Malaysia

Malaysia's most cosmopolitan historic city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008, George Town holds one of Southeast Asia's largest collections of pre-war buildings, layered with British colonial, Chinese merchant and Malay heritage.

A UNESCO World Heritage city on the Strait of Malacca, where Portuguese, Dutch and British colonial layers rest on top of a Malay sultanate — each coloniser rebuilt the same small centre, leaving an unusually legible urban palimpsest.

Southeast Asia's highest peak between the Himalayas and New Guinea, at 4,095 metres — a massive granite dome above the Crocker Range, with a unique ultra-diverse ecosystem compressed into a dramatic 4,000-metre vertical range.

One of the largest cave systems on Earth, in Malaysian Borneo's Gunong Mulu National Park — home to Deer Cave (the world's largest cave passage by cross-section), the Sarawak Chamber (big enough for five cathedral-sized naves), and nightly bat exits that fill the sky.

Two small coral islands off the coast of Terengganu in Peninsular Malaysia, with transparent turquoise water, white sand and some of Southeast Asia's most accessible and affordable diving and snorkelling.

The world's tallest twin towers and Malaysia's most recognisable landmark: 452 metres, 88 floors each, designed by Cesar Pelli with an eight-pointed star footprint drawn from Islamic geometry and Malay textile motifs.