digitally enhanced is still mercifully low-key, though a new road is changing that.

The uninhabited island made infamous by the Mayaguez Incident is now a pristine diving and snorkeling destination, reachable by speedboat from Sihanoukville and completely undeveloped.

This beach near Dawei remains one of the region's most beautiful — a 20km crescent of sand that receives fewer visitors than a small guesthouse in Krabi.

The other side of El Nido's island-studded bay, where the backpacker trail ends and the beach genuinely begins. No electricity after 10pm means the stars are the entertainment.

Myanmar's most accessible hidden beach — three hours from Yangon by bus with a 10km strip of sand that was receiving European backpackers before anyone else figured out the coastline.

Four kilometers of golden sand that makes Boracay feel like a construction site. The twin beach of Calitang creates a natural amphitheater that has converted hardened travel cynics into true believers.

Three-colored beach in East Java where mineral deposits create a natural gradient of red, white, and black sand. Technically a conservation area requiring a guide, which keeps the crowds minimal.

Before the airport made Phu Quoc a resort island, Long Beach was a fisherman's coast. The northern 8km section still retains that character — the resort hotel section is a different country entirely.

Everyone knows Full Moon Beach. Nobody bothers with the northern coast where Thong Nai Pan Yai and Noi offer white sand solitude just 45 minutes from the party mayhem in the south.

Bali gets the tourism; Lombok gets the beaches. Selong Belanak's horseshoe bay with shallow water so turquoise it looks digitally enhanced is still mercifully low-key, though a new road is changing that.

The uninhabited island made infamous by the Mayaguez Incident is now a pristine diving and snorkeling destination, reachable by speedboat from Sihanoukville and completely undeveloped.

This beach near Dawei remains one of the region's most beautiful — a 20km crescent of sand that receives fewer visitors than a small guesthouse in Krabi.

The other side of El Nido's island-studded bay, where the backpacker trail ends and the beach genuinely begins. No electricity after 10pm means the stars are the entertainment.

Myanmar's most accessible hidden beach — three hours from Yangon by bus with a 10km strip of sand that was receiving European backpackers before anyone else figured out the coastline.