www.Agoda.com/Komaneka-Resort/Bali

Bali sort of overdeveloped these days

best resort here.

Goldenbanana.info Angkor

betterbidding.com Amari Watergate from $50 bidding pricceline

works well for me... might add some Cang Mai for elephants

hill trekking etc pretty amazing sawadee.com

weather2travel.com Climate Guides odds are great

you will get a fair amount of rain.

Congrats!

i like the revised trip plan....but i would skip K/L---there really is very little there... you can fly directly from bkk to bali on air asia and thai air.

i would add one day to angkor wat...

in bali i think i would stay only in 2 places... i also would consider extending bkk by a day or two...

do you need hotel help? choosing the right ones can make all the difference in your trip... what hotel budget do you have?

I like your second plan better - much more interesting.

Remember that it takes 4 nights somewhere to give you three full days. Given that, I'd suggest
4 nights Bangkok
4 nights at Angkor
9-10 nights Bali - 2 places
1-2 nights Bangkok

I'd also recommend that you skip KL. I find ti the least intersting of the SE Asian capitals.

I bow to Kathie and rhkkmk's knowledge of Kuala Lumpur (all we saw was the airport!), but I like the second itinerary, too. We were in Siem Reap recently for 3-1/2 days and 4 nights, and for us, it was perfect. We spent the first half-day (onn arrival) just wandering around town, days 2 and 3 at the temples, and day 4 sitting at the pool (we had planned to do more temples, but wanted an R&R day; in fact, for that reason, you might consider making Siem Reap a 4 day 5 night part of your trip. It all depends on how much temple viewing you want to do. Two full days exhausted us - 7 sites. Kathie, on the other hand, has done 26 temples in a week!)

LOL, yes, I never met a wat I didn't like.

But figure out what you need. Get a copy of Dawn Rooney's book Angkor: A Guide to Cambodia's Wondrous Temples. It takes three full days just to see the main temples. But for some that is too much, for others, that's not nearly enough.

Agree plan #2 is good, adrop KL and add the time to one of the others, two stops in Bali is enough.

I'm curious though: What is Sabanam?

May I add my vote for plan B or especially Kathie's plan C as well? IMHO KL is expensive and a mere shadow of the delights in Bangkok, Siem Reap and Bali.

I am wondering about Sabanam as well?? Do you mean Tabanan?

Thanks for all of the responses. This is very helpful.

I did mean Tabanan. I think our second itinerary/Kathie's itinerary looks like the direction we will go in.

If we were to spend 4-5 days in Bangkok, how would we spend our days?

We didn't hear any thoughts about Langkawi. We originally planned to go there for the pure beach aspect of it- are there any other recommendations for very nice beaches. For Thailand, I'm concerned about the weather.

Langakawi has some great beaches and a few other attractions but is primarily a beach destination with some of the best beach hotels in Malaysia, if not the whole of Asia. However, July is the rainy season on the Andaman coast so the weather is unlikely to be as good as in Bali at that time of year (although there will be some great deals to be had at that time of year). On Balance, Bali does probably offer the best option in terms of weather nice hotels etc.

A quick word in defence of KL. I am not really sure why some on this board have such a low opinion of the place. I have been there several times and, whilst there is not as much to se as BKK, there is more than enough to keep one occupied for 2-3 days. IMO the quality of the restaurants and food is at least the equal of BKK and the variety of cuisine, encompassing as it does, Malay, Indian, Chinese and Nonya, is greater than anywhere else I can think of in Asia. It is still comparatively inexpensive compared with some other Asian cities.

Not wishing to complicate matters, have you considered Malaysian Borneo for something a bit different?

Enjoy your honeymoon wherever you decide.

Crellston- thanks for providing an additional perspective.

We are open to a variety of options, are not too limited by a budget, and mainly want to make our 3 week trip really memorable and enjoyable.

We wanted to limit to about 5 stops because of travel back and forth and the costs of flights. What is the best way to get to Borneo?

If you opt for Malaysian Borneo, you would fly to either Kota Kinabalu for Sabah or Kuching for Sarawak. You could fly out of KL or Singapore. Sabah has the opportunity to see orangutans in the wild (as well as lots of other wildlife) and has beautiful beaches and world-class snorkeling. Sarawak has intact longhouse communities and different wildlife viewing than Sabah. In both places you can visit orangutans "rehab" centers, though it's obviously not the same as seeing them in the wild.

If you are interested, for Sabah, I'd highly recommend the Borneo Rainforest Lodge. We were there a number of years ago and had a wonderful time. They have substantially upgraded the lodge since our visit. For beach, there are two Shangri-La hotels along the coast near Kota Kinabalu.

