The Empire Beachfront

The Empire at Jerudong was built in the 1990s as a royal guest palace and converted into a hotel, and the scale of it remains startling: an atrium many storeys high with marble, gold leaf and Baccarat crystal, gardens running down to a long South China Sea beach, and a golf course beside it. Whatever one makes of the extravagance, the beach itself is the appeal - a wide stretch of sand facing west, which makes for exceptional sunsets, and quiet in a way that beaches this accessible rarely are. The nearby Jerudong Park was once one of the most lavish free amusement parks anywhere.

What you actually see

• The beach - a long west-facing sand shore on the South China Sea.
• The hotel atrium - the marble and gold-leaf interior, open to look at.
• Sunset over the sea - the west-facing coast's daily event.
• Jerudong Park - the amusement park a short distance away.

When to go

Year round. Sunset is the hour on this coast. The monsoon months bring more rain and rougher sea but the beach stays walkable. Weekends bring local families to the public stretches.

Honest expectations

Beach access is easiest as a hotel guest or via a day pass for the pools and facilities; the public stretches nearby are less maintained. Swimming conditions vary and jellyfish appear seasonally. Brunei is dry, so there is no beach-bar scene of any kind. Jerudong Park has declined considerably from its extravagant peak and now charges entry with fewer rides running.

Nearby

Jerudong Park, the capital and the Tutong coast.