Getting to Asia

Asia travel guide · By Frank Adam Burns · Updated 5 September 2026

Getting to Asia is the easy part of the trip and the part with the most decisions hidden in it. This page is the logistics layer: flight times and carriers from each Australian city, entry rules for Australians country by country, what cannot come through customs, the airport transfers that work, and the checklist before you go.

Getting to Asia from Australia is the easy part of the trip, and the part with the most decisions hidden in it: which airport, which carrier, direct or one-stop, which visa, which arrival form, which medicines cannot come, and how to get from the airport to the bed on no sleep. This page is the logistics layer for the whole continent — flight times and carriers from each Australian city, the entry rules for Australians country by country as they stand at the time of writing, the airport-to-city transfers that work, the regional flights between countries, and the practical detail of customs, medicines, insurance and connectivity. It is the page to read after the destination is chosen and before the booking is made. Entry rules change; Smartraveller is the authority and we confirm every requirement on every itinerary we issue.

Flights from Australia

Perth is one to three hours closer to everything and has direct flights to Bali, Singapore, KL, Bangkok, Tokyo, Hong Kong and (seasonally) others. Adelaide and the Gold Coast have direct Bali and Singapore services; Cairns has Bali, Singapore, Tokyo and Osaka on some carriers; Darwin has Bali, Singapore and Dili. Everything else connects through Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

Direct or one-stop

Direct is better for a first trip and for anyone with children: the overnight flights north land in the morning and the day is usable. One-stop fares via Singapore, KL, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei or the Gulf are often AUD 200–400 cheaper and add three to six hours; they make sense for Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, India and Sri Lanka where the direct options are thin, and for the stopover trip that treats Singapore or Hong Kong as a destination. The low-cost carriers (Jetstar, Scoot, AirAsia X, Vietjet, Cebu Pacific) sell fares that look half the price and become three-quarters once bags, seats and meals are added; for a family with luggage the full-service fare frequently wins.

Open-jaw tickets

Into one city, home from another — Tokyo in and Osaka out, Hanoi in and Saigon out, Bangkok in and Phuket out — costs nothing or little extra on the full-service carriers and saves a day and a fare at the end of every itinerary. It is the first thing we check on every booking and the thing most people booking themselves miss.

When fares peak

The December–January and June–July school holidays, Easter, Japan’s cherry blossom (late March–April) and Golden Week, Lunar New Year to China and Vietnam, Diwali to India: fares run AUD 1,400–2,300 return to most destinations and higher if booked late. Book four to six months out for those windows; two to three for the rest of the year; and watch the Jetstar, Scoot and AirAsia sales in the shoulder months, when Bali and Singapore drop below AUD 600.

From each Australian city

Brisbane

Direct to Denpasar (Jetstar, Virgin), Singapore (Singapore Airlines, Qantas), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia Airlines), Bangkok (Thai), Tokyo (Qantas, Jetstar), Seoul (Korean Air, Jetstar), Taipei (EVA, China Airlines), Hong Kong (Cathay), Manila (Philippine Airlines), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet) and Shanghai (China Eastern), at the time of writing. Everything else via Singapore, KL or Bangkok, or a domestic hop to Sydney.

Sydney

The widest choice: every destination in the table above direct, including Delhi, Hanoi, Osaka, Beijing, Guangzhou and seasonal Sapporo. The Qantas, JAL and ANA Tokyo services and the Korean Air and Asiana Seoul services all originate here.

Melbourne

Direct to Bali, Singapore, KL, Bangkok, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, Manila, Saigon, Hanoi, Delhi, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Melbourne–Hanoi and Melbourne–Delhi are among the few direct services to those cities from Australia.

Perth

Under four hours to Bali, five to Singapore and KL, six to Bangkok and Jakarta, eight to Hong Kong and Tokyo, with direct services on all of them. The closest Australian city to Asia by a distance, and the one where a long weekend in Bali is a real proposition.

Adelaide, Gold Coast, Cairns, Darwin, Canberra, Hobart

Adelaide and the Gold Coast have direct Bali and Singapore services (Jetstar, Singapore Airlines, Scoot); Cairns has Bali, Singapore, Tokyo and Osaka on Jetstar and Singapore Airlines and is the shortest east-coast flight to Japan; Darwin has Bali, Singapore and Dili; Canberra has Singapore seasonally; Hobart connects via Melbourne or Sydney. Routes change seasonally; we check the current schedule on every quote.