We have a photo site where you can view photos from many of our trips: www.marlandc.com

it's not that we dislike K/L, it is just that in comparison to all the other locations it is near to the bottom of the list. i too have been there a couple of times--honestly the highlight was a visit to the petronas towers

I love international cities, eating inexpensive food, and people watching- and of course experiencing a melting pot of cultures, which is why KL was of interest to me.

Can anyone suggest a few other itineraries with easy direct flights on Air Asia? I'm noticing not every city connects with each other...

You might consider adding Central Java: Yogyakarta and Borobudur. Yogya is more of an unpolished Asian city than an flashy international city (i.e, more winding lanes, less high rise). You get an urban atmosphere within the Javanese context which is combination of mysticism, animism and Islam. Plus the arts and architecture aspect of the ancient Buddhist and Hindu temples, performing arts -- dance, puppetry -- and arts and crafts of the region. Artistically and spiritually, the area is very fertile.

Air Asia, as a budget airline has only point to point flights. Their main hub is KL, but they have secondary hubs in Bangkok and Jakarta. Many times, you have to fly through KL to make a connection, even though it is out of the way. (and they will not transfer your luggage even between AIr Asia flights, so you have to pick up your luggage and re-check it at the ticket counter. If one of the flights is international, add in the time to go through passport control.) Sometimes, that may not be worth your while and it may make more sense to take a more expensive flight that doesn't eat up your valuable time.

I think you have a fine itinerary. You can certainly change it, but I would only do so if you have a firm idea of what you want. SE Asia has so many fabulous places to visit, the task is always one of editing out places that look good. I fear we will just confuse you if we add other options. (As much as I loved Borneo, logistically, it is more complicated.)

In spite of the possibility that I will make a difficult decision more difficult, here are a couple of ideas on other places to go:

Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia - Famous for its hawker food and fascinating mix of cultures, we loved our time there. Stay at the famous E&O Hotel. This is much more interesting than KL, IMO.

Central Java, Indonesia - Marmot has give you a good description of some of its attractions.

<<<and they will not transfer your luggage even between AIr Asia flights, so you have to pick up your luggage and re-check it at the ticket counter. If one of the flights is international, add in the time to go through passport control>>>

Add to that, when you re-check your luggage, you have to pay a second luggage charge.

Good point, sf.

You are getting almost too many opinions to be able to make up your mind! That of course is the “problem” with SE Asia: there is so much variety. Given your interests, my thoughts would be as follows:

1. Please look at weather websites and guidebooks, esp as you want a beach vacation. For beaches, while Phuket on Thailand’s west coast is rainy (which includes Langkawi is as well), the marvelous east coast islands and beaches of Thailand and Malaysia are in perfect weather. Koh Samui and that area, or the Redang area of Malaysia would work well.

2. Thailand is holding elections on July 3. These are the first elections after the rather serious riots of April 2010, and a series of other political disturbances over the previous 2 years or so. It is unclear what the mood of the country will be at that time. While I do not think it would at any time be an unsafe place to be (for a foreigner), it may at times be an inconvenient place to be on holiday. As you may recall, in the 2008 disturbances, various airports (including Bangkok and Phuket) were shut down by protesters. It is possible that you may encounter similar issues trying to move around (to say nothing of enjoying) Bangkok and other parts of Thailand in July. You may want to keep a flexible schedule.

3. My general rule of thumb is that with 20 days “on the ground” I would not try to go to more than 5 places. Less is more is my travel mantra. That seems to be what you are considering and seems to be workable. But look at flight times between places, and add in transport time to and from airports, security, etc and you may see that it will take you the better part of a day to get from Point A to Point B. That may rule out some places on the itin. (There are minor time changes of about an hour between some places, like Bangkok and Bali, which will add to travel time as well).

4. I personally don’t think Borneo would fit your interests, which from the above list you provided do not include wildlife/nature/. Borneo is more about wildlife, climbing Mt Kinabalu and river trips to see “headhunters”. If those are not your interests, I would not say to include Borneo. If they are your interests, than Borneo can be a good choice. The other national parks of Malaysia on the mainland (like Tama Negara) could also be places to consider, or places on Java in Indonesia.

