SE Asia family holiday.

We normally spend a few weeks in the January school holidays on the Gold Coast in a unit. I'm just thinking about trying something different, and I remember some good threads on here about SE Asia holidays.

Any recommendations about good places to go to and things to do? We'd normally spend about 10k on the Goldie for 2 weeks, unit, food, theme parks, shopping etc, so happy to spend a bit, but even happier if it was cheaper than that.

Kids are girls, 13, 12 and 10. They are pretty typical, like swimming, snorkeling, water slides, theme parks. They love kayaking, white water rafting, pushbikeing. Don't really want to sit around in the sun doing nothing for two weeks, that's OK for a few days though. Would like to stay in western style resort or such, wouldn't want to rough it too much.


See ya's.
 
Bali all the way....we (2 adult & 2 kids 12 & 14) go there every year for our family holiday ...heading off for 18 days in July again.

Here's a tip - Subscribe to Air Asia newletters and get their sale prices direct to your inbox then book your accommodation dates to fit your airline sale times. We got our family of 4 to Bali & return for $800.

You could stay for a month easily on your usual budget in Top notch resorts and doing all the activities you've listed and more.
 
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for sure - Bali is pretty good, so is KL if you prefer a bigger city. The Bali Dynasty is still good for the kids at that age and is right over the road from Waterbom Park and just down the road is MataHari and the Plaza.

Thailand is good too, stay at the Merlin Beach just outside Patong and you can get transfers to anywhere from there - not that you have to - the place is big enough to lose the kids ....we did, by accident!
 
We recently spent a week in Singapore and loved it - so much to do and so relaxing. Could easily have spent another week there.

Some of the things to do:

Zoo - can have breakfast with the orangutans, also a night safari
Sentosa Island - water parks, universal studios, lots to do for kids. The show at the end of the night is great.
great shopping - not as cheap as other asian countries, but still great
Great food - Clarke Quay was great to just relax with a drink and watch the world go by.
Boat cruises up the river
lots of markets - bugis st market, chinatown etc
Transport was really easy

Loved it.

We flew with Scoot airlines - you can get return airfares for under $400 depending on how fast you are and the dates you are flying. A week in a central 4 star hotel was just over $1000.
 
It will be cheaper for you to holiday in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur if you fly Air Asia. Domestic holidays within Australia are getting dearer all the time and for less quality. For the price of a skanky motel in Blacktown, you can stay in a top resort in Malaysia.
 
A big vote for Bangkok from me. Interesting, exotic, safe and super cheap. You could do 2 weeks for less than $10k easily. Heaps to do for all ages.

I've been there 3 times and loved it.
 
Yeah I'm fan of a Bangkok too. It's always an exciting place to visit - plenty to see and do.

Malaysia is ok - easy to get around with a family. KL makes for a good base with plenty of fun family things to do. You could also head into the highlands or over to Malacca.

Have you thought about the south pacific as well? Places like the Cooks Islands and Samoa are safe and relaxing. Might be a bit boring for kids though.

Cheers

Jamie
 
Sarawak - (East Malaysia) is a great place to visit. Many outdoor activities - Kayaking, jungle treking with orangutans, beaches, etc. Sabah is close by and is great for snorkeling.

Beaches are warm as is the water.

You could fly to Singapore, then onto Kuching (capital of Sarawak, Malaysia), have a look around the town (perhaps stay at the Pullman Hotel), then go down to the Damai Beach resort where they have a cultural village and then fly up to Sabah for a few days.
 
You could do 2 destinations.
1) Fly into Singapore for 6 days? Alot to do there.
2) Fly from Singapore via Jetstar to say Phuket, Vietnam etc.

Get to experience 2 cultures, 1 Almost western Asian city, and a developing Asian country.

I always flythrough Singapore when doing trips just to spend a view days there
 
You could go one better and do 3 destinations...

Last year we flew to KL for a few nights, wasn't a huge fan of KL, the Petronas Towers were pretty cool.

Fm there we flew to Langkawi for a few days in a beach resort. Was good if you're into that but I was bored.

From Langkawi we flew to Singapore, one of my favourite paces in the world. Getting pricy in places now, but so much to see and do and ridiculously clean everywhere. Can't wait to go back again, food, people, places so much to see and do and as others said, Sentosa island is a cheap cab ride away and you have Uiversal Studios there. The Transformers ride blew me away.

Singapore is probably the easiest of the Asian paces to visit, everyone speaks English, it's very safe and nobody hassles you in the street. Actually, scratch KL and Langkawi and just head to Singapore, it's awesome!
 
