Phuket or Bali? What to choose?
Often in tourist articles and selections you can find two favorite islands of Russian tourists. phuket and Bali. The islands are similar to the climate, the conditions for tourists, not very different cuisine and a little similar to the general mood. Since I was on both islands, I decided to make a little comparison.
I will say right away that I was in Bali 4 years ago, so something could have changed, but in general, I think it remained as it was.
Reference
Phuket is 10 times smaller than Bali. This is a very compact Thai island, but many places you need to get to at least 30 minutes by bike, at least an hour on foot. Bali is a large island with different nature, different areas from which you can choose what to like - jungles or beaches.
Weather.
Bali is convenient because the temperature on the island does not change all year, every day plus minus 28 degrees.
In Phuket, temperatures fluctuate slightly - from comfortable 28-30 degrees per season (November to February), to unbearable heat at +33 in the shade.
And there and there, of course, there is no cold and there is a rainy season. Tropical rains plus minus are mostly evenings and a wall.
Nature and beaches
Since Phuket is a compact island, nature plus minus is the same everywhere. In the middle of the island - the jungle, in the north-western and southern parts of the beaches, in the eastern part of the bay mainly with moorings, there is a mountainous area.
In Bali, in this regard, there are whole large areas that differ in infrastructure and nature. For example, in Kuta it is very cheap to live and buy food, and in Ubud there is a rich tropical jungle nature.
For me, Phuket beaches are more beautiful, picturesque, clean. Because in Bali, for example, in Seminyak, it was perfectly safe to take ashore just a ton of garbage from the ocean. In this part there are no azure beaches at all, they are all on other small islands. And in Phuket, azure beaches are everywhere in the northwest and south.
Theft and deception
It was a real revelation to me that Thais don’t steal, at least they certainly don’t. In Phuket, you can go at least through the market with an open bag or leave some things on the beach, going to swim - no one will take (usually). Which is very comfortable. Rarely, where cheating, there is practically no crime in general, even in non-tourist areas.
In Bali, theft and deception flourish at every turn. I still remember the story of how the girl and I went to change $ 100, we were taken to some back alley, when we counted 1,500,000 Indonesian rupees (at that time 100 dollars), we took the money in hand, again counted, it turned out to be 700,000 rupees. And it happened 2 times until my friend went crazy and we went to a normal exchange.
And so in Bali at every turn there are a lot of scammers and deceivers. There's hardly any in Phuket.
Transport security
As in all of Asia, Phuket and Bali have disgusting traffic. Everyone rides bikes, especially rules are not observed, so accidents are a common phenomenon. Often bikes travel to places where there could be sidewalks, but there are none. There are many narrow streets where you can not push. Traffic jams are crazy, especially in Bali. Sometimes you can get stuck in traffic, especially from the airport.
But the plus of Phuket is that police officers are often on duty on the roads, they really resolve difficult situations, help traffic, there are markings, traffic lights, and they try to make roads wide where possible, install roundabouts.
In Bali, I never saw any markings, there were no traffic lights at that time, it was impossible or difficult to get anywhere by car. The bike is very dangerous.
Local.
Despite the fact that Bali is often traded with all sorts of dark things, people are still very friendly and smiling, as well as in Phuket. However, it is definitely not worth arguing with Thais, it is better to always be polite and friendly, or else they may be offended, respond rudely to rudeness and generally will not be on ceremony.
Mood.
Despite the fact that the atmosphere of rest and relaxation is present on both islands, still in Bali there is a special vaib of serenity, tranquility, special magic of the place. There is no such thing in Phuket, people live and work here, so the atmosphere of serenity dissolved in the vaiba of working days.
Conclusion
For me, both islands are very similar in appearance, only slightly different if you get to know them better. I liked Phuket more in terms of life, the island is much more convenient, there is infrastructure, developed transport, everything is brought if necessary from Bangkok, from the capital. The police are really working, the situation on the roads is more organized than in Bali. However, Phuket no longer has the magic of Bali.
Photo and text: Oksana Shtirbetz
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