Asia - Where to stay in Bali...

A few questions related to a May 2013 trip in the works. Planning on going to Bali and potentially one more city over 8-10 days (10 days--7 in Bali & 3 somewhere else--if 2 destinations, and probably 8 days if just Bali).

We have some Club Intrawest points at our disposal and our options for redemption in Bali are:

Royal Bali Beach Club at Candidasa — Bali , Indonesia
OR
Royal Bali Beach Club at Jimbaran Bay — Jimbaran , Bali , Indonesia

Does anyone know anything about these properties? We used Intrawest for Anantara Phuket (sadly Anantara Bali isn't redeemable) last year and that blew us away, but these two don't look quite as exciting. I'm not totally averse to paying cash for hotels, but if these places are great then no reason to spend money. Also a few reviews seem to mention that they're far from "town" and from the airport which kind of stinks... If those aren't great, any hotel/resort suggestions?

Question #2: Where else would you go for a long weekend type trip? Singapore seems to be the obvious option, but where else that we may not have thought of? We'd hopefully be looking for a place where we can fly out at night (not wasting the day) and hopefully less than 3-4 hour flight.

Appreciate any advice... thanks!

Hi, of the two I would pick Candidasa, but this may not suit you as it is up the coast. The other at Jimbaran is OK if the pool and the beach are of no concern, it is handy to restaurants and as everything is within a $10 taxi fare, entertaining and shopping are easy to find. Where do I go for a weekend, well we go to Surabaya, Yogga, Penang and Singapore, but down below is Perth and Darwin, plenty of flights and cheap too

Thanks for the advice thus far. Perhaps I should make our goals and such a bit more clear...

We don't want to be as busy as our last Asia trip (BKK, HKT, HKG in 9 days) and don't like feeling like we're wasting a day in just airport transfers and flying--half day would be OK, but it stinks when it takes up 10% of a trip to a part of the world we only see every other year at most.

If I had to put into a sentence what we're looking to do in this trip it would be: Relax in an exotic location and see a part of the world that we've never seen before. (while enjoying SE Asian service and hospitality) In other words, our primary goal is relaxation and wherever we are if there's "can't-miss tourist sites," we will want to see them, but just being halfway around the world is very cool for us in and of itself.

With regard to the 2 properties I mentioned above: Royal Bali Beach Club at Candidasa and Royal Bali Beach Club at Jimbaran Bay; does anyone know anything about these properties specifically? The photos seem fairly underwhelming, but I've been surprised before by hotels with mediocre pictures online. I don't mind spending $200-300 per night on a hotel since the flights will be free, but only if those hotels aren't worth the stay--obviously free would be better for those hotels also.

As for the secondary destination, after some FT reading I'm intrigued by Lombok. The short flight and what looks like cheap (but nice) hotels and excellent beaches definitely has my interest. I could also possibly see doing Bali (~4 days), Lombok (~4 days) AND a place like Singapore, even if only for a day or two in SIN. Thoughts here? Am I biting off too much again?

Hey, we just got back from our first trip to SE Asia, and we also wanted to see so much so we tried to cram in everything.

This is how our trip went:

April 26- flying
April 27-May1- Bangkok
May 1-May4- Phuket
May 4-May6- Kuala Lumpur
May7-11 - Bali
May 11-15 Singapore

If we had to do it all over again, less Bangkok in the extreme heat, more Phuket and Kuala Lumpur, less Bali, and Singapore was just right.

We really liked Kuala Lumpur, and it was very similar to Singapore but with a little more flavor. It's definitely much cheaper to stay overnight, ie 5* Crowne Plaza was USD $85/night compared to USD $350/night at Marina Bay or USD $145/night at lesser 4* Royal Plaza on Scotts.