Making the long flight easier

The Australian departures north are overnight and land in the morning; the returns are daytime and land in the evening or the following dawn. On the way out, eat before boarding, skip the second meal, sleep, and stay awake in Asia until local bedtime. Seats together and a bassinet requested at booking, not at check-in. Premium economy (AUD 2,500–4,000 return to North Asia) is the upgrade most travellers over sixty consider worth it on the way home only, and the airlines will price one direction. Noise-cancelling headphones, a neck pillow that actually works, compression socks for anyone with a history, and water rather than the free wine are the four things that make a ten-hour flight tolerable. The stopover — two nights in Singapore or Hong Kong on the way to Europe or the subcontinent — is the other answer, and it has made those cities destinations in their own right.

Entry requirements for Australians, country by country

Passports

Six months’ validity beyond the trip is the working rule for the whole continent, and airlines enforce it at check-in even for the countries (Japan, Hong Kong) that legally require less. Blank pages: two. A damaged passport is refused at several Asian borders. Children need their own. Renew early; Australian passport processing takes weeks in peak periods.

Arrival cards and apps

The paper landing card is disappearing. Japan (Visit Japan Web), Thailand (Digital Arrival Card), Malaysia (MDAC), Singapore (SG Arrival Card), the Philippines (eTravel), Indonesia (All Indonesia), Taiwan and the Maldives all take the details online before arrival, most within three days of the flight. Do them the week before, screenshot the QR codes, and keep the paper form on the plane as a fallback. We send the links with every pre-departure pack.

Customs, medicines and what cannot come

Medicines

The rule that catches Australians most: several countries prohibit or control medicines that are over the counter at home. Japan bans pseudoephedrine above 10 per cent (many cold-and-flu tablets) and amphetamine-type ADHD medicines (Vyvanse, Adderall, dexamphetamine) outright, and requires an import certificate for more than a month’s supply of prescription medicines and for methylphenidate, some benzodiazepines and strong opioids in any quantity. Singapore, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and the UAE (for Gulf transits) control codeine, benzodiazepines, ADHD medicines, medicinal cannabis and strong painkillers with varying permit requirements. Everywhere: original packaging, your name on the label, the prescription, a doctor’s letter for injectables and unusual quantities, and no more than the trip needs plus a margin. Check each country’s list against everything you take, including the vitamins; the Japan entry guide is the worst case and the model.

Prohibited and restricted items

Drugs of any kind carry the death penalty in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China, and the law is applied to foreigners. Vaping devices and liquids are illegal in Singapore, Thailand (on paper and increasingly in practice), Taiwan and several others; leave them at home. Drones need registration in Japan, Thailand and Indonesia and are banned near most sites. Meat products, fresh fruit and plants are prohibited or restricted into Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore and, coming home, into Australia. Cash over the equivalent of about AUD 10,000–15,000 must be declared in most countries. Knives, imitation firearms and religious images for export (Thailand’s Buddha rule) are the other occasional problems.

Duty-free, in and out

Into Asia: typically one to three litres of alcohol and 200 cigarettes, with Singapore (no duty-free cigarettes at all), Malaysia and Indonesia stricter. Home to Australia: AUD 900 of goods per adult, 2.25 litres of alcohol, 25 cigarettes; declare all food, wood, plant and animal products and anything from a farm, and expect the biosecurity queue to be the slowest part of the day.

Airport to city

A pre-booked private car with a name board is the transfer we book for late arrivals, families with luggage, older travellers and every arrival in Bali, India, Vietnam and Cambodia, where the airport taxi scene is the trip’s first scam if left to chance. Everywhere else the rail links are excellent and the taxi queue is honest.

Money on arrival

Do not exchange Australian dollars at home; the rates are poor and the airport ATM on arrival is better in every country in the table. Use a debit or credit card with no foreign-transaction fee, withdraw at a bank or airport ATM (7-Eleven and Japan Post in Japan, Global ATMs in Korea, bank ATMs elsewhere; avoid the standalone machines in tourist streets that add their own fees), and take a day’s cash, not a week’s. Tell the bank the dates and the countries. Carry a second card in a different bag. US dollars are useful only in Cambodia, where they circulate alongside the riel, and as a backup in Laos and Myanmar; nowhere else. Tax-free shopping exists in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia with a passport at the till and thresholds from AUD 30 to AUD 100; the refund is at the airport or, increasingly, in-store.

