Well this year we opted for a little diversity and chose a family holiday to Thailand instead of Bali. We have been before as a couple in 2000. We could not help but make comparisons between the two countries with their different cultures and religions.
We followed pretty well our same (Bali 2007 & 2008) family holiday format, breaking our accommodation into two. First 9 nights in Karon Phuket in a 3.5 star property and the last 8 nights in Bophut Koh Samui in a 4 star property. As with Bali we always ate out of the resorts each evening in mid range restaurants.
Our final upshot is that we much prefer Bali over Thailand. Don't get me wrong we enjoyed our holiday it's just that our future choice will be Bali again.
Flight times;
9.5 hrs exit Sydney to Phuket v 6 hrs exit Melbourne to Denpasar.
The people seem friendlier overall in Bali.
There are more smells of poor drainage in Thailand than the incense in Bali.
Restaurant food and drinks was about ½ to 1/3 more expensive in Thailand. Things like garlic bread which usually come complementary in Bali restaurants are blatantly over priced appetisers in Thailand. The overall standard of Bali mid range restaurants seems quite higher than Thailand's.
There are no religious offerings on the streets or gamelan music.
Although the kids are oblivious to it Thailand has quite an open sleazy side. Lots of girly bars and prostitutes etc etc.
Koh Samui for us was the more relaxed of the two places we visited and if we end up in Singapore for whatever reason we would probably skip back to Bophut for a week. That area has made a conscious effort to ban girly bars to make it more family friendly.
Thailand has some nice beaches and great snorkelling in areas. The road chaos is a little more orderly than Bali and I felt comfortable driving.
Bali has heaps more to offer young kids though. Nothing similar to Waterbom or to the high standard of the Bali Safari Park in that part of Thailand.
Prior to this holiday we last visited Thailand in 2000. Back then we thought that Thailand was slightly ahead of the tourist game than Bali. But Bali has definitely come ahead in leaps and bounds since then and left Thailand in its wake.
Anyway that's our view.....