Busy Bali
When we arrived in Bali at midnight the immigration queue was so long it took 1.5 hours to get through so worth factoring that in if you pre-book transfers. We were grateful to our pre-arranged taxi driver who waited for us as when you go through to the arrival’s hall, there are endless amounts of taxi drivers waiting for your business and I would have felt uneasy just jumping in one of those.
It took approx. 1 hour to drive to Ubud where we stayed at the Inata Monkey Forest Hotel. This was in an ideal location with the Monkey Forest just at the end of the road and the property was right in the heart of bars, restaurants and shops plus within walking distance of Ubud Market.
The excursion companies pick up from the hotel, you can do white-water rafting, visit the rice fields, go on a giant swing surrounded by lush greenery and visit temples, all of which I would highly recommend. There is a quite a lot to do in Ubud, it is a city destination with no beach and the town is very big, but it will keep you entertained for a while. I would recommend 3 or 4 days at least.
Our hotel was small with only a few rooms, a swimming pool and breakfast room. The room had all the amenities you need and was a large size, it included free Wi-Fi and it was clean and the staff were friendly.
We then moved to Tony’s Villas in Seminyak which was to be our beach base for a week. It took about 1.5 hours in traffic to get there. Bali doesn’t have any public transport, so it is really busy with motorbikes and cars, much busier than I was expecting, as everyone needs to get from A to B the roads are always congested.
Seminyak was another large town and Tony's Villas was right in the heart of it. It is a stunning property and had the wow factor. Our room was huge with all the modern amenities including tea/coffee facilities and free Wi-Fi, the staff were friendly, but I felt the evening meal was under par. The quality didn’t live up to the standard of the property, so we ate out in the town. The food in Seminyak was amazing, it was fresh, large portions and it was well cooked and not expensive at all for the standard of it.
We were a 10 minute stroll to the beach which had dark sand and was very wide and long. The sea was a little rough when we went but it made for good fun. You pay for sunbeds and umbrellas but it was worth bartering, you can get it for half the starting price if you haggle.
We hired a private taxi for the day and visited Sanur, Nusa Dua, Kuta and Tanah Lot, this only cost £45 and the driver took us where we wanted to go. Our favourite was Nusa Dua as it was smaller, quieter and it had more of an upmarket feel than the other areas due to a few 5-star properties in the area. The town has manicured lawns with palm trees and statues - almost like a perfect picture!
Kuta catered for the surfers, the beach was large with lovely golden sand and had excellent waves for surfing. Sanur had a lovely beachfront walk with bars, restaurants and shops.
We visited Tanah Lot Temple at sunset and despite the thousands of other people doing the same thing, it was still stunning to witness, and we were so pleased to catch it.
Tanah Lot is very commercialised with its own market stalls, shops and restaurants, you could spend hours there. It was only about £2.50 to enter as well. Worth mentioning that it takes about a 10-15-minute walk to get from the entrance to the temple itself which is set on the water’s edge.
We liked Bali, the people were friendly, the food was cheap and good quality and there is a lot to do.
If you need any more advice, then please do drop me a line.