We did not enjoy Bali too much, even though others have. We like to walk around and explore, and for some reason they forgot to put sidewalks in a lot of areas. To put it simply, it's not very walking friendly. Add in the fact that taxi drivers are relentless in pursuing you, it can get quite annoying. Food outside of the resorts was priced fairly. and there were a lot of choices. The biggest disappointment are the rough conditions in the ocean which meant that we couldn't swim in there, but that could have just been our area in Seminyak. It was beautiful to watch the huge waves and the beach was extremely clean....in our area. We ventured out to Nusa Dua and the beach was filled with litter.

We wanted to visit Lombok, but we didn't have the time, or the nerves, to make it out there.

Here are a couple of trip reports from airliners.net that are good.

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/211469/?threadid=211469&searchid=211469&s=lombok#ID211469

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/213876

We ventured out to Nusa Dua and the beach was filled with litter.


a public beach area at Nusa Dua, yes? I've read that most of the resorts keep their private beaches cleaned up rather well.

Really enjoyed the Novotel Lombok. So much nicer than any other Novotel I've seen. We had a bungalow and it had direct access to a gorgeous pool. The beach rocked as well. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g297733-d299542-Reviews-Novotel_Lombok-Lombok_West_Nusa_Tenggara.html The Accor Summer sale is coming up, maybe you can snag a bungalow for 1/2 price like we did. ps: not a H*ll of a lot around there though. wj

So we decided to stick with our original plan of Bali & Singapore. We will use Intrawest points for Singapore only.

Are there any villa properties in Bali that those here would recommend? We would like a villa with private pool, but not to pay 500+. Our price range is $200-400/night--obviously the lower the better :cool:.

I am in love with Ayana Resort at Jimbaran. Around £500 per night for a one bedroom villa with private pool. Not bad, but if you wanted to budget a little more, then I would recommend the standard rooms, which currently are retailing at around £140 per night.

My favourite Bali resort is the Conrad at Nusa Dua, but there's something about Ayana that inspires me. :D

I just got back two days ago from my fifth trip to Bali. It was about 6 years since I had last been there and it has changed alot. I was a little disappointed. I've stayed all over Bali during my trips. I just stayed at a fantastic villa "Las Villais Exclusive Villas & Spa" in Seminyak. It was under $300 a night and you got a little complex with a huge private pool, outdoor living area, kitchen and shower. And a huge indoor bathroom. Go to their website - pictures are accurate. It was walking distance to great restaurants, the beach and main street where all the shoppping was. You can get to other places from Seminyak easily for touring purposes.

However, as I said, I was disappointed in Bali. It is very developed and full of cars and traffic and tour buses. Not at all what I experienced on my other trips. If you want to experience what Bali was like years ago, you have to go to Lombok. I almost went there a few years ago but had to cancel. You can go to Seminyak for a few days and then take a high speed boat over to Lombok. There are signs for it all over and a tour agency (hotel even maybe) can book it for you.

Where are you flying into in Asia? Have you made arrangements? I combined Langkawi (in Malaysia) with Bali this time. Air Asia flies from SIN directly there. It is a beautiful island and reasonable quiet. If you want, PM me and we can converse off-line. Alot depends on how many days you want to spend in a place and what you are looking for in a destination.

I know people who have stayed at both.
Jimbaran gets a great wrap if you can get in. If you do
Eat next door at Balique.
Candi Dasa is more relaxed and some great tours close by like Tirta Ganga and Besikah

Are there any villa properties in Bali that those here would recommend? We would like a villa with private pool, but not to pay 500+. Our price range is $200-400/night--obviously the lower the better :cool:.


May be, it is too late to give reply but i think you still have time to plan your trip better since it will be taken in May 2013.
Many villas properties in Bali, if the charge does not such a matter for you, there are many higher charges villas with good quality service until lower ones.
I have searched much and find some sort list of Bali villas on this http://www.allbalivillas.com/ it may help you then.

Hopping island to Lombok is not that bad choice, you wont lose much time to fly from Bali to there especially to Gilli islands :D

We are planning on going to Bali for about two weeks in April 2013. Planning on using airbnb.com to rent a private house. Much cheaper and more of a cultural experience I think. Does anyone have any experience with renting private condos/homes. Planning on 1 week in Ubud area and 1 week at a beach area.

