Esperanza77

Hello all,
We live in Abu Dhabi and we want to take the kids for a 5 night break but I'm lost. There are so many places to consider such asThailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka (which is very high on my personal list but with children?) and many more.
Neither of us have been to any of these places and we want to avoid large cities. I prefer to stay in one place since we only have 5 nights.
I need to be pointed to the right direction to start my research.

Thanks a lot

Kathie

What time of year are you going?

Are you looking for a beach destination or do you want a place with more variety?

I'm not sure why you wouldn't go to Sri Lanka with children, so if that's where you want to go - do it!

StanKase

How old are your children. That has a bearing on what I might suggest. Have they done snorkeling? Is either interested in history? Where have they traveled before?

Esperanza77

Oops. Sorry, travelling in November. Kids haven't travelled before with us on vacation. They are boy 6 and girl 4. They like water sports but we get that where we live so not a must. They love animals of course.
Kathie, we prefer somewhere with more variety and some history than just beach.

Kathie

Sri Lanka has wildlife for your kids - they can ride elephants and can see herds of elephants in the wild. You could perhaps stay somewhere like the Kandalama (near Dambulla), which is a lovely place and has nice swimming pools for the kids. You can visit some nearby parks for wildlife.

We loved the historic sites, the Dambulla Cave temples, Polowarnua and Sigirya. The kids might tolerate a trip to one of those, the Dambulla cave temples might be the easiest.

Bali would be an easy trip with the children. The Bali Hyatt on Sanur beach is lovely and has some of the best pool areas, all set in a garden so there is lots of shade. You can go out and see other areas of the island on some days - I'm sure the kids will like some of the masked dance performances.

Kathie

oops - I hie "post" too soon. It is rainy season in Bali, but that typically means short, intense periods of rain alternating with sun.

Malaysia has lots of options. I love the Georgetown area of Penang, though I'm not sure if it has enough to keep the children happy.

Perhaps a trip to Kuching, Sarawak would work. It's a charming small city with a beautiful riverfront walk. It has rows of old shophouses near the waterfront, a vibrant Chintatown area and Little India area, a very interesting Museum showing the traditional ways of life. No doubt your son will be fascinated by the shrunken heads. The nearby Orangutan Rehabilitation center would be a great stop. You would have to fly through either Singapore or KL to get to Kuching.

qwovadis

komaneka.com Monkey Forest my first choice...

qwovadis

weather2travel.com lots of rain many areas in Nov

Bali not so much then that would affect my decision.

Mohammed

Have you considered Koh Samui in Thailand, really super place to go with kids, lots of peripheral activities like croc farm, shooting gallerly, bird park, tiger zoo, quad biking, plus water sports, snorkelling, great food, cheap shopping, Chaweng is nice!

marmot

Bali is great with small children, but from Abu Dhabi it's a long flight. Even with good connections on Etihad it's 11+ hours.

StanKase

Ko Samui is really beach and lots of honey tonk, in my opinion though it has many lovely hotels/resorts.
I to think Bali is a good destination but the flight is long especially for only 5 days. I know you said you did not want to move around but what about a 5 day safari, which is very short most people go for a minimum of 7 days spending time in Arusha outside Kilamomjaro, might even do one of the easy partial climbs of the mountain and go to the NG Crater. The flight is not bad and it would be different though the topography would not be dramatically different. But hers of zebras, some elephants, rhinos, giraffes, etc might be of interest to all. Cost is $250-$400/day /person based upon type of accommodation or tented camp.