At the beginning of February we will enter the Year of the Snake 🐉.

Chinese New Year seems like the perfect excuse for booking a little trip... But if China's sliiiightly out of budget, have a look at LuckyTrip’s Top 3 China Towns.

You want Chinatowns? Toronto’s got *count em* six. The biggest and bestest is between Dundas Street West and Spadina Avenue Downtown - head there for restaurants, bars, supermarkets, herbalists and a very Chinese moose. Yup.

Best restaurant: bad service but great food at King’s Noodle Restaurant. Don’t let the hanging duck corpses put you off.

Best bar: To get to Mahjong secret bar, push through the neon snack shop on Dundas West. Prep yourself for an In The Mood For Love style Narnia of cocktails, whisky and wonton sides.

As you gaze up at the giant Qing Dynasty style gate, you could almost be in Shanghai. (Apart from the constant rain, S&M bars and postcards of the Queen…) London’s Chinatown is one of the liveliest in the world, with bubble tea spilling out of every doorway.

Best restaurant: Pfffft, there’s hundreds. Get fried chicken at Good Friend or dumplings at Dumpling Legend.

Best bar: Opium is exactly the kind of den your momma warned you to stay away from. Ideal.

After WW2, gambling houses, opium dens and brothels sprung up in most Chinatowns. But Amsterdam is one of the few where you can still (legally) lose an eighth of hash to a prostitute over a vicious Tiddlywinks bet.

Best restaurant: At Wing Kee you can get a whole suckling pig for £18 (say no more).

Best bar: It’s not particularly Asian, but Café t' Mandje in Chinatown was the first gay and lesbian bar in ‘Dam, opening in 1927. It looks like your gay uncle’s sideboard - full of tat but in the best way.