Tour Review - Part 1a, 1b & Part 2
I recently completed the Kingdoms & Dragons: Singapore to Bali tour. I thought I’d post a review in three parts. Part 1 - Timing and Tips; Part 2 - Hotels; Part 3 - Daily Sights and Activities.
Part 1a - Timing and Tips
This tour is offered from May through October. That establishes the general timing of when you can take the tour. Within that window several factors drive what 14 day window is the best for each person. Here are some factors to consider:
A) Personal availability
temperature/humidity/precipitation historical data
C) desire to include or exclude certain events, holidays, etc
D) cost and availability of desired airline routing
Per our Tour Director (Debra Grant), who has led these tours for years, July/August are the best months for the chance of lower temperatures, lower humidity, and lower precipitation as a whole. This statement, matched the research I had done and is why we selected the August 17 - August 30 tour.
Temperature/Humidity - this tour takes place from a few degrees north of the equator to a few degrees south of the equator. This tour was the most humid of any of the 20 tours (13 with Tauck) that I have taken. The humidity, for me, didn’t deter my enjoyment of any of the scheduled activities, but it did dampen my enthusiasm for doing additional activities in tour free time. I found myself enjoying hotel amenities (pools, A/C, etc) in tour free time to escape the humidity vs adding in extra activities. If you’re a veteran of humidity (eg. live on the east coast or in the southeast) then the humidity might not be a large factor for you. The temperature/humidity also impacted our decision on restaurants for meals on our own. We had identified a couple of restaurants to consider prior to the trip, but opted for hotel restaurants instead.
Another thing that drove some of our decisions was seeking routes to places that maximized the route within air-conditioned walkways.
I found myself taking a wash cloth from the hotel with me to help dry my brow. The TD provided cheap foldable fans for use throughout the tour. I used it a lot. One couple brought personal cooling devices (not sure what they are called, but they fit around the neck and provide a source of air). Other people brought portable hand held fans. I think some thought in this area as what would be the best option for you be considered.
One thing for people that bring SLRs or point and shoot cameras to keep in mind is that at the start of each day it took my camera about 45 minutes to come to equilibrium with the hot/humid weather. Sitting in the cool air conditioned rooms over night resulted in the lens becoming foggy and unusable until the equipment reached equilibrium.
Lastly, hydration is a key element to remember on this tour. A couple of times people got a bit light headed, likely due to lack of sufficient hydration. Water is provided on the buses that can be taken on activities and upon return to the bus following activities.
Precipitation - we weren’t seriously impacted by rain. We only had short rain showers on a couple of days. The only heavy rain we had was on our drive from the airport to the Raffles hotel in Singapore, so no real impact except slowing down the drive a bit. For dealing with the rain the TD provided cheap disposable ponchos on a couple of times. I put one on for a short while. Just remember that the area is hot and humid so adding additional clothing may not be the best option. On one other time I used a small, collapsible umbrella that I had brought with me. Some visited sites provide umbrellas as well, if needed.
Another thing to remember about rain is that it can impact activities in various ways.
If it rains very much during scheduled visits to areas where seeing monkeys is a highlight it could impact their availability. The local guides say that any significant rain tends to make the monkeys seek shelter, many fewer photo ops. We were scheduled to visit the Monkey Forest one afternoon. It rained some in the morning so we were worried, but the rain stopped by lunch and so the monkey viewings were plentiful.
We did have a minor impact due to rain because a portion of our Volkswagen Thing tour was cancelled due to rain. They were replaced by vans. Fortunately the bulk of the Volkswagen Thing drive was included. It turned out to be one of the unexpected treats of the tour.
Part 1b to follow
Comments
Part 1b - Timing and Tips
Desire to include/exclude certain activities events within the tour window — This can be things like maximizing cherry blossoms on a tour of Japan; visiting so going to the Passion Play is possible, visiting so Oktoberfest is or isn’t in progress, etc. A few things on this trip to consider are holidays. Singapore Independence Day celebrations occur in early August, Indonesian Independence Day is August 17th. Holidays cause some activities to occur and may prevent other activities from happening. Researching holidays and their impact could drive your decision as to when to take this tour. Another thing is special events in the areas. There is a formula one race in Singapore in September. This impacts Singapore in more ways than you might think. Long before the actual race they have to race protect the streets, erecting safety barriers along the route. This takes time. Barriers were already in place in some places during our visit. This impacts you in ways you might not realize. I Google Mapped routes from the Raffle Hotel to various sights around the area that we might visit during free time. Well some of the Googled routes turn out to be no gos because the safety barriers sometimes prevent crossing roads where you might want to normally cross.
