Best Island Vacation
Jul 26th, 2007, in Travel, by PatungBali is (still) the best island in the world.
Travel + Leisure magazine’s 2007 list of the “World’s Best Islands” to visit for a holiday is out and once again, for the eighth time, Bali heads the list of tropical vacation paradises, just beating out the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Kauai. The top 10:
| Rank | Name | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bali | 86.30 |
| 2 | Maui | 86.22 |
| 3 | Kauai | 85.92 |
| 4 | Galapagos Islands | 85.92 |
| 5 | Santorini | 85.82 |
| 6 | Vancouver Island | 85.17 |
| 7 | Dalmatian Islands | 85.15 |
| 8 | Phuket | 84.56 |
| 9 | Hawaii | 84.40 |
| 10 | Great Barrier Reef islands | 83.70 |
On 23rd July Indonesian Consul General Trie Edi Mulyani was on hand in New York to accept the prize.
We’re very proud that Indonesia, or Bali, has gotten this award eight times, six times running.
Florence, Italy was named the world’s best city (Bangkok third). No mention of Jakarta.
28 Comments on “Best Island Vacation”
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What a nice and pleasant surprise! 🙂
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Parvita says:
Aaaargh, now it will just be more and more crowded! Have to find other island!
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Arema says:
Have you all been to Pulau Redang in Malaysia? For those who love the seas, swimming, snorkeling, diving, fishing, play with fish, staring at those adorable corals and marine life, this is the place to go. Inexpensive and unforgettable.
Indonesia actually also have places similar to that, like Bunaken and Pulau Menjangan (western coast of Bali), but they are not maintained as well as Pulau Redang.
Bali is wonderful because you can find almost everything there…. but lately we have security issues, regarding the “fireworks” those terrorists make…
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dewaratugedeanom says:
Nice to hear people still like Bali.
I just hope our people here will do something to get rid of the nickname: pulau indah, pulau sampah. -
Enigmatic says:
What a pity it’s a terrorist target though.
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Ali Akbar Felayeti says:
The Bali not the worderfull than my favoroute place, like I ever go there. You know the puotorico is better than Bali. We can satisfy with delicious Banana and we can smile together with the native people in there.
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Miko says:
What a pity it’s so filthy.
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IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR TOURISTS VISITING BALI
The Bali police have introduced a hotline number to fight corruption on the police force. This is aimed at police officers extorting money from tourists as the rogue officers are hurting the island’s image at home and abroad. The 24-hour tourist police hotline, which is (0361) 224111, reach the Police Headquarters and English-speaking officers are standing by to assist tourists who are being ripped off or unlawfully challenged by rogue officers.
Of course you can also choose to pay a bribe. Between 10.000 IRP and 20.000 IRP is common practice.
Welcome to Bali. Always keep your money or your handy at reach.
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Shiva says:
dewaratugedeanom
The Bali police have introduced a hotline number to fight corruption on the police force. This is aimed at police officers extorting money from tourists as the rogue officers are hurting the island’s image at home and abroad. The 24-hour tourist police hotline, which is (0361) 224111, reach the Police Headquarters and English-speaking officers are standing by to assist tourists who are being ripped off or unlawfully challenged by rogue officers.
And how much is their fee (bribe) for this service.
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The Bali not the worderfull than my favoroute place, like I ever go there. You know the puotorico is better than Bali. We can satisfy with delicious Banana and we can smile together with the native people in there.
You mean Puerto Rico? You know how expensive it costs to get you there?
And how much is their fee (bribe) for this service
Haha let’s not be so skeptical now.
Indonesia needs a generation to purge corruption. This could be the first step in this generation.
Always look on the bright side of life.
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You mean Puerto Rico? You know how expensive it costs to get you there?
Depends where your starting point is
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Shorty says:
I’m a bali tragic.
Of course it is nice to be voted number one. it’s ego stroking to think that something as influential as travel + leisure agrees with me.
So it’s the number 1 island destination, so what? The average tourist wouldn’t know if bali was an island/archipeligo/continent, he/she couldn’t give a rats.
