Asia & the Indian Ocean

Priya Raman

Writes the Thailand, Bali, Palawan and Indian Ocean island pages, the Thai island rankings and the Asia ranking.

Published work

18 signed pages across 2 collections, biggest section first.

Islands 10

BaliTemples, rice terraces, volcanoes, diving and food make Bali the most varied island on the site, at some of the lowest prices. Its beaches are surfy and uneven, and traffic is a daily cost.Read
Koh LantaThe calm, cheap alternative to Phuket and Phi Phi: long sandy beaches, family bungalows and an old fishing town. Few sights, no airport, and a wet season that shuts down boat trips.Read
Koh Phi PhiThe limestone cliffs and Maya Bay are as dramatic as the photos, and so are the crowds. Stay a night or two to see the bays before the day boats arrive, then move on.Read
Koh SamuiThe Gulf of Thailand's resort island has calm, sandy east-coast beaches and good value villas. It is the best Thai pick for summer and the worst for the late-year monsoon.Read
MaldivesTwo ways to do the Maldives: a private resort island with seaplane transfers and resort prices, or a local island like Maafushi from $43 a night. The reef is superb either way; there is little to do beyond it.Read
MauritiusThe Indian Ocean island with the most to do beyond the beach: reef-sheltered lagoons, Le Morne, Black River Gorges and Port Louis. Rooms in Grand Baie from $60. The catch is the trip there and summer cyclones.Read
PalawanEl Nido's limestone lagoons, Coron's shipwreck dives and the Underground River make Palawan the beach-and-boat pick in Asia. It takes effort: domestic flights, long vans and a December-to-May window.Read
PhuketThailand's biggest island has the most flights, beaches and hotels, and some of the cheapest 4-star rooms on the site. The catch: crowds in Patong and rough west-coast seas from May to October.Read
Seychelles (Mahé and Praslin)Mahé, Praslin and La Digue have some of the most photogenic beaches anywhere, plus the Vallée de Mai and giant tortoises. Rooms near Beau Vallon started at $139, and your stay must be on the official licensed list.Read
ZanzibarZanzibar mixes Stone Town, spice farms and reef trips with beaches where rooms start under $50. Budget $144 per person for the visa and the island's mandatory insurance, and pick your coast by the tide.Read

Rankings 8

About Priya

Priya covers the islands that take a day or more to reach from the US: Phuket, Koh Samui, Koh Lanta and Koh Phi Phi in Thailand, Bali, Palawan, the Maldives, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Zanzibar. None has a US nonstop, so her pages name the usual connection and what it adds to the trip, then weigh that against hotel prices that are often the lowest on the site.

Her pages check the rules that change with little notice: visa-free stays and arrival cards, tourist levies, national park fees and seasonal closures of famous bays. The seasons come from the national weather services, because the monsoon reaches the Andaman and Gulf coasts of Thailand at different times and the Indian Ocean has its own cyclone season. She also writes the Thai island ranking, its month lists and the Asia ranking.

Priya is an editorial persona. The research, the sourcing and the arithmetic behind her pages are real; the privacy page explains how our bylines work.