Cost and availability to/from the tour - Since this tour is so far from all locations in the US the airfare and routing is a much larger factor than for tours in North America or Europe.
Things people tend to factor in are desires to use favorite airline systems - Star Alliance, Sky Priority, or One World. Personally my desire is to use One World because it is the largest player in Tucson where we live. That said, cost and routing are bigger drivers. In discussions with other people on the tour some widely divergent selections were made. Several people had three or four stop routing. Depending on when you book widely divergent costs can happen. One couple commented that if they booked directly from Boston the fare would be several thousand dollars higher than is booking from LA. I found a similar effect from Tucson, but not quite that severe. For me, minimizing costs and stops is a major driver. Considering all the drivers for me, I decided to do a family visit in Seattle before and after the tour so as to get the best options for me to/from the tour.
We booked business on Singapore Air non-stop to Singapore and then from Denpasar to Singapore to Seattle on the way home. The fare was $4400 per person. The Singapore Air configuration was 1-2-1. That said the 2+ hour leg from Denpasar to Singapore had better seating than the 15 hour flights to/from Seattle/Singapore. They each were 1-2-1 configuration, but the shorter leg went to the lie flat configuration simply by pushing a button. The longer leg flights required that the seat back be manually unhooked and folded down to create the lie flat configuration. In addition on the shorter leg the lie flat configuration was all inline with the entertainment TV, while on the longer leg the lie flat configuration was at a diagonal from the entertainment TV. The long leg channel was offset from the TV whereas on the shorter leg it was under the TV.
Similar routing was available from LAX and perhaps JFK. The LAX option had a much better timing than the Seattle route on the return trip. They left the hotel at 10AM on departure day and only had a 3 hour layover in Singapore before heading to LAX. Our Seattle routing didn’t leave the hotel until 6:30 PM and required an 8 hour layover in Singapore. This meant we had to seek a late hotel checkout our book and extra day. We tried for a late checkout. None was available. That meant we had to hang out at the hotel, out of our room, until our departure time. We hung out at the poolside restaurant in the shade. The pool staff were great, providing us with our own fan and periodically providing ice laden towels for our necks. We considered the LAX option, but no good option was available to get us to Tucson, so a hotel stay in LA would have been required. That’s why we went the ‘Add a family visit before/after the tour’ option.
Depending on how important routing etc is this may require some detailed investigation or you may encounter some crazy costs/routing.
Part 2 - Hotels to follow.
Part 2 - Hotels
Raffles Singapore - Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3
Historic hotel in a great location in Singapore. I thought I had a good sense of direction and navigation until I got to the Raffles Hotel. I made more wrong turns navigating the hotel than I thought possible. We had a nice suite with a sitting room, bedroom, and bathroom area. The TD offered us a complimentary Singapore Sling to be delivered to your room at your convenience. We took advantage of the offer, but we also made a visit to the historic Long Bar to have one at the place it was first created years ago. There is always a line to get into the Long Bar, but you can make a reservation with the consigerge which allows you to bypass the line. We enjoyed our visit to the Long Bar, but this Singapore Sling wasn’t complimentary. Like everything in Singapore it was quite expensive - roughly $30 USD. Breakfast is provided in the restaurant in the lobby area. FYI - they have great banana bread. We ate at two restaurants in Raffles for dinners. Both were good, but expensive (as most everything in Singapore is). There is a nice boutique in the hotel that likely is worth a visit if trinket shopping is of any interest.
The hotel offers a tour of the historic hotel daily at 4 PM. You sign up through the consigerge. It was an interesting, roughly one hour tour.