Can we please have some sanity/reality/honesty in our self evaluation.
Bali gets around 1.5 juta tourists a year, Thailand for example has had 1.7 juta tourists in january and february.
Whether it’s an island or not is immaterial – the prize is the tourist dollar. We’re losing to other parts of south east asia.
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You compare Indonesia with Thailand, not Bali with Thailand, Shorty.
I don’t think Bali is specifically a terrorists target. The whole Indonesia is a terrorists target. So what. If you have to die, you will die anyways. It’s better to die with a smile that you’ve seen beautiful places rather than die not knowing what is out there.
So who owns this ‘Travel and Leisure’ magazine? Is it an American magazine? If it is, it’s interesting, because they are the one who has travel ban for their citizens to visit Bali. While the Europeans and Japanese enjoy the sea, sand and sun, not to mention the richness of the culture. Poor Americans.
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Dimp says:
I agree with Shorty, what is the point of being voted the #1 island in the world if you cannot actually show that this is actually benefiting Indonesia. Shorty has shown that Thailand is getting 1.7M tourists just over the 2 month-period, while Indonesia is struggling to get the target.
Jero Wacik (is he still the Tourism Minister? CMIIW) should get his thumb out of his a** and start looking for solution, start promoting Indonesia, use this title of #1 island as a platform, not as a mission accomplished.
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pj_bali says:
Dewaratugede
I think most of the bribes paid by tourists to police are for driving without a license on a rented motorbike. The tourists are usually stopped during a razia or while coming home late night from the bar and the fee can be significant – anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 dpepending on the degree of naivete of the tourist and how hungry the police are. These razias are occuring more and more often and are difficult to avoid. A temporary licence is available from the the main police station, (poltabes -i forget the address) takes about 1 hour if you arrive at 08:30 sharp, and will cost you about 200,000 Rp depending on how fast you want the license. Well worth the price if you plan to use a bike often. The license used to be valid for 3 months but now unfortunately it is only good for 30 days. I don’t know why this sort of service is not available to tourists at the airport – the police could make a lot of money by putting up a kiosk there and the tourist would not have to trouble himself by looking for the police station.
Cheers
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@pj_bali
Your remark doesn’t explain why this hotline number has been created. There surely must have been a reason for it, and the reason is corruption and extortion. It is the proof that the authorities are well aware of it. If tourists, as well as locals, do something wrong they should be fined, not extorted. -
dewa
Actually i wasn’t trying to explain the rationalle behind the hotline number. Its probably a good idea – certainly won’t hurt. Incidentally the police usually carry a list of offences and the price of the fine for each offence. Some of them will even show you the list. My comment mainly concerned my opinion that most people are fined for not having a drivers license and what could be done about it.
BTW have you ever tried to fight a traffic ticket in Indonesia? Easier sometimes just to pay the bribe – the legal process is a big hassle. Usually the first thing the police will do is take your license. You then have to go to court to get it back. The process can take days and you have no driving license in the meantime. So a lot of people just pay the ticket or the bribe so they don’t waste a lot of time later on.Cheers
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pj_bali
BTW have you ever tried to fight a traffic ticket in Indonesia? Easier sometimes just to pay the bribe – the legal process is a big hassle. Usually the first thing the police will do is take your license. You then have to go to court to get it back. The process can take days and you have no driving license in the meantime. So a lot of people just pay the ticket or the bribe so they don’t waste a lot of time later on.
And that’s why we will never get rid of corruption. Ewuh pakewuh (I scratch your back, you will scratch mine) instead of penegakan hukum (upholding the law). And when it goes wrong then BODN (blame others do nothing). Poor Indonesia, the laughing stock of the world.
pj_bali
My comment mainly concerned my opinion that most people are fined for not having a drivers license and what could be done about it.
I have seen tourists ‘fined’ for turning left on traffic lights with a sign belok kiri jalan terus because the police thought they couldn’t understand what it meant.
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Parvita I used thailand as an example, if you want, google tourist arrivals for surrounding south east asian destinations, more importantly look at their growth figures.