We are heading to Bintan Island in July.
You fly to Singapore then catch a ferry - for Perth people it's like Singapore's Rottnest :)
BUT Bintan is in Indonesia so you get 2 countries lol!
The beaches are awesome. We have been there twice before and it's excellent for teenagers - we go to Club Med - simply because they are awesome for kids especially teenagers. We have a 14yo and they run a teens club from 11-17 which allows them freedom to do snorkelling, trapeze, archery, swimming, be in evening entertainments (plays, dance, fashion shows) and hang around with kids from around the world.
We've been to the one at Bali as well but the beach at Bintan was nicer - little fish swim right to shore and you can snorkel just 15m from the beach.

http://www.clubmed.com.au/cm/resort-bintan-island-indonesia_p-14-l-AE-v-RBIC-ac-vh.html

I do have to say that January isn't the best time as it is rainy season for much of Indo
 
I agree with the Hawaii recommendation. We were there this January and loved it. Lots of things to do and see and the food was fantastic.

With your budget, you could even go to mainland US. We went for our honeymoon in 2011 and spent 6k (excluding spending money) for 3 weeks in New York, DC and Las Vegas. For that money we were able to stay in nice 4 star hotels and a 5 star in Vegas.

I think a West Coast road trip would be great for two weeks. You could do Yosemite National Park (2 nights) - San Francisco (3 nights) - a smaller coastal town on the way (1 night) - LA/Disneyland (3 nights) - San Diego (2 nights) - Las Vegas (3 nights) or alternatively, in the reverse direction. Or just remove San Diego and add the other nights to the other stops. Could even do Grand Canyon if you have time. May need to add a little bit of extra spending money though, depending on how much you spend. But you should easily be able to do air fares, mid-range hotels and rental car for ~8k.
 
- LA/Disneyland .

One thing we are really sick of about the Gold Coast is that every second local has a season pass to the theme parks. They only cost $140 or thereabouts. And ever since these cheap season pass tickets have been introduced, they are just so packed over the January school holidays. We don't even bother going now as it's an hour or more wait for rides. I wonder how busy disneyland LA would be in January? Anyone know? It would be good if there was not a long wait to get on rides and stuff. How cold would it be in January there? Probably not too bad being southern California? Would it be similar to say Melbourne in winter?


Thanks so far for everyones replies, its really given me and the wife things to think about.


See ya's.
 
We recently spent a week in Singapore and loved it - so much to do and so relaxing. Could easily have spent another week there.

Sentosa Island - water parks, universal studios, lots to do for kids.

.


I would never have considered Singapore, but after some research it sounds good. Thanks.


See ya's.
 
Just a warning/of interest. Indonesia are making some new stricter laws and one is making it illegal to be defacto in their country. Punishable by jail. I for one would take this very seriously
 
One thing we are really sick of about the Gold Coast is that every second local has a season pass to the theme parks. They only cost $140 or thereabouts. And ever since these cheap season pass tickets have been introduced, they are just so packed over the January school holidays. We don't even bother going now as it's an hour or more wait for rides. I wonder how busy disneyland LA would be in January? Anyone know? It would be good if there was not a long wait to get on rides and stuff. How cold would it be in January there? Probably not too bad being southern California? Would it be similar to say Melbourne in winter?


Thanks so far for everyones replies, its really given me and the wife things to think about.


See ya's.

I've been to Disneyland in September, on a Monday, and the longest wait we had all day was about 10 mins.

January is low season in the US. You could easily do a couple of weeks on the west coast within your budget. Perhaps drive the LA to San Fran to Las Vegas to LA loop. There's HEAPS to do and see, including national parks, and it's cheap as chips. The people are friendly and fun, and it's very different to Australia.
 
I would never have considered Singapore, but after some research it sounds good. Thanks.


See ya's.

Singapore is great. Check out the Indian and Arabic quarters, and the night zoo is sensational. Sentosa is pretty cool too.

We once caught the bus from Singapore to KL, and it was great fun (and cheap as chips).
 
We done a 4 week trip to Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand 2 adults, 2 kids in '09 for $10K, so if your going over there I recommend a couple of destinations, Air Asia has reasonably cheap flights between countries.

Thailand and Vietnam are my destinations of choice. In Thailand would spend a couple of days in Bangkok then can head up north to Chiang Mai or down South to Phuket. I haven't been to Phuket but have been to one of the islands Koh Lanta and would recommend it for snorkeling, swimming, beach. My preference though is the rest of Thailand up North in Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai and in the North East in the Isaan region, beautiful food, people, scenery and an awesome cultural experience especially for the kids.

Vietnam have been down South to HCMC and the Delta and up North to Hanoi and HaLong Bay, reccommend a junket on HaLong Bay for scenery and culture also awesome canoeing through the bay.

Cambodia and Laos are also very good for cultural experiences we were there in early 2011 and our kids enjoyed it.
 
Just a warning/of interest. Indonesia are making some new stricter laws and one is making it illegal to be defacto in their country. Punishable by jail. I for one would take this very seriously

that's for residents - you think they'd burn their tourist trade?
 
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