We're going to Bali. Need tips

Okay. I know I’ve asked about Turkey and the Galapagos islands, but finally we’ve decided on a place and we booked our flights. We’re heading to bali for nine-twelve nights and a 3 night stop in Singapore to visit some friends. We booked our airfare into Bali and out of Singapore but haven’t planned anything inside. We’re going end of August.


I’m thinking…

3 nights in Ubud, visit the rice terraces, white water rafting, check out some temples
2-3 nights in northern/Western Bali for Scuba Diving
3 nights in Seminyak for beach and relaxation

Adequate? any other towns must visit?
Any suggestions on where to stay? My only requirement is I want a pool in our room. :smiley:
Any suggestions on Scuba sites? We’re gonna do the shipwreck to ease in, and then open for 2 more days of dives. Might do a “dive safari” with a group to make it easier with dive masters

Thanks

Check out these hotels (all have pool villas):

Ubud - The Chedi Club, Uma by Como
Seminyak - Club at Legian, Oberoi

You might want to consider Uluwatu for beach and relaxation. Further from things and some stunning properties there. Check out Oberoi (classic style), Karma Kandara (not sure if they have one bedroom villas), Alila Uluwatu (modern). Alila Soori is pretty awesome too, in the south west of Bali. Again, all with private pools.

Mosaic in Ubud and Metis are excellent French restaurants. Naughty Nuri’s in Ubud has great BBQ ribs. Rock Bar in Uluwatu is a beautiful cliff-side bar, and Potato Head and Ku De Ta are cool beach lounges/clubs.

Wine generally sucks in Bali and is overpriced. You may want to think about bringing some in from Singapore, but only 1L per person is duty free.

Thanks for the informative first post! :slight_smile:.

Would you say Uluwatu and Seminyak are similar? Our intention of going to Seminyak was for beach and relaxation.

No worries about wine, we won’t be drinking any :slight_smile:

Ubud’s lovely and 3 days will do nicely there. I stayed at the Bali Spirit and Spa Resort, just outside of town, was very nice—especially the hour-long massages! Dining at Mozaic is an absolute must when you’re there—if they still do it, 7-course paired wine tasting smack dab in the middle of the monkey rainforest. They made an unforgettable salmon with lemongrass, cinnamon and apple cider dish that I’m still trying to replicate.

I spent my other 2 days at Nusa Dua. The Hyatt was OK, but an awful lot of money for not as much as I thought I’d get. Regardless, the beaches were lovely.

White water rafting is decent, not super-spectacular. IIRC, there’s one 8-10 foot drop as a highlight. It’ll take a day. I would take a day to do one of the cycling tours…I think mine was named Budaya…to see some of the villages, temples and coffee roasting areas. It was a great deal of fun.

Make sure you have smoked duck somewhere when you’re there. I thought about the dawn volcano hike but decided to have another massage that morning instead :slight_smile:

Also make sure you see the Kachak Fire Dance performed by some troupe. It’s quite a thing to see.

And bring a little money—the quality of items and clothing for next to nothing will take your breath away.

Bottom-line? The songs and stories? They’re all true. You will enjoy yourself tremendously Charlie.

PM me if you want some sample pics.

Mike, great notes.

We were thinking one day for white water rafting and one day for a cycling tour in Ubud. All I have to do is teach my wife how to ride a bike.

I think they have doubles… :slight_smile:

Don’t get me wrong, the rafting is fine, and lovely scenery, but IIRC no more than 2 class 4s at most.

Charlie,

My brother was in Bali last year and has the following tips for you:

Pearl: A French restaurant with good food.

Cocoon: A spectacular bar with a pool area. The day he was there was bikini day and there were abouth 50 scantilly clad women wandering around.

Potato Head: A funky bar in Seminyak with an incredible fit out.

Cheers
Jeremy

I’m in Bali now, my second time. Beaches are so-so not as good as Florda, at keast the Kuta area which is right next to Seminysk. can give a Nusa Dua update on Friday.Ubud is great. Spend More time there. Bali is about the culture, see ceremonies and dance .

Haven’t heard much about Bali diving, have you researched it? The other islands are renowned for it (Sulawesi)

Lemak in Ubud was very nice last night for dinner.

Avoid Kuta… it’s where all the surfers hang out. It’s a tourist trap.

