Asia in July with little kids

Hi all,

Our small family of two adults and one 3 year old and one 1 year old want to stay for three weeks in Asia next July.

According to what I read so far during this month only Indonesia part of Thailand and Malaysia seem to have nice weather ;)

We already visited Koh Samui/Koh Phangang two years ago when our older child was 1.

What we are searching for is a place - or two places not to far away - that combines nice beaches with activities we can do as a family. From our last trip we know that just beach is just not our kind of vacation and especially on Koh Phangang (while the beach and hotel were perfect) there was just not enough to do for us.

So the ideal place would be a nice beach but with sites and activities to visit in driving distance (not sure if self driving as possible/reasonable anywhere in Asia, but we would even prefer that). With activities I mean: small boat trips, shorter (Jungle) hikes, cultural sites (temples), ...)

What we definitely don’t want is crowded areas a big hotels ;). And I'm really allergic against trash lying around - i know it's Asia.. but still ;)

Last point is that good medical care should be available as we are traveling with small children and that the Malaria risk shouldn’t be high.

Soooo... where should we go to? ;))

Thanks a lot

Bali would be perfect but its beaches are only Ok rather than really nice.
But the landside attractions make up for that.

Thank you. I've read that Bali is quite crowded especially during high season?

Like everywhere, the crowds congregate at certain places, especially the resort areas of the South, and Ubud. The rest of the island is far less crowded, and indeed much of Bali is pretty much untouched by the tourism industry and is great to explore by car or motorbike.
However, you shouldn't expect to find beautiful, undiscovered beaches.
Still, beach areas away from the South are far less crowded.

Hi Laszlo,

thanks a lot - i'll have a closer look into the other coasts than ;)

I also thought about the Malaysian east coast/Islands (self-driving should be possible in Malaysia easily i think), but i dont't know that much about the area - how does it compare to Indonesian or Thai Islands like Koh Samui?).

Best
Dennis

The East coast islands of Malaysia are quite small and offer very little besudes beaches and snorkelling/diving.
The beaches would be superior to those on Bali, everything else inferior.
And being small, they are pretty much all about tourism.
If you thought Koh Phangan had too little to offer, these will offer even less.

Agree with Laszlo.You could look ar Bali combined with Lombok,if you want better beaches?

East Coast Malaysia has nice beaches but not a huge amount else of interest.

With 3 weeks you could do two separate places..why not?

Those mentioned,or combine East Coast Malaysia islands for the beaches with Sarawak (Borneo) for example.

Thank you 2 - of course we want a nice beach, but we want to do some kind of activity every other day (more or less), so i wouldn't do 1,5 weeks beach and afterwards 1,5 weeks more activities.

I've read that Borneo is not ideal with small children, otherwise it sounds interesting..

Lots of children in places like Kuching.There are good NPs nearby,orang utans,boat trips,longhouse visits..a lot of interesting stuff for children I think.

Thanks - how are the beaches on Borneo btw.? Or is Borneo more the place to go for "other" activities?

Better beaches in Sabah than in Sarawak.It's not really a great beach place but there are some decent ones there.

... and to connect the decent beach spots with the other attractions, one will have to travel long distances - far more than in Bali.
And the rewards will be fewer, and far less diverse.
It's also going to be more expensive.

Hi,

i did some reading on Bali, Lombok (Gillis) and to be honest I found a lot of articels/posts reporting a big problem with ever growing crowds (especially in high season) and a hug issue with littered beaches and islands. The pictures I saw are -to be honest- quite repelling. I know that Asia is not always the cleanest place. I can only compare to Koh Samui/Phangan and that is the absolute maximum I find "acceptable" rg. garbage.

I'm just writing this because it scared my of those Islands (and maybe Indonesia) a bit...

Oh well.
Try Singapore then.

;) - i know that there are differences. Thats why I compared it to our stay on Koh Samui which was fine (and a big difference to Singapore...

e.g. this: https://www.myadventuresacrosstheworld.com/bali-indonesia/ (even if thats not the norm - it's still something to worry about)

See #3.
I can't be bothered to keep repeating.

The Gilis are very crowded with tourists.So are a few of the beach resorts on Bali.

That still leaves a lot of the place that is not really crowded though.Even if July/August is a peak season there.

IF you want somewhere with fewer(foreign)tourists,there are plenty of other Indonesian islands.They don't have the same facilities and convenience that you have with Bali though.

Lombok has lots of quieter spots.Or you could try Flores?

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