5. You state above that “I love international cities, eating inexpensive food, and people watching- and of course experiencing a melting pot of cultures. This seems to me to be an exact description of Singapore, and it puzzles me as to why you would not consider it. It certainly offers far more in terms of sights than KL, and far larger and more varied ethnic areas (KL’s Little India is a block long, Singapore’s encompasses a wide area and tens of thousands of people. The Chinese in Malaysia, while a huge force in business, tend to keep a low profile, many take Malay names, and you don’t really notice a Chinese presences as a tourist, other than Chinese restaurants. Singapore, by contrast, while overwhelming Chinese, actually has a Chinatown.) Singapore has, IMO, the best museums in SE Asia (and possibly all of Asia), and wonderful cheap food, not to mention some world-class restaurants. It’s a central air hub, and it is very easy to get to Bali or Bangkok on non-stops. You could also rent a car and drive up the picturesque east coast of Malaysia, stopping as you want at villages or going out to offshore islands with marvelous beaches.

6. Hate to throw more places into your mix, but it seems to me that Hong Kong would also fit your interests very well. Our museums are not as good as Singapore’s, but there is a lot more to make up for it. If you think Hong Kong is all shopping malls and high-rises you have been reading the wrong guidebooks (perhaps that explains your skipping Singapore too). There are small villages, hundreds of temples, great food, some very charming traditional neighborhoods, and lovely, lovely scenery, both man-made and natural. (If you like walks and hikes, this is a great place to do both, you have not included outdoor activities as an interest.) And some of the best luxury hotels you will find anywhere in the world. If you can arrange your schedule to arrive on July 1, there are fireworks in the harbour at 9 pm (in celebration of the anniversary of the handover), which are spectacular.

I have been to all the destinations mentions except Malaysian Borneo. In fact most at least twice. I would agree if 20 full days NOT including travel days is your max. then 5-6 destinations is tops. KL, IMO is interesting but the best attraction was the Cameron Highlands and they are a 3 hour trip by guide/driver out of KL. So that eats up one day.I really believe you can see the highlights of KL city in a 10-11 hour day so therefore it may not be worth a stop. Though HK was for us a terrific destination 15+ years ago it now just represents a big city and the highlights can be seen in 2 days so I would elimate HK for that reason. I personally think as marmot suggested you might want to spend 2 full days in Central Java and 6-7 in Bali. You can fly to Yogyakarta in Central Java from Bali in 1 hour non-stop and in 2 days can see some of the most treasured Hindu temples, small villages that are cottage industies of a few families using equipment from the 1920's making tofu, flour out of palm trees, etc. I used a great guide last year and am using him again this year who can make 9 10 hour tourng days be well worth your time. If interested: wiedyantara@hotmail.com
We stayed at the Hyatt Regency there which is lovely for under $200/night on the Club Floor. In Bali you might just want to base yourselves in Ubud rather than also at the beach unless you are going there to sit in the sun. If not, you can tour all of Bali in five 8-10 hour day trips and select a lovely hotel with a plung pool for the other days and have dinner out at the many good restaurants in and aound Ubud. We are using a guide I have researed named Putu who also goes by the name balifriend on the net for 3 touring days this Sept. I read in TripAdvisor that he is excellent. He just like the guide in Central Java are a bit more expensive than the average (an added $15-$20/day) but a quality guide can make a trip in my opinion. Good Luck.

putu has been extensively reviewed here on fodors and is an exceptional guide

Yes, we would like to include some nature/outdoors trekking as well.

It seems we should try to avoid the west coast of Malaysia/Thailand and focus on the east coast- so we will look into that.

After looking at some of the pictures linked by you all (and others I've seen), Java and Borneo look wonderful. We live in a huge city now, so it's not that city life intrigues us, but new cities. We are of Indian descent as well, so both KL and Singapore appealed to us- but my husband has been to Singapore.

I'm not confused as much as I want to ensure that the itinerary we go with doesn't have too much complicated travel.

We definitely agree with sticking to 5 cities max.

Are there any other methods of travel besides Air Asia that are easy to book?

Any of the airlines are easy to book online, so don't confine yourselves to Air Asia. Other airlines will be more expensive.

Wow- I think we finally settled on an itinerary. Any advice on the Java leg would be great.

Bangkok (2 days)
Java (4 days)
Bali (9 days)
Koh Samui (4 days)
Bangkok (1 day)

We can fly directly to Surabaya from BKK. However, it seems Yogyakarta is about 6-7 hours away. We have all of our flights solidified for the parts of the trip... to and from Java is the only one remaining. It takes 2 stops to get to Yogyakarta from BKK, though, so we want to avoid that.

Thank you, again, for all of your suggestions!

2 stops from Bangkok to Yogjakarta? On Air Asia, you can fly Bangkok to KL to either Solo (an hour or so from Yogja) or Yogja. You can fly Bangkok to Jakarta on Garuda then to either Yogja or Solo or you can fly Bangkok Singapore to Solo (last leg on Silk Air). I wouldn't fly to Surabaya - too far from where you want to go.