Didn’t think you were much if a beach person. The craft villages outside Ubud are very worthwhile (although the paintings are much more modern style then when I was her last 25 years ago)

+100

Get out of the main tourist areas. Lots of effort goes to make them un-Bali.

Eat in a warung. Find a place that serves ayam campung. Try martabak manis from a street vendor or warung. Find the busiest Masakan Padang you can with lots of locals eating there.

I lived in Bali (Seminyak) for a year in 92-93. I am sure it has developed, but the people and culture are what make it special. To get any of that, you will have to bust out of the tourist bubble a little.

Enjoy!

PS. Bahasa Indonesia is known to be one of the easiest languages in the world. Getting an audio program and learning a few words will make the visit more fun.

But don’t drink the water!

I enjoy the beach but we get really restless if we don’t have something to do outside of hanging out on a beach shore.

We might do less days in seminyak just to ease the boredom if there isn’t much around there.

Semi yak beach is one beach up from Legian and two up from Kuta. My guess its the same quality sand and water, I.e., meh, for someone living in SoCal. Water is warm, otherwisenowherenear as pretty as our beaches, let alone Hawaii.
But, I haven’t been there. I do know there are some awesome resorts though.

how was nusa dua? we’re just debating between seminyak and nusa dua now. I read nusa dua is more “high end resort” while seminyak is more of a high end party area.

Charlie - we stayed in Nusa Dua at the Westin Bali when it was still mistakenly made a cat 3 hotel by SPG (3,000 points per night!) :slight_smile: it’s a very nice high end area but u aren’t really in Bali anymore u’re at a luxory resort. not bad for a couple of nights just to chill out at the pool… but like many others said, it’s better to check out other places after a while. But for 2 nights i think it’s a relaxing, high end place to hang out.

Another kinda tourist trappy place is Jimbaran. Yes it’s touristy but go before dinner… walk around and pick out live seafood (we each got a 5lb live lobster), some clams/mussels, fish, prawns etc… grileld out and served with cold beer. You sit on the beach, and watch the sun set in front of you.
Touristy? yes. Balinese? no. but it’s pretty awesome we thought.

+1 to avoid Kuta… kinda dumpy, touristy, and not very nice in general. kinda like ‘why bother’ when there are tons of great choices.

I’m assuming you’re doing the usual drive around to see temples, rice terraces etc… don’t miss those, great views.

Finally Diving - I thought it was just ‘ok’… do it if u want to cross it off your list. but i prefer many other places (Dahab/Sharm, Cairns, cozumel, french polynesia etc) to Bali…
Oh and the water temp when we were there was kinda cold, you (or your wife most likely) will need a full length wetsuit (forgot which month of the year we went though). Just be prepared for that.

I stayed at the Courtyard Nusa Dua, dined at the St. Regis Nusa Dua.

The Courtyard was quite a pleasant hotel, great upgrades if you have status, not anything like the courtyard’s in the US. However, the house beach (shared with the Hyatt) sucked. I was there at low tide, 12 inches of water out for a hundred or more yards with litter floating in it. Any beach in California or Florida is prettier.

The St. Regis grounds were gorgeous, restaurant was good (but wouldn’t come close to making my rotation in LA). The greater Nusa Dua area (not right by the hotels) had surprisingly much more litter than Ubud.

The Stones Hotel in Legian is also a Marriott if you have status. Fancier than the Courtyard, better breakfast, but the suites might be not as nice (as least my upgrade wasn’t).

I regretted my one night in Nusa Dua and wished I had spent another day outside Ubud! But if you don’t want to leave the property, there are some good value four star hotels (like the Courtyard).

I first read your thread title as “We’re going to Need Bail tips.” and I thought this is going to be some trip! Guess my dyslexia’s acting up.

What Mark said re Jimbaran. I will admit, sunset staring out from restaurant row, is quite beautiful.

Most of the major resorts in Nusa Dua are enclaved-off, very strict security. I was fine with it as being a 180 degree change from Ubud…and actually ended up seeing the Kachak Fire dance there.

Some of the Bali pics

that’s actually what turned us off to it after some more reading. We’re going to do Seminyak. We’ll see where we stay. We’ve narrowed it to three places we’re gonna stay, so just picking through. Trying to decide how close we want to be to the beach. We aren’t exactly beach ppl so maybe stay closer to the center of town to eat/drink.