Hey, we just got back from our first trip to SE Asia, and we also wanted to see so much so we tried to cram in everything.

This is how our trip went:

April 26- flying
April 27-May1- Bangkok
May 1-May4- Phuket
May 4-May6- Kuala Lumpur
May7-11 - Bali
May 11-15 Singapore

If we had to do it all over again, less Bangkok in the extreme heat, more Phuket and Kuala Lumpur, less Bali, and Singapore was just right.

We really liked Kuala Lumpur, and it was very similar to Singapore but with a little more flavor. It's definitely much cheaper to stay overnight, ie 5* Crowne Plaza was USD $85/night compared to USD $350/night at Marina Bay or USD $145/night at lesser 4* Royal Plaza on Scotts.

We did not enjoy Bali too much, even though others have. We like to walk around and explore, and for some reason they forgot to put sidewalks in a lot of areas. To put it simply, it's not very walking friendly. Add in the fact that taxi drivers are relentless in pursuing you, it can get quite annoying. Food outside of the resorts was priced fairly. and there were a lot of choices. The biggest disappointment are the rough conditions in the ocean which meant that we couldn't swim in there, but that could have just been our area in Seminyak. It was beautiful to watch the huge waves and the beach was extremely clean....in our area. We ventured out to Nusa Dua and the beach was filled with litter.

We wanted to visit Lombok, but we didn't have the time, or the nerves, to make it out there.

Here are a couple of trip reports from airliners.net that are good.

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/211469/?threadid=211469&searchid=211469&s=lombok#ID211469

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/213876

We just spent 11 days in bali:

3 nights in Rejang Suite at Hotel Tugu in Canggu (~400/nt for upstairs suite)
Awesome property. They will setup table for you anywhere you want on property for B/L/D. The beach is nice, but not as nice as Seminyak. http://www.tuguhotels.com/bali/

3 nights at private property in Ubud. (~200/nt) This was awesome. We had our own pool and grounds to enjoy.;) http://www.vrbo.com/401099

3 nights in Ocean Front Suite at Blue Moon Villas in Amed (~150/nt) Probably our favorite in terms of complete relaxation. The scuba was phenomenal as well. http://www.bluemoonvilla.com/

We spent our last night in Ocean view regency club king at at the Bali in Sanur (free on points). This was easily our least favorite. Perfect if you want a large resort feel on a groomed beach. But felt fairly bland and touristy, especially after the cultural riches of Ubud and Amed.

PM me if you'd like to know more. Good luck!

3 nights at private property in Ubud. (~200/nt) This was awesome. We had our own pool and grounds to enjoy.;) http://www.vrbo.com/401099

3 nights in Ocean Front Suite at Blue Moon Villas in Amed (~150/nt) Probably our favorite in terms of complete relaxation. The scuba was phenomenal as well. http://www.bluemoonvilla.com/


econjon: thanks for the tip about staying in Amed part of the time. I am planning a trip to Bali and Java for next Aug, and was looking at 3 nights at a beach hotel and 3 nights in Ubud. I was thinking about Semanyak for the beach area, but after looking at the Blue Moon Villas web site I'm leaning towards that area. We like snorkeling so that area would work. Their base prices for rooms are very reasonable. There are only 2 of us and we don't need a fancy room to sleep in.

When I have my award plane tickets to Bali booked and specific dates, I'll inquire as to the rates for Aug. 2013.

edit: I now have inbound tickets arriving Aug. 16, 2013.

Touring wise, what is there to see in that area, that part of Bali?

which part you would like to see and know, Amed, Ubud, Seminyak or all of those parts ?

http://bali-day-trip.com/

This will give you some ideas on what kind of tours you can do there. It's cheaper to book once you get to Bali. You can even ask a taxi driver to give a tour to you for a much better price.