Amanjiwo Hotel Borobordur - Day 4 and Day 5
A very nice hotel on a hillside with a view of Borobordur Temple. Depending on the room you are assigned you may have a fair number of stairs to/from your room to the lobby and restaurant. The room was very nice, but be prepared for a platform bed that is low to the grand and can present challenges getting into and out of. The hotel has a small gift shop and library reading room. The pool area is very nice. There is just the single restaurant but the food was good and the menu was fairly diverse.
Phoenix Hotel Yogyakarta - Day 6
The least plush hotel of the tour that is somewhat dated. It’s been close to 20 years since its last refurbishment. The room we received had much smaller spaces than the first two tour hotels. This is a very short stop arriving at the hotel in mid-afternoon and leaving the next morning. You only have a breakfast here. The hotel was used to provide quicker access to the days activities. This is important because as you will find out traffic on Java and Bali in Indonesia is pretty bad.
Police escorts were used a couple of times in Indonesia, but even those had limited success navigating the traffic.
Four Seasons Resort Sayan Bali - Day 7, Day 8, and Day 9
A gorgeous resort with each room having its own plunge pool. There are two restaurants and a bar to pick from for dinners. Only one dinner was included. We originally were going to each at each restaurant/bar, but ended up eating at the bar twice. Entertainment was provided at the bar. The property is spread out and you call for a buggy to get you around the property. It was a quite efficient system and appreciated because if you try to navigate around the property on your own it is quite hilly.
Plataran Bay Hotel Labuan Bajo - Day 10 and Day 11
A quirky resort located right on the water. Not all rooms are the same here. We had one right on the beach, a short walk from the breakfast restaurant and the swimming pool. This room had another platform bed so be prepared. There was entertainment on the beach in front of this restaurant one evening followed by an included dinner. The next night we ate at the other restaurant called Atlantis on the Rocks.
There are amazing sunsets at this resort.
It is a short walk from the hotel to the pier where you catch the boat(s) that take you to Komodo National Park and back.
Four Seasons Resort Jimbaran Bali - Day 12 and Day 13
Another fabulous resort located just across the bay from Denpasar Airport where everyone departs from at the end of the tour. Each room had its own plunge pool. Navigation around the resort was again provided by buggy. There was entertainment and dinner one evening at an area called the Coconut Grove, right on the beach.
The breakfast restaurant was very large. They had food stations located around the restaurant where depending on the station you placed you order, gave them your table number and then they delivered the food. I would place an order for an omelet and then walk to the pastry and food station to pick up some items and place a toast order and by the time I returned to my table the omelet had been delivered. There is quite an assortment of options..
The farewell dinner was provided on the pool deck of the main pool. Following the farewell dinner we took a buggy ride to our room. Turns out it was the shortest buggy ride ever, about 10 seconds. Turns out our room was just around a hedge row from the pool and we had no idea. Everyone had a laugh about that.
Another funny buggy ride incident occurred returning to our room following our dinner at the Coconut Grove area. We shared a buggy ride with another couple. There was a steep hill that we had to traverse. Well the buggy didn’t make it up on its initial attempt. Since I was sitting in the front seat next to the driver I ended up doing a Fred Flintstone move sitting in the seat and helping to push at the same time. Everyone got a chuckle from this as well.
There is a nice boutique at this resort located just below the lobby.
Part 3 - Sights and Activities, in a day or two
Good report. The heat would make the trip a problem for me.
Agree with you, Mike. I found most of VCT (except N and central Vietnam) borderline intolerable in January. In Bangkok, I spent some time walking the city during free time, and I was drenched from sweat after an hour. For that reason, this tour isn't on my to-do list. I'd rather do Yellowstone in Winter in shorts
Sam, nice review! Your logistics comments are a great summary of how to research when to go on a tour, without posting a "what's the weather like..." question on the forum
Sam: fantastic report! I traveled independently to Singapore - and I too was overwhelmed by the heat and humidity. That says a lot since I grew up in Washington, DC! It sounds like a great trip but …and with global warming, OUCH! 😓
Yes, Sam there is no weather website that I've seen that describes the drenching sweat like you have! The details are very helpful. Unfortunately, you have already talked me out of this trip!
Sam - thanks for the great review. We are planning to do this trip in 2026. Do you have recommendations for free time in Singapore for a couple days at the start of the trip?