My only other comment on your itinerary is that I think you don't have enough time in Bangkok. But if you are like the rest of us, you'll be back again and again.

For Central Java you have three airport choices: Yogyakarta, Solo (also called Surakarta) and Semarang. Yogya and Solo are about equal in proximity to local attractions. Semarang is farther away (about 3 hours to Borobudur), but has the most flights.

Surabaya is much farther than 6-7 hours by land, but has frequent flight connections to Central Java. It means back tracking, though so you'd be better off transiting through Jakarta or Singapore.


In Central Java, you can either stay in the town of Yogya or outside in the Borobudur area, or a combination of both. I prefer the countryside, but choices of accommodations are few.

The Amanjiwo is spectacular, but pricy. Losari is quite nice but about an hour's drive from Borobudur.

In Yogya the Hyatt is good, but basic. Everyone seems to like the Phoenix; I haven't been there yet.

1. IMO you have way too short a time in Bangkok. You will be arriving after 25 hours or so of flying, at least one connection, and most likely won’t arrive until 10 pm or later. You will then only have 2 days to sightsee. Bangkok is a huge city and its sights are spread out in several areas. Traffic can be horrendous, and while there is a good subway system, it does not go everywhere. Also, you might not accomplish a whole lot on your first day as jet lag and heat/humidity take their toll. At the end of the trip, you will only have 1 day, bookended by what could be long trips to and from the airport. Again, IMO you won’t will not be able to cover a lot of ground in 1 day. Much as I hate to say it, I probably would cut out Bangkok altogether and focus more time elsewhere. I don’t feel quite a bad about saying that for a trip planned for July of this year, when potential issues with the election could make a trip there problematic.

2. If you want to go to Bangkok, then include 4 days in total, preferably not in two trips. While not ideal, 3 days is OK if you don’t have to split it up into two trips. If you are doing the 1 day in Bangkok at the end because of the international flights to and from NY, consider other options for getting back home rather than having to go back to Bangkok. Do an “open jaw” flight which allows you to fly into Bangkok and out of Hong Kong or Singapore. They generally do not cost any more than going into and out of the same city and will save you a lot of backtracking. You could get an early evening flight from Jogya to Singapore (via Jakarta) and then connect directly to one of several flights departing for NYC (via connections). You could also take an early morning flight from Jogya to Hong Kong (via Jakarta) and connect to the great non-stop flight to JFK on Cathay.

3. If you decide to include Bangkok, there are 3 daily non-stop flights between Bali and Jogya on Gardua that only take an hour. I would re-arrange the schedule to go from Bangkok to Bali first, then to Jogya. There is a non-stop Thai airways flights between Bangkok and Bali which puts you into Bali by 2 pm, quite decent.

From Jogya you can get to Bangkok on Garuda via a change in Jakarta (2 hour layer), which is not bad. The trip overall does take the better part of a day, which makes in unattractive to me. That is why I would return to the US from Singapore or Hong Kong and not trek back to Bangkok.

Another option would be to split time in Bali by going to Jogya in between Seminyak and Ubud. That one-hour non-stop between Bali and from Jogya is hard to beat for convenience. I’d much rather fly in and out of Denpassar twice than Bangkok airport twice. Also you have 9 days in total for Bali which makes the split much less hectic than 3 days in Thailand. Denpassar is a very small airport and is quite close to Seminyak, and about 45 minutes from Ubud. If you do that, you could get non-stops to and from Bangkok which would save you time. You could also get a flight from Bali to Hong Kong where you could connect to the Cathay non-stop to NYC.

Thanks for your honesty here- we can still add a day in Bangkok. Unfortunately we had to book our flight with airline miles, and therefore could only book roundtrip out of Bangkok, so we cannot change that aspect of it.

We can still do 3 days in Bangkok up front and then at the end we have our one full day (not including the day we fly out of Bangkok).

We are not staying in Seminyak now, but we are staying Tabanan.

We might rearrange so we do Ubud first, then Jogya, then Tabanan.

I usually agree with Cicerone's logistics, but I'm less enthusiastic about putting Central Java in the middle of two Bali stays. Even though the flight's about an hour, the travel time on both ends, plus security etc etc will eat up most of a day. Domestic airports are not the highlight of the country. I'd just want to experience them once going in and once going out.

Just curious, what are you looking at in Tabanan?

