People with a love of water will find Asia the ideal getaway. What makes it such a special place isn’t just the abundance of great beaches and tropical weather, but the astounding number of ways a love of water can be realised.

Just below the prismatic waters found throughout Asia’s coastal areas, some of the world’s most intense biodiversity can be found. The Coral Triangle, which extends through much of Malaysia and Indonesia, is said to contain 76% of all coral reef species and 6 of the world’s 7 sea turtle species. One can even take an active role in their conservation by releasing baby sea turtles with our Sea Turtles of Malaysia’s Libaran Island tour. For anyone wanting to experience the full majesty of Mother Nature’s aquatic creations, there may be no better place on earth than Asia.

What’s more is that, with the bewildering array of traditional boats in common use throughout Asia, the getting there is often half the fun. Take, for instance, our Cycling in Chiang Mai Experience. What starts out as a traditional cycling trip quickly transforms into a multi-faceted adventure where guests hop on traditional longtail boats and go kayaking to reach homes floating on a lake surrounded by mountains and jungle. Alternatively, guests can explore the tranquil reef-protected waters of Sanur Bay in Bali by kayak before receiving a world-class spa treatment on a Paddling in Bali tour.

Even in landlocked nations like Laos, water lovers have some truly awesome options to satisfy their aquatic needs. This sparsely populated country abounds with untouched nature of the sort that scarcely exists elsewhere in the world. On trips like our 4,000 Islands Laos tour, one can explore a little-visited group of islands created by a system of waterfalls and rapids formed by the Mekong River – a place that seems to have been lifted straight out of the pages of a fantasy novel.

One of the most unique liquid assets in Asia, though, is the way in which cultures have adapted to aquatic lives. Guests can see this in living colour with our Irrawaddy & Inle Odyssey, which spends four days cruising through remote areas of the Irrawaddy River. This river has been a lifeline to Burmese people for millennia and remains so today. The experience culminates in a trip to Inle Lake. Here, local Shan people have adopted unique one-legged rowing techniques to cope with life on a lake filled with reeds, which has become one of the most iconic images of Myanmar.

Whether it’s through Asia’s incredible marine biodiversity, unique and fun forms of floating transport, hidden natural wonders or age-old traditions and customs built around the importance of earth’s most vital element, the truly special qualities of water can be found in superlative form in Asia. With this in mind, we’ve created unique and innovative itineraries that place a love of water front and centre.