The economic reality is that whilst accolades are nice, they don’t pay the bills. bums on seats do!
Will the award attract anymore meaningful tourist numbers? I doubt it – after all we’ve won it for the past 8 years.
Have a big ceremony, accept the applause.
Take note of arema’s comment.
Compared to some other south east asian destinations bali is a rubbish tip.
Unfortunately the worst offenders are the tourist regencies.
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Komang says:
Yes I love bali this is my islands and my house. From last few year I am away from bali for some reasons and I had visit some other country but bali is my place, I miss bali, and my home.
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Sputjam says:
The whole of the malay archipelago are blessed with natural beauty which is not appreciated by the locals.
You will find numerous spots with crystal clear waters and idyllic beaches.
In the phillipines, they use explosive to fish, destroying the reef that are the breeding ground for sea creatures.
And in many parts, rubbish are simply thrown into the sea, marring an otherwise perfect natural surroundings. And the local authorities do not have the ability to educate the locals from littering. Nor do they have the ability to make adequate provisions to make the area clean.We do not deserve this beauty of we are not capable of appreciating it.
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Falcon says:
Yes Bali its the place. Sadly while at KUDETA where the majority caucasians gather for the sun and the sunset, just recently two men sipping champagne, sitting on a cozy beach bench hugging each other, one sitting on the lap of the other, while one wearing gray color underware the other was fixing the rear facets of the gray underwearer. This is not the reason Bali is great but may be KUDETA is a republic in Bali with its own constitution.
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Falcon I note your comments re kudeta. There has been over a long period tolerance and acceptance towards gay people. It’s unfortunate that traditional balinese tolerance is abused in the way you detail.
Does the problem stem from the behaviour, or from the reluctance of local people to censure?
I think it is probably the latter – the all consuming desire to earn the tourist dollar makes people selectively blind, don’t upset them, they spend big!
This brings me to what I believe is a central issue for balinese tourism.
In the race for tourist $ we’ve expanded our tourist attractions and potential cash cows. the problem is that they’re not pecularly balinese.
An example (or two).
Were elephants and camels ever indigenous to bali? These rides have about as much relevance as dog sled racing thru the streets of new york.
My favorite was a poster on the notice board at the ubud market offering ‘didgeridoo healing’?
A sad but irrefutable reality. Look at of some the promoted top drawcards, we started with kudeta, canggu club, la lucciola, seminyak/canggu/kerobokan villas, jimbaran, hard rock – these are NOT balinese they are bule enclaves.
They inhibit the unique interaction between tourist and local which was bali’s greatest asset.
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Shorty, I couldn’t agree more.
The Balinese motto nowadays regarding tourism is:
I love you, give me money. Nenek moyang values are a thing from the past. Sad but true. -
Without question money is defined as Evil and God simulteneously. The balance between the two is definity. The enclaves are expected, since it brings security, comfort and acceptance for a particular society to assimilate who came from a distant land. The fact of the matter is that equality in race and gender is encouraged but defining border must exist. Bali may be unable to attract more tourists unless adaptation of external culture or unless the Balinesse continue to develop and advance its tradition without or little outside influences . Bali in past few decades has always been a land for soul seekers and investors, and more so in the real estate business (villas) today. The Balinese tradition and rituals are expensive and substantial amount of earning has to be set aside to perform this rituals. Earnings that can be set aside from traditional occupation is becoming scarce. Perhaps afterall Bali is a place to have fun while culture and tradition may become only a Billboard.
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Dragonwall says:
I doubt if Jero try selling discounted coupon like a dollar ride anywhere whole day or 10 bucks air ticket to Bali will attract anymore tourist of the already tarnished image.
Las Vegas tried doing the trick of 20 dollars air ride from anywhere to Vegas still doesn’t do the job. Perhaps for a short while.
Indonesia needs to think of something else, but first tidy up Nugrah Rai Airport. That place doesn’t look like an international airport.
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Lia says:
Woohoooooooooo
Santorini is 5th!Viva my Greece!!!!!!!
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Well, bali is my favorite along with croatia’s dalmatian coast.