Originally Posted by quitecontrary
I think Koh Samui airport must be THE most picturesque in the world. If you are going in our summer that is the dry season in Koh Samui and Bali but even so in the Tropics wet season generally means a quick deluge followed by sunshine.
To add to the Bali debate have you thought whether you prefer surf or a calm sea? I don't know about Nusa Dua and Tanjong Benoa but Sanur has a small reef offshore which means that the sea by the beach is calm but you can take a boat out to the reef. Kuta, Legian and Seminyak have surf as does if I remember correctly Jimbaran.
If you want to spend a night or two of your stay in Ubud there is an idyllic looking place in my Hip Hotels book. It is called Wake di Ume but there is no web address shown in the book- must be one. The address is Jalan Sueta Ubud. I intend to try it out on my next visit.
My preference is for calm sea - again older kid/teenager friendly. My expectation is to find somewhere exotic, comfortable hotel, uncrowded, but with some interesting sightseeing/shoppint too. I could only say I am looking for a Mauritius-type experince.
Is it possible to do day-excursions to villages/other parts of the island if you are based somewhere like FS or Conrad, or are the distances too far? Would you be better off doing 5 days in a resort hotel and a few days somewhere off the beaten tracK?
I note the CX flights from HKG seem outrageously priced - about £1000 rtn to DPS in business (and a hefty £700-ish) in economy. Prefer to go for a Cathay-Holiday Package (sounds very First Choice, I know), but the CX holidays website does Bali (and other places) with J-class flights and top hotels (a fairly limited choice, alhtough includes the FS, the Grand Hyatt and Conrad in Bali) for half the cost of doing it separately.