Please help! Ideas for a slightly unusual holiday?

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Hi

I'm hoping there may be people out there with some bright ideas please!

We were originally planning on backpacking around south east Asia, for 4-5 weeks, but for various reasons (I can go into but won't bore you with unless prompted!) have moved away from that.
And now we're a bit stuck.

Looking for an affordable and interesting destination where we can base ourselves for the whole summer without breaking the bank. The tricky thing is our DS is desperate to stay somewhere with pool, kids to play with, etc.

And obviously staying in your typical European resort for this long would be £££££££££. So we're trying to think outside the box a bit.

I've been looking at Thailand, but the flights are pretty steep, although once there I can find some decent resorts in Phuket etc for about £1500-2500 for a month which is fine.

Here's the brief:

• 4-5 weeks in school summer holidays
• single location base with surrounding areas to explore
• suitable for family of 4, DC both under 8
• other families around (ie resort or complex) - do not a villa or private house
• pool
• love to be near beach but not essential

Anyone have any inspiration for me please?

Let me know if I need to give more info than this.

TIA

I also note that Thailand in August is rainy season

Borneo. Had everything you need and cheaper than Thailand

*Has! It hasn't gone anywhere

Ooh I hadn't considered that thank you! Is it rainy season there too?

South Korea can be good. I lived there for two and a half years and rooms can be found from £13.00 upwards pn. The people are wonderful, shopping is fabulous with too much to buy and the food is good.

Borneo is dry at that time.

Bali and Java also dry as are parts of Vietnam. Not all of Thailand is wet season then.

Turkey?

Easy coast of Thailand will be ok in August ( rainy season doesn't hit till Sept/ Oct) so Koh Samui, Koh Phangan would be ideal. Koh Phangan is still relatively underdeveloped and unspoilt . There are also plenty of villas to rent on Koh Samui

Durban and the beach resorts along the Kwa Zulu Natal coastline are nice in August. Lots to do, great food, safari nearby, gorgeous beaches. Pound to Rand is good at moment and South Africa is cheap for food and drink compared to UK and Europe. BA now do direct flights to Durban too.

Thanks for all these excellent suggestions.
We don't really fancy Turkey - have visited before- and we're definitely still considering east coast Thailand as a pp said.
Borneo is interesting but so far I'm finding it pretty challenging to get to?!
South Africa we love and have visited a lot, but we're saving that up for when the DC can safari properly.

Will you not get bored in one place? We took ours backpacking at that age and younger - they loved youth hostels (booked private rooms)

@stucknoue that's what DH keeps saying!
My eldest DC is particularly particular and we have come to think he won't actually respond well to too much moving about.
But maybe a 2 location Thailand trip with a few days to explore Bangkok also might work?

If you fancy Borneo. Fly to Singapore, couple of days there, go to Gardens by the Bay, free fireworks & music at night.
Then fly to KK in Borneo
Find tours to visit
Orangutans, bears, bat cave, long nose monkeys. There are beaches too with snorkelling
From Semporna you can visit some of the islands for snorkeling
Food is cheap if you eat away from the main tourist hotels
Philippines is similar long flight, but cheap once there
Thailand is slightly more expensive