@bkmd - Yes, Bangkok was too hot for me, also. I had to cut a tour short because I was starting to feel bad from the heat.
The rest of the Tauck tour of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand was okay as far as temperature.
I recommend the Botanical gardens in Singapore but go early. We found Vietnam more humid than Singapore
We had our own large private pool at Plataran bay and it was in shade!
Mimitravels - I would research a few options for what to do in free time in Singapore.
One popular option is the Botanical gardens as British suggests. We chose to go to the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel (pre-booked the time before arriving) and also to simply circumnavigate the lagoon area. We had a couple of other ideas but the heat/humidity dampened our enthusiasm for lots of extras.
NOTE TO ALL: Sorry if I dampened anyones interest in this tour due to my comments about the heat/humidity. I would like to clarify that a bit. The TD does as good a job as you can in terms of doing things and when to do things to minimize the heat/humidity impact. That said, it basically leaves the non-ideal times w/r to heat/humidity for the extras you might like to do.
Even with the heat/humidity I really enjoyed the planned activities of this tour, I just didn't take on many optional or extra activities as I might have on other tours where the heat/humidity wasn't such a big factor.
Sam- fabulous review! No stone left unturned! Thank you so much for your detailed description of the weather and hotels. I am sure that many people will take all of this into consideration for their trip planning. Question- was this one of your favorite trips?
MotherOfPoodles - I've enjoyed all of the Asian tours (India; Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand; China) that I have taken including this one from the sights and activities perspective. I find the people, culture, history, architecture so different from what I am most familiar with (US/Europe) that they create a different level of fun.
That said, because the heat/humidity made it difficult to take on any extra activities or perhaps just being older now than when I did the others the heat/humidity impacted me more, but regardless due to that I rate this tour at the bottom of the list of Asian tours. Again, only due to the heat/humidity not anything about the sights or activities.
I tend to favor the 'exotic' tours, as such I generally rate the Asian, African, South American tours higher than the European tours. That said, I've enjoyed every tour I've taken. Rating them is somewhat like splitting hairs.
As an aside, I found the Indonesian people some of the most kind and gracious people that I've met.
Mimitravels try to do both the Botanical Gardens and Marina Bay Sands, they are both worth visiting.
I'm from Florida so the heat and humidity did not bother me, I had plane problems getting there so I missed a day in Singapore which I still regret, there were a lot of other places I wanted to visit.
I have been to Vietnam and China, and I have no desire to ever go to Asia again because I am a committed Africa Addict. That being said, I really enjoyed your report Sam, as all of your many other posts. You are a kind smiling soul. 🥰
Thank you all for the suggestions for how to spend extra time. I am also from Florida, so I'm not that worried about the heat/humidity. I always pack the Drip/drop hydration packets which seem to help with the heat.
Very interesting!
I never heard any one recommends going to a tropical Asian country at the end of August; but again the Tauck TD will do just about anything not to "educate" the Tauck guest.
These days, Singapore Airline is over-priced and over-rated. I have friends from the Midwest who went to Singapore and Thailand using different airlines with a much better experience transiting through Vegas and LAX.
Henry, Singapore is always hot and humid. It might be more rainy at certain times, but you never escape the humidity, surely you should know that as you are such an experienced traveler. Why do you still travel with Tauck?
Geez Henry, I’ve never seen you post a complimentary comment about Tauck, so why do you continue to torture yourself.
Singapore is almost on the equator (1.3521° N) so I'd expect the temperature is about the same all year round. Weatherspark shows a slight advantage (less "hot" rating) in December and early January.
Mimitravels - I’d recommend doing a food tour with Hello Singapore. It provided a great preview of the city and culture, and our guide gave us a ton of suggestions as to where to eat, shop, etc. The Singapore Flyer is worth doing for the views if you get a chance, and it’s walkable from the Raffles. I agree with gladysorlando about the Botanical Gardens and Marina Bay Sands. Definitely do the light show at Gardens by the Bay at night! But go to the Botanical Gardens early or later in the day to avoid the hottest hours of the day.
