The Best Coastal Drives in Asia

There is a particular pleasure in a coastal drive that no other mode of travel quite replicates — the ability to stop wherever the view demands it, to take a wrong turn down towards an unmarked beach, to let a single day’s itinerary shrink to nothing more ambitious than following a coastline. Asia holds a handful of genuinely world-class routes for this kind of driving, most of them still relatively uncrowded by the standards of similar roads in Europe or California, and worth building an entire short trip around.

Vietnam’s Hai Van Pass

The stretch of road climbing over the Hai Van Pass between Hue and Da Nang has become, deservedly, one of the most talked-about drives in Southeast Asia — a winding mountain road that crests at nearly five hundred metres before dropping back towards the coast, with views over the South China Sea opening up at almost every turn. The drive itself takes only a few hours, but it rewards stopping frequently, both for the views and for the small roadside cafés that have sprung up along the route. Pair it with a night or two in Da Nang or Hoi An either side, giving the drive itself the standing of a full day’s activity rather than a transit leg. Our guide to Vietnam’s new design hotels, Hoi An to Da Nang is a useful companion for planning where to stay either side of the pass.

Bali’s northern coast

While the south of Bali has grown crowded and heavily developed, the island’s north coast remains comparatively quiet, and the coastal road running along it — past black-sand beaches, small fishing villages and the occasional roadside temple — is one of the more underrated drives in the region. It lacks the dramatic elevation of the Hai Van Pass, but makes up for it with a slower, more contemplative pace and considerably less traffic. The drive connects naturally into a wider island itinerary; our piece on the art of the villa holiday covers how to build a Bali trip that balances a coastal drive like this against time spent simply staying still.

What makes a coastal drive worth planning around

• Genuine elevation change and coastline visibility, rather than a flat road running parallel to an unseen sea.
• Enough small towns or villages along the route to break the drive up naturally, rather than requiring long unbroken stretches.
• Reasonably reliable road conditions — some of the most scenic routes in the region are also among the least well maintained, and it is worth checking current conditions before committing a full day to one.
• Good options to stay overnight partway along the route, rather than needing to complete it in a single push.

New Zealand’s South Island, for something further afield

Outside the immediate Southeast Asian region, New Zealand’s South Island deserves a mention as one of the finest coastal driving destinations anywhere, its combination of dramatic mountain backdrops and genuinely empty coastal roads making for a driving experience unlike almost anywhere else in the world reachable from Singapore. Our piece on New Zealand’s South Island, slowly covers this in far more depth, and it is worth treating as a distinct, longer trip rather than trying to combine it with a shorter regional itinerary.

“The best coastal drives aren’t the ones you finish fastest,” a Da Nang-based guide who leads motorbike and car tours over the Hai Van Pass told us. “They’re the ones where you stop more than you planned to.”

Two further routes worth the detour

Malaysia’s east coast, running from Kuantan north towards the Thai border, offers a considerably quieter alternative to the busier west coast route between Kuala Lumpur and Penang, passing through small fishing towns and long stretches of genuinely empty beach road, particularly outside the monsoon season. It rarely features in regional road-trip roundups, largely because it lacks a single dramatic set-piece like the Hai Van Pass, but the accumulated pleasure of an unhurried, largely traffic-free coastal route has its own considerable charm.

Sri Lanka’s southern coast, from Galle towards Tangalle, is a further option worth flagging for travellers extending a trip beyond Southeast Asia proper — a shorter drive than either of the above, but dense with colonial-era towns, stilt fishermen and beaches that shift character considerably within a short distance of driving, making it an excellent introduction to the format for a traveller with only a day or two to spare.

Practicalities worth sorting in advance

Self-driving is not always straightforward across the region — road conditions, local driving conventions and licensing requirements vary considerably by country, and it is worth checking specifically whether an international licence is accepted or whether a private driver is the more practical option. In several destinations, hiring a driver for the day is not meaningfully more expensive than self-driving once fuel, insurance and the mental cost of navigating unfamiliar roads are accounted for, and it allows genuinely undivided attention to the view rather than the road itself.

Timing matters as much as the route itself. Coastal roads through mountainous terrain are best driven in daylight, both for safety and for the views, and many of the region’s best routes are considerably more pleasant outside the middle of the day, when heat and haze can flatten the light. An early start, with the first proper stop timed for late morning, tends to produce both the best photographs and the most comfortable driving conditions.

What to pack in the car

A few practical additions make a genuine difference on a longer coastal drive: a phone mount and offline maps downloaded in advance, given how patchy signal can be through mountainous or remote coastal stretches; a cooler bag stocked with water, since roadside stops thin out considerably on the quieter routes; and a proper set of sunglasses, both for comfort and for safely reading the road through the low, glancing light that coastal driving in the tropics often produces around sunrise and sunset.

Building a trip around the drive itself

The temptation, when planning a wider itinerary, is to treat a coastal drive as a single day squeezed between two more conventional destinations. Resist it where the route deserves better — the Hai Van Pass, in particular, rewards a full day rather than a rushed morning transfer, and the towns either end are worth a proper stay in their own right. For more on building itineraries around this kind of slower, scenery-led travel, our Travel & Stays archive has further guides worth reading alongside this one.