The OP will be going in and out of Jogya twice no matter how the itin is arranged. My arrangement only adds one more arrival and departure in Bali. Between Bangkok and Bali airports, I would prefer Bali, as it is smaller (you can have a loooong walk to gates in Bangkok, in my experience), and then getting by car to your destination is generally much faster than Bangkok would be. That is why I think going in and out of Bali twice is preferable to in and out of Bangkok twice. But it appears that the OP has to go to Bangkok twice anyway as they bought tickets on air miles. I am still not convinced splitting time in Bangkok is necessary. Have you looked into skipping Bangkok initially and just connecting from there to Bali? And then do 4 days in Bangkok at the end? Alternatively, have you looked into whether you can connect directly in Bangkok from a flight from Indonesia to a NYC flight? Either option is admittedly going to take some fortitude as you will be looking at 30+ hours of travel, but to avoid multiple airport treks in Bangkok, and have 4 continuous days in Bangkok it may be worth it. If you tell me what flight you are in and out of Bangkok, I can look into options for going on directly from Bangkok to Bali.

I also am not sure I understand going to Tabanan and Ubud. Unless you mean the beaches in the Tabanan district, and not the city of Tabanan, which is fairly far inland. Otherwise, you are going to have pretty similar geography and terrain in both Ubud and Tabanan. Both quite pretty, but not sure you need to stay in both. I would think you could see the Tabanan area as an easy day trip from Seminyak, and I think you will find a far larger selection of luxury hotels and good restaurants in Seminyak than you will in Tabanan beach areas of the town of Tabanan itself. (You can probably find some quite interesting home stay and other options in the Tabanan area, but for luxury I think you won’t have a lot of choice, and you seem to indicate you are interested in luxury. But if you want rustic and less touristed/more quiet, than Tabanan may be preferable to Ubud. Then add a beach area as well. )

If you decide to go to Jogya in between Bali stops, I just realized that with the time difference between Jogya and Bali, on the flight between Bali and Jogya, you literally take 15 minutes out of the day. There is a 7 am flight from Bali which arrives at 7:15 am Jogya time. That IMO would be a great way to go, see sunrise on Bali (which does come up like thunder as Kipling says) and then fly to Jogya and still have the full day. There is also a 7 pm flight to Jogya which arrives at 7:15 pm, plenty of time to have dinner when you arrive.

On the return, there is an 8 pm flight from Jogya to Bali which means you would not would not miss any daylight in Jogya, and would arrive into Bali at 10:30 pm, and could be at a hotel by just after midnight. There is also an 8 am which arrives at 10:15 am, so you could be at a Bali destination for lunch.

I'd agree that Seminyak has a lot more going on than Tambanan, but maybe that's the point. There are some new luxury resorts -- like the Alila Soori -- and a lot of new villas in the area. Also the Bali Nirvana at Tanah Lot (which I wouldn't recommend).

Getting from Ubud (or Tabanan) to Bali Denpasar airport takes a lot longer than it used to. On bad traffic days, it's an hour from Seminyak. You have to leave your hotel at least 2.5 hours before your flight departure time. I'm a conservative traveler, so I'd make it 3 hours.

Having been to Bali twice, but not since 2003 other than an overnight lasy year, and returning again in Sept.I really think 9 days may be too long. Though 4 days in Yogya is just right, I assume that really means 3 full days of touring, I may have missed it but if you can get 2 extra days in Bangkok, considering the first day will be less than fully productive, I doubt you would find many who woukld argue that 3 full days in BK is too many. But maybe because of using miles it does not work for you. Yogya is almost 10 hours and we are doing it with our guide Wiedy with an overnight. So, the 45-50 minute flight is the only way to go. Yes, it will take 3-4 hours from hotel to hotel but it's a lot better than 10. We are doing it because of the number of interesting small villages we plan to stop at so it will take us 8 hours each day with stops.
I disagree with marmot about the Hyatt. It is very nice. the entrance and lobby area you could call elegant and the rooms are large and well appointed. If you use our guide, by chance, he got us a rate about $25/night lower than I was able to get from the US last March this year with the US dollar worth 15% less he only is saving us $18/night. Though marmot suggested the Arman resort near Bobodurur it will cost $750+ USD/night with tax/service.

wow, so many opinions it'll make your head spin. I would choose Lombok over Bali, Singapore (big thumbs up, if you think you know it, you don't) over KL, Yoyakarta and Bourabadour over much of Thailand (right now), although its a lovely country. Penang over Langkawi, and a day in Malacca. Add Ankor Wat and Phenom Penh, if possible. JetStar and AirAsia are the budget choices, the other ones you can't always count on. Have fun and happy life!

Ever considered Chiang mai in Northern Thailand ??? It's absolutely an experience...