The arrival day

Immigration in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore is fast and biometric; in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia it can run to an hour at a busy bank; in India it is longer. Allow ninety minutes from aircraft door to landside before committing to a train time or a driver’s meter. Have the first hotel’s name and address in the local script on the phone — immigration may ask, and the driver will need it. Withdraw cash, activate the SIM, find the transfer, and plan nothing for the afternoon but a walk and an early dinner. The trip begins at eight the next morning, at the famous place, before the coaches. If the flight lands at night — the Vietnam and India services often do — a pre-booked car with a name board and a hotel that knows you are late are the two things that make midnight in a new country uneventful, which is all it needs to be.

Between countries

The region’s airlines make hops of one to three hours for AUD 60–300: Tokyo–Seoul (2 h), Seoul–Taipei (2½), Taipei–Tokyo (3), Osaka–Shanghai (2), Bangkok–Siem Reap (1), Bangkok–Luang Prabang (1½), Saigon–Phnom Penh (45 min), Hanoi–Luang Prabang (1), Singapore or KL to anywhere in South-East Asia (1–3), Bali–Labuan Bajo (1½), Colombo–Malé (1½), Delhi–Kathmandu (1½). Full-service (Thai, Singapore, Cathay, JAL, Korean, Vietnam Airlines, Bangkok Airways) and low-cost (AirAsia, Scoot, Vietjet, Jetstar Asia, Cebu Pacific, Lion, Peach) both work; the low-cost fares add bags. Land options exist for the patient: the Fukuoka–Busan ferry (3 h), the Bangkok–Siem Reap road (7 h), the Saigon–Phnom Penh bus or Mekong boat, the slow boat from Chiang Rai into Laos (2 days), the Laos–China railway, the KL–Singapore train. Each is part of the trip rather than a transfer.

Within countries

Rail is the answer in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China; flights and a driver in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka; a driver alone in Cambodia, Laos, Bali and Bhutan; seaplanes and boats in the Maldives. Transport cards: Suica or Pasmo (Japan, loadable into an iPhone or Android wallet before departure), T-money (Korea), EasyCard (Taiwan), Octopus (Hong Kong), the Rabbit card in Bangkok, EZ-Link in Singapore. Ride apps: Grab across South-East Asia, Gojek in Indonesia, Kakao T in Korea, Didi in China, Uber and Ola in India, PickMe in Sri Lanka; Japan runs on trains and a taxi app called Go. Rail passes pay only for long routes — the Japan Rail Pass loses on Tokyo–Kyoto–Osaka since its 2023 repricing, and the regional passes usually win.

Insurance and connectivity

Insurance

Not legally required anywhere in Asia except Bhutan and, in practice, some Japanese ski resorts; essential everywhere because hospitals charge foreign visitors in full and evacuation from an island or a mountain costs tens of thousands. Buy it when you pay the first deposit so cancellation cover is live; name skiing, diving, surfing, trekking above 3,000 m and motorbikes if you will do them; check the medical evacuation limit; read the exclusions for pre-existing conditions. Credit-card insurance often has conditions (the flights on the card, trip length limits) worth reading before relying on it.

Phones and data

An eSIM installed before departure (10–20 GB for AUD 20–40, activated on landing) is the simplest; a local SIM at the arrival airport is cheaper and, in India, involves a passport and a wait. Pocket Wi-Fi suits families. Google Maps works except in Korea (Naver Map) and China (VPN); WhatsApp is how hotels, drivers and guides communicate; Google Translate’s camera mode reads every script. Power is 100 V two-flat-pin in Japan and 220–240 V on assorted plugs elsewhere; a universal adaptor covers the continent.

The pre-departure checklist

1. Passport: six months beyond the trip, two blank pages, undamaged.
2. Visa or e-visa where needed, on the official site, four weeks out.
3. Arrival card or app completed within three days of the flight; QR codes screenshotted.
4. Medicines checked against each country’s list; permits applied for; original packaging and prescriptions packed.
5. Travel insurance bought at deposit, activities named, certificate saved.
6. Travel doctor visit six weeks out; vaccinations and kit.
7. Bank notified; a no-foreign-fee card; a second card in a different bag.
8. eSIM installed; transport card loaded; apps downloaded; maps offline.
9. Airport transfer booked for the first night; hotel address in the local script on the phone.
10. Smartraveller registration; copies of everything emailed to yourself.
11. A printed copy of the itinerary and the first hotel address, for the day the phone dies over the Coral Sea.

The first-time in Asia page covers the rest of the preparation; the itineraries page has the routes the flights serve; the Asia tours page shows how we book all of it as one.

Frequently asked questions