Stuck between two destinations? These guides settle it.
Most holidays start with a shortlist of two. Portugal or Spain. Greece or Italy. Japan or Korea. Thailand or Bali. You have the leave booked, roughly, and now you have to commit.
These guides exist to settle that. Each one compares a pair of destinations across the things that actually decide it — beaches, food, wine, culture, cost, weather, getting around, and what a realistic 7-day or 14-day itinerary looks like in each — written from an Australian perspective, because the flight times, the school holidays and the entry requirements change the answer.
None of them declares an overall winner, because there isn’t one. What they do is tell you which destination fits the holiday you want.
Before you open any of the comparisons, it helps to answer these. In our experience they settle the choice more often than anything about the destinations themselves.
Under ten days almost always means one region, not one country. Several of these pairs flip their answer between a week and a fortnight.
Some of these destinations reward touring and some reward staying put. It is the single biggest predictor of which one you’ll enjoy.
Season changes the answer more than most people expect — particularly in Asia, where the Australian winter is the wet season on some coasts and the best time on others.
Beaches, food, art, wellness, or doing very little. Naming it honestly usually eliminates one option immediately.
Couples, families and groups travelling at a gentler pace get different answers from the same comparison. Every guide covers all three.
Three pairings that cover most of the Mediterranean shortlist.
One compact country against one enormous one.
PortugalSpain
Portugal is the easier holiday to finish — Lisbon, Porto and the Douro in a week, with short distances and Atlantic coastline. Spain gives you more of everything, but asks you to choose a region rather than the whole country.
Beaches and late nights against art and history.
SpainItaly
Spain wins on beaches, nightlife, islands and value. Italy wins on art, ancient history and cultural touring. Food and wine are close enough to call a draw, and both work equally well as a first trip to Europe.
A Mediterranean holiday against a European touring holiday.
GreeceItaly
Greece is islands, swimming and slowing down, with the foundations of the classical world attached. Italy is cities, art and food that changes every region, connected by the trains that make it all reachable.
The two comparisons Australians ask about most, both within about ten hours of home.
Complete touring against modern Asian culture.
JapanSouth Korea
Japan is temples, bullet trains, Mount Fuji and four distinct seasons across many regions. Korea is Seoul at length — food, shopping, cafés, nightlife and the culture currently exporting itself to the world.
A whole country against one extraordinary island.
ThailandBali
Thailand is Bangkok, the northern mountains and two separate island coasts. Bali is rice terraces, villas, surf and wellness within an hour of each other. For Australians the flights and the entry costs often settle it.
If you already know what the holiday is mainly about, start here.
| If the holiday is mainly about… | Look at | Start with |
|---|---|---|
| Beaches and swimming | Spain, Greece or Thailand | Spain vs Italy |
| Art, museums and architecture | Italy | Spain vs Italy |
| Island hopping | Greece or Thailand | Greece vs Italy |
| Wine touring | Portugal, Spain or Italy | Portugal vs Spain |
| Wellness, yoga and villas | Bali | Thailand vs Bali |
| A short break from Australia | Bali | Thailand vs Bali |
| Multi-city rail touring | Japan, Italy or Spain | Japan vs South Korea |
| Food as the reason to travel | Japan, Italy or Thailand | Japan vs South Korea |
| A relaxed week with few hotel changes | Portugal or Bali | Portugal vs Spain |
| Nightlife | Spain or South Korea | Spain vs Italy |
A few things we do differently from most comparison articles, so you know what you’re reading.
No invented winner. Where two destinations are genuinely close — food in Spain and Italy, for instance — we say so instead of manufacturing a verdict. Where one clearly wins, like Italy for art or Bali for wellness, we say that plainly too.
Ratings are editorial, and explained. The star tables are a quick orientation, not a measurement. Every rating has a section beneath it explaining the reasoning.
Very few fixed prices. Tourist taxes, rail passes and entry fees across these destinations have changed repeatedly in the last two years. We describe how a cost works rather than quoting a figure that will be wrong by the time you read it — and where a number genuinely helps, it carries the date we checked it and where to verify it.
Entry requirements are flagged, not guessed. Several of these destinations have changed their visa or arrival rules recently, and at least one is mid-change right now. We tell you what the position was when we last checked and point you at Smartraveller and the official government sites.
Every pair in this series is a short flight apart, and every guide includes a combined itinerary. That is not a hedge — for a long-haul trip from Australia it is often the better answer. The expensive part is getting to the region; adding a second country to the same trip costs far less than a second trip later.
Portugal and Spain make one Iberian journey. Greece and Italy are two hours apart. Japan and Korea share a time zone. Thailand and Bali are four and a half hours apart on a direct flight.
Start with the shape of the holiday rather than the country. Decide how many days you actually have, whether you want to move around or settle in one place, and what the trip is really for — beaches, food, culture, or doing very little. The country almost always follows from those three answers.
If you have two weeks or more and you're flying from Australia, often yes. Each of our comparisons includes a combined itinerary, because the neighbouring pairs — Portugal and Spain, Greece and Italy, Thailand and Bali, Japan and Korea — are short flights apart and the long-haul leg is the expensive part.
No. They're editorial comparisons based on what each destination tends to deliver for an Australian traveller, and every rating is explained in the article below it. A four out of five means very good, not disappointing.
Because they date badly. Tourist taxes, rail passes and entry fees in several of these destinations have changed more than once in the past two years, and a stale figure is worse than none. Where we do publish a number, it carries the date it was checked and where to verify it.
It varies enough that each guide has its own section on it. As a rule, Europe is best in the shoulder seasons — April to June and September to October, which suits Australian travel patterns well. In Asia, timing depends on which coast or island you choose, and the Australian winter school holidays fall in the wet season for some of them.
Yes — that's usually the more interesting version of the holiday. Get in touch and we'll build the flights, transfers and pacing around the two you can't choose between.