Bali or Thailand with teens for 13 days?
 

Hello, I need help deciding whether to go to Thailand or Bali next Christmas with our two young teens. It seems a short amount of time to go all that way, so I thought Bali might be a better choice since there is less area to cover. We like seeing different wildlife and cultures as opposed to laying on beaches. We also don't enjoy big cities. Also, has anyone flown Eva air- the Evergreen class? Anyone help?

bali would be a perfect place to go...choose your hotel carefully with the kids in mind---good pool area and lots of room to roam around...the life there is quite interesting for kids to observe...there is beach as well...we loved the bali hyatt in sanur for a combo of lux hotel, with lovely pools, beach and the local town...

make sure you hire a driver for taking you around...putu on this board is excellent...the murdock clan did a blog on their trip last year and it is quite interesting with teen age kids...they loved putu and his "putu-mobile"... i think she uses "stockexchanger" as her name if you want to do a search on fodors...

I would choose Bali over Thailand, based on your requirements, especially the one about not enjoying big cities. In Bali there is plenty to do in 13 days - take a look at my 6 part trip report for ideas:
http://www.balitravelforum.com/archive200307/11747.html
As you can see, we also used Putu as our driver. You will definitely be seeing a different culture. Bali is not usually a place where people go for wildlife. There is an elephant camp somewhere on the island that might be fun for the teens if they have never ridden an elephant. There is also the monkey forest in Ubud. Bali's beaches are not that great but I do recommend that you spend a few days on the coast. Avoid Kuta if you don't care for a city-like atmosphere. I topped a discussion on Eva air-Evergreen class for you. "Stockexchanger" has a post in this thread - if you click on her name it will bring up all of her posts, including the ones on the Murdock's Bali trip.

I normally would agree with rhkkmk on Bali, but December is smack in the middle of the rainy season, and December and January are the two heaviest rainfall months. Thailand has excellent dry weather in December. Hate to say it but given your time of travel, I would pick Thailand. If you want to avoid cities, then head north into the countryside the Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai or other areas of the Golden Triangle where you can trek and see wildlife, or head south to Hua Hin where there are several national parks. You could also do a trip to Cambodia/Kampuchia so see Ankor Wat and also some wildlife.

One other downside of Bali for you is that there is not a lot of wildlife beyond birding (or snorkelling). They don’t have elephants or the Asian cats (although the latter are hard to find in Thailand too).

You might consider Rajathsan in India where December weather is even better than Thailand (not hot and no rain, Thailand will be hot) and you can go to Ranthambore or another national park and potentially see tigers.

We've been to both at Christmas with our now 7 year old daughter...not a teen, but a child at least. We loved both for different reasons.

Thailand Dec/Jan weather is lovely...hot and sunny...we never saw a raindrop. Bangkok is a huge city, but we loved it. We spent 2 weeks on Koh Samui...lots of water activities if you want them, elephant rides, nice beaches, great massage, very relaxing. There are plenty of hotels and resorts in every price range, as well as quiet and secluded ones and ones located in the thick of the action in Chawang. We enjoyed the relaxation and the beach. There wasn't much on offer that was cultural or that we couldn't have found elsewhere...we returned to Samui 2 more times really because of the hotel, but then the hotel was sold and we moved on to Bali.

Bali was an entirely different experience. We had a very full vacation, participating in tons of cultural activities...we learned music, batik, dance, painting and wood carving...went on a village walk and learned about village life and the changes that have come to Bali since tourism, agriculture, daily life...we made great friends in Bali. The weather was fine...every morning was sunny and warm, and some afternoons it rained. There are tons of activities available on the island - the cultural stuff that we did, adventure type stuff like mountain biking tours, ATV tours, elephant rides, white water rafting. In the southern beach areas, there are water sports galore.

Whichever place you go, choose your hotel carefully, as it can make all the difference in the world. I've found e-mails to places you are interested in inquiring about availability, and including expectations and questions about their place are really helpful in narrowing down the choices.

I think you would find lots of Christmas activities for the teens in Thailand, perhaps a mix of Northern Thailand, elephant rides, temples, lots of soft adventures ( those adventures that you don't need special skills and are not too craxy ) and then head for say Phuket where you can enjoy a very Christmas atmosphere yet be on the beach, firework displays, cultural and other exciting shows, lots of shopping. Would be great fun. Flying around is easy and cheap, about 1 hour from Bangkok to both Chiang Mai and Phuket, lots of flights. Also great shopping for teens for fashion clothes, music etc.

We visited Thailand last Xmas for 17 days fantistic weather the whole trip warm/hot every day. Flew to Ko Samui for 5 days then on to Ko Tao for 3 then back to Bankok and on to Chiang Mai for 4 days. While in Chiang Mai we stayed at the Elephant Conservatioon camp about 1 hour away. The three day 2 night stay in their village was by far the lightlight of the trip as agreed by the whole family. You do not say how old the teens are but I can assure you that this is the experience of a lifetime. You get assigned your own elephant and learn how to be a mahout. The most fantastic place. We all want to go back to Thailand just to visit again. The cost 4000BHT! Such a bargain for a fonderful experience. Website www.changthai.com

Sorry Julie forgot to say we few Bangkok to Chaing Mai for about $30 just look on their website if you are interested. www.nokair.com