4 weeks in Asia in May 2017
 

I've been to Asia a few times and am planning my next trip next year. I quickly put together this itinerary and I am looking for suggestions on how to tweak it. I have 4 weeks total. I put 4 nights in each location because it allows me to slow down and not rush to see everything.

Bangkok (4 nights) - Been here before and love the city
Phuket (4 nights) - Never been
Kuala Lumpur (4 nights) - Only had a one-night stopover before
Perhentian Islands (4 nights) - Been there before and loved it
Kuching (4 nights) - Never been to Borneo
Kota Kinabalu (4 nights) - Never been to Borneo
Singapore (4 nights) - My favorite city in the world so far

Should I spend less or more time in one of these locations? Add another location? I like a good mix of big cities and more remote, beachy locations.

As a logistical comment, your route seems good and pretty straight forward.

Personally, I'm just curious why you love the big cities and what you normally do in Bangkok, KL or Singapore for 4 nights?

Also can you give us an idea of your budget?

Lastly, you might want a mod to change the title of the thread to "SE Asia" instead of just "Asia".

Nothing especially "remote" about Phuket. All I seem to read about it is all the scams and general negativity. My only experience there is the airport though.

It will be HOT in all of those places, so 4 days each is not bad IMHO. I feel like I really slow way down when I am in the tropics.

Sounds like you are mainly revisiting favorite places and adding Borneo. So you know what to expect in most of those places.

I think 4 nights each is good.

Honestly I don't like Phuket much (Terrible taxis, food gone downhill, easier to get a German sausage than some Thai curry..) but Malaysia does have some gems. I loved Kota Kinabalu.

The rental is fairly expensive there (120 MYR per day.. you need to haggle at Hertz :D ) but driving is fairly easy if you're used to European roads.

Food is really good and fresh, and cheap. Beer is, when you go to the right places, surprisingly cheap (almost as cheap as Langkawi) - regular bars charge 12 MYR for 3 (!) cans, music bars etc. charge 28 MYR for 4 (!) cans.

Of course it also has it's expensive corners, where you're paying half your months salary, but I really liked KK and the possibility to drive into the countryside fairly easy. A daytrip to the Waterfall Mahua was well worth it, but it needs some driving skills.

In the big cities, I enjoy the food, shopping, etc. I live in a small town so it's always fun for me. I'd be willing to cut one of those cities to add somewhere I haven't been to without affecting my itinerary too much. Phuket is also not a must if there are other suggestions. I've already been to Krabi, Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta.

Koh Lanta is about 10000x more remote than Phuket, and it's not even that remote.

Okay, that's cool.

What is your budget like? How much are you hoping to spend on hotels?

Actually, your itinerary sounds good but what do think about Hanoi/HCMC of Vietnam? street foods in there are wonderful and unique

It's all subjective but I'd do away with Singapore (and 4 nights there?!), especially as you've seen it before. Either replace it with Johor and Melaka, or if you really want another big city, try HK this time: it's much more fun.

In Thailand I also liked Chiang Mai but it's by no means a big city nor does it have a beach, so it doesn't meet your criteria. What about Vietnam? Puerto Princesa or even Boracay in the Philippines?

I'd choose to stay longer in some of the places if I were you, perhaps dropping one or two destinations from the list. Moving all the time like this can get tiresome, even if you travel light. Plus, you spend a lot of time traveling. I did a similar itinerary in SE Asia, packed with even more destinations, but I still picked two places for a longer stay of 6-7 nights in each. At the time I was primarily looking at flight availability and didn't really plan for it this way but it in retrospect it turned out to be a good thing.

To be honest, I don't want to spend much on hotels. I just want a clean basic room in a good location. I looked briefly and it seems like I'll easily find hotels in the $50 a night range in most places (except KL and Singapore).

Vietnam and the Philippines look amazing but it seems like they would require a whole trip just to see them. And to be honest, I'd rather not go to the Philippines right now with what's going on with their new leader.

I've been to HK before. Great city but it's pretty expensive and far compared to the other places on my itinerary. I'm down to spend 6-7 nights in one place but not sure where it would be best?

Chiang Mai seems great and would work with my itinerary but I'm not sure how good the weather will be in May.

$50 for a hotel in KL isn't too difficult to find.

Like a few others have said, I'd probably skip Singapore (due to costs, you've been there, not a lot to do) and add a new city or beach destination instead. You did say it's your favorite city in the world though, so I can understand how it would be difficult not to go there.

I wouldn't recommend Vietnam be added into your current itinerary. It's better for it's own trip. Also the visa for US citizens is $180+. It's a great place to visit (relative to the region), but I would recommend at least 2 weeks there.

I can't say I'm a fan of Johor, but then again I haven't been there for well over a decade.

Penang on the other hand is fantastic. It's neither a big city not a remote beach as per the OP's requirements, but I'd say it's definitely worth a few days exploring George Town.

If you haven't been to Chiang Mai then I agree that might be a good choice even though it's not "beachy". If you haven't been to Cambodia or Laos those might also be worthwhile, although again not so beachy. Unless you go to some place like southern Cambodia. Kep is somewhat remote and fairly quiet...at least it was when I visited but that is a few years ago now.

Weatherspark is a good site for finding out about historical averages and so forth
https://weatherspark.com/averages/33...g-Mai-Thailand

Obviously it's all very personal...but I much prefer Singapore over Hong Kong. And if it's your favorite place in the world I think going back makes sense.

Bangkok and Phuket are good places to visit in Thailand. In Bangkok, you can visit Grand Palace; if having children in the trip, Dream World park is a ideal destination. Shopping in Bangkok is also interesting. Some places for shopping include Chatuchak weekend markets or Suan Lum Night bazzar. You can get more travel guides and information on the website of Asiatravel.news. Have a good holiday!