8 Don Daeng Island

LAOS

Beaches don’t get much more secret than Don Daeng’s in the wilds of landlocked Laos, which only materialises in the November to April dry season as the Mekong river recedes. Recognised by the Unesco World Heritage Centre as a Cultural Landscape, the entire scene looks like something from a 19th-century watercolour painting; wide sandy banks, rickety bamboo bridges, monks puttering past in boats, rice fields swaying on the hills. The swimming is wonderfully cool and refreshing, but stick close to shore to avoid currents.

Fly Emirates via Bangkok from Dubai to Vientiane, about Dh3,600 return.