Hua Hin, Thailand

Thailand's oldest beach resort, HUA HIN used to be little more than an overgrown fishing village with one exceptionally grand hotel, but the arrival of mass tourism, high-rise hotels and Western-managed hostess bars has made a serious dent in its once idiosyncratic charm. The town's most distinctive attractions are its squid-pier restaurants and guest houses on Thanon Naretdamri, characterful spots to stay or enjoy fine seafood, while at the other end of the scale the former Railway Hotel provides all the atmosphere you can afford. Hua Hin also hosts a well-respected jazz festival in June (www.huahinjazzfest.com).

The prettiest part of cental Hua Hin's five-kilometre-long beach is the patch in front of and to the south of the Sofitel hotel, where the sand is at its softest and whitest. Holiday homes and high-rise condos overshadow nearly the whole run of beach down to the promontory known as Khao Takiab (Chopstick Hill), 6km further south. Khao Takiab itself is a wooded outcrop surmounted by a temple and home to a troupe of monkeys; the road to the top is guarded by a tall, golden, standing Buddha and affords good coastal views.

The royal family were Hua Hin's main visitors at the start of the twentieth century, but the place became more widely popular in the 1920s, when the opening of the Bangkok– Malaysia rail line made short excursions to the beach much more viable. In 1926 Rama VII had his own summer palace, Klai Klangwon (Far from Worries), erected at the northern end of the beach. It was here, ironically, that he was staying in 1932 when the coup was launched in Bangkok against the system of absolute monarchy. The current king lives here most of the time now, apparently preferring the sea breezes to the traffic fumes of the capital, which means that the navy is on constant guard duty in the resort and the police are also on their best behaviour; consequently both Thais and expats consider Hua Hin an especially safe place to live and do business – hence the number of foreigner-oriented real estate agencies in the area.