Unless you are extremely sensitive to heat and humidity, don’t let the tropical climate deter you from this trip! It was such a fantastic tour, the hotels were really amazing, the sights were awesome, the service was top notch, and I agree 💯 with Smiling Sam that the people of Indonesia were wonderful. All of that truly added to the “wow” factor. We, too, found the Indonesians to be among the most lovely and gracious people in all of our travels. There is just something so special and welcoming about them, and it was consistent throughout the trip. It really contributed to the overall experience. We also thought the Indonesian food was unbelievably good….our favorite of all the places we’ve traveled! Mee Goreng….yum! The breakfast at the Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay was over the top amazing with multiple stations and many food options (and a gorgeous view). They even had a separate “cabana” just for dessert and baked goods! Although Indonesia was hot, it wasn’t as humid as Singapore when we were there, which was the end of September/early October. Sure, my hair was not the most manageable throughout the trip - especially in Singapore (humidity is not a friend to my hair) - but it was well worth it! 😂 Just wear a hat for sun protection and no one will know. 🤪 The boat ride to see the Komodo Dragons was so peaceful and relaxing and very comfortable with a cooling sea breeze. We thought Singapore was rather sweltering at times, but if you arrange your schedule right and do activities early or later in the day, it is definitely manageable. We loved both countries. A number of our fellow “Tauckers” felt this was their favorite Tauck tour.
I agree with Buonviaggio- Hello Singapore was an outstanding entry into Singapore. Our guide recommend a restaurant for the local specialty: Chili Crabs. They were messy, spicy and outstanding (it you like spice)! I don’t remember the name of the restaurant but if interested, the guide will make a recommendation.
I meant to add - thank you, Smiling Sam for your detailed, honest and engaging travel log! It was fun to relive the trip through your descriptions! Sorry the heat & humidity got in the way of full enjoyment for you - we may have had slightly better weather (and I’d emphasize slightly as I can’t imagine it’s ever not humid in Indonesia!) when we were in Indonesia - but glad you still had fun! 😃
Mike - Although Singapore is just north of the equator, the places visited in Indonesia are just south of the equator. As such, they have their slight temperature advantage in July and August.
Both places have about the same weather year round with only slight dips or bumps in temperature and precipitation throughout the year.
Buonviaggio - don’t get me wrong. I had a great time on the tour. It’s just the heat/humidity limited me from having even more great experiences.
I would still recommend this tour for people wanting to see the sights offered in this part of the world. I just want everyone to be aware and know what they may run into from the heat and humidity if they do take this tour.
For most tours the places visited are farther from the equator and makes selecting a ‘personal optimum’ with respect to the temperature, humidity, and precipitation much easier to find that ‘sweet’ spot.
Ah yes, Smiling Sam - it’s good to give people the heads up about the heat and humidity in that part of the world so they are prepared! I do understand what you mean - but I’m very happy to hear you had a great trip! 👍
buonviaggio and NancyCohen - thank you for the additional suggestions! I am taking notes!
Just got back from this amazing trip!!! Re: heat: As someone who spent most of this past East Coast summer in air conditioning, I found the heat/humidity on this trip tolerable. I followed the advice of Forum comments and brought a neck fan (Amazon), which really helped!
We found the trip to be well paced, varied and gave us an opportunity to visit this beautiful part of the world!
This was one of the BEST trips we've taken with Tauck!
That’s great, AmyBlackstone! Thank you for sharing! So glad you loved the tour! It truly is a fascinating part of the world and well worth a visit!
Mimitravels - I second NancyCohen on the chili crabs! 🦀 A total mess (you’ll get a bib and gloves!), but totally worth it! We went for a late lunch during our free afternoon to try chili crab and be inside in the A/C during the heat of midday, and then we went to the Botanical Gardens a little later when the sun wasn’t as strong. The restaurant was called “Holy Crab.” It was within walking distance of the Raffles Hotel and our local guide recommended it. It was in a very modern building that was nice and cool. 🆒 There’s a popular restaurant that is well known for their chili crab with a location right on the river - I think it’s called Jumbo Seafood. Your TD and local guide will definitely know (as will the hotel I’m sure). You’ll likely need reservations for that one. However, the chili crab at Holy Crab warranted the restaurant’s name! 😉 It was that good! 😋