HOLIDAY in Bali, Thailand or Malaysia???

I have been to Bali and Phuket and I loved both! But unfortunately this was before we had DD.

I have been to Bali Twice and to the same resort. I can highly recommend it: Aston Resort and Spa. They have a great pool, and a kiddi pool next to it. Lots of kids activities and I did see many couples with little ones and I saw the resort stuff looking after them while they are at the beach. The food was amazing there and so is the Hotel. Nice beach as well. Very cheap to eat out as opposite the road they have many nice Eateries! The Spa services there is just out of this world! This hotel is also in Nusa Dua hence not many people around to bug you and try and sell you stuff. QUIET and Peaceful.

As for Thailand, we stayed at Le Mariden....very nice hotel and private while sandy beach. Also very good for families as they have several pools, Kids activities etc. They even have a baby Elephant on property...soooo cute! But its Quite far from Bangla Rd which is where all the eateries and shopping is. But the hotel has a cheap shuttle! Howvere I know this hotel closed after Tsunami ...not sure if it open yet!!

I love Bali and def will go back once this bub is around 2yrs old. And will go back to the same hotel!

Both Bali and Thailand are awesome.

We stayed in Kuta at the Discovery Kartika Plaza (Bali) and it was lovely.. I'd highly recommend it

I also found this: Bali Family Accomodation

Hope you find it helpful

Edited by Neeks

Hey there, I LOVE Bali and we are heading over in Sept with DS who will be 10 months.

We go every year so have been about 12 times. We have stayed at heaps of different places but for the last 4 times we have stayed at Hotel Padma in Legian. Its great there as its close to Kuta but not right there, has fantastic restaurants around it but the hotel food is awesome, great shopping and a superette a 3 min walk away.

We missed last year as was about 30 weeks preg but the year before we did our kids research. they have a awesome creche/kiddy club with really cool facilitiys so wil allow as to go shopping for a wee bit during the day and a great babysitting service at night.

Check out the website or PM me if you want more info.

Thanks for all your suggestions so far... and kep em coming! We went to Thailand four years ago pre-baby and it was wonderful, although we didn't go to Phuket. We based ourselves on Koh Lanta which I can recommend, but we were in a distinctly un child friendly resort so I wouldn't know where yto go this time! bali sounds like a treat...

I never had any probs with food in Bali tho...and ate out alot! I mean didnt eat as much in the Hotel it self.

Yah Le Meridien was great...it was huge hotel! At first we took Took Took's to go to the township and that was horrid on DH's back and then we just took the Hotel shuttle for about the same price, airconditioned and much smoother ride!

I found the food in Phuket not as nice as Bali (IMO) even tho they had many diff choices like italian, Indian etc etc!

I would go back to bothe places to be honest! But Bali is special may be because we went there on our Honeymoon!!

We went to Thailand for our honeymoon last year. The best place for relaxing and other activities was Koh Samui off the East Coast of Thailand. We stayed at Al's Resort (good price) which caters for families too. Most resorts are right on the beach and have pools too, and most also have their own restaurants. There are also surrounding islands and you can trip between them easily. Haven't been to Phuket but apparently Koh Samui is a lot less commercial/touristy. Plus they have muthai (sp?) boxing which is cool!

You can do a stop over in Singapore on the way to or from Bali if you fly Singapore airlines.

That travel warning on Bali has been the same since the first bombing. I have always felt 100% safe in Bali but then I do avoid places like Kuta and the bars etc. We are also home quite early at night usually as its usually a long day in the sun.

As I said above we have been about 12 times and never has anyone been sick. We do eat at a lot of the places around the hotel not just in teh hotel, ifact we only have breakfast at the hotel.

We have never had probs with insurance and we were there the year after the bombing in Kuta. We missed the year of the bombing as we were in Europe.

Bombshell - if you find out some of the names, do let me know...
I know of Bon Ton on Langkawi that looks pretty amazing... can be on the pricey side though.

We went to Bali the same year of Bombing ...I think we were there in Apr and Bombing happened in Oct. And then we went back two year later....after bombing. It was just as safe. We never spend our evenings in Kuta any ways and hardly ever spend time in clubs....so we were safe. I always had insurance while travelling and the only time I had to claim was when I went to Phuket. DH had a crook back from the Took Took rides and we ended up in the Phuket Hospital getting Acupuncture (sp??) done on him. Both places are safe and really nice.

As for Singapore I have family there and MIL twent there three years ago and she loved it because it was sooo clean and nice. A bit more expensive then the others but def worth visiting.

Lucky you, misty, going on holiday in Nov/Dec in any of those places! Sorry in advance, this will be a bit of a novel - I live in Singapore and have been in SE Asia for about 3 years now and love it.

I've been to Thailand - Phuket, Krabi/Ko Phi Phi, Ko Samui and Cha Am - and all 4 of those beach resort areas would be great with kids. Definitely agree with reading up on Tripadvisor for kid-friendly resorts and where to go. Personally, I loved Karon Bay in Phuket and would stay away from Pattong.

Bali is fantastic, we were there in April for our honeymoon. If you stay away from Kuta you're probably "safe" in terms of bombings and things (and also away from all the Aussie kids and nightclubs LOL). Nusa Dua is sposed to be lovely and I really liked Seminyak for eating out although the beach was a bit average there for swimming/sunbathing.

Haven't done any beach trips to Malaysia while we have lived here, despite DH's best attempts to get me to book somewhere. Langkawi is meant to be lovely, much less developed than beach resorts in Thailand (there's McDonalds in Phuket/Ko Samui) and lovely beaches. Tioman Island is also supposed to be lovely (and not very developed) although not sure what it would be like with children?

Re the safety warnings in Indo - I think the govt really errs on the side of caution with those. Batam and Bintan are really close to Singapore and Bintan in particular, I wouldn't really lump in with the likes of Kuta/Bali as being a hotspot for terrorist activity It's not "really" Indonesia IYKWIM?

Finally, Singapore is a great place for a holiday - specially with kids - but not really in the same league as a holiday in Thailand, Bali or Malaysia. If you can fit in a stopover here I would recommend it though!

Hope that helps