We arrived at the hotel at around 10pm and once through security at the gate we drew up to the reception area. To my surprise, we were greeted individually and presented with a flower garland. The gong was struck to announce our arrival. We were ushered into the large open, semi-outdoor reception area and seated on comfortable sofas. One of the staff came over from the bar with a cool fruit juice and cold towels. The reception staff then approached and asked for our passports and payment cards. After a few short minutes he came back with our documents, cards and folios to sign. Our luggage was brought into the reception area on a trolley, waiting to be delivered to our rooms. With all of our rooms assigned, two of the porters escorted us through the hotel, outlining the layout of the hotel before we left reception.
The Bali Hyatt is a open air affair with none of the major areas enclosed. The rooms are laid out in three overlapping squares with the corner of the first square leading on to the next. I was in the third square which meant a little walk from reception to get to my room.
My room – standard garden view king
The bathroom
The room during the day, and the balcony
The room itself was a reasonable size with a large bed, modern TV and a small balcony. The bathroom was a bit small but it had everything that one needed.
We’d read reviews before arriving at the hotel which stated that the décor is a little dated. I’m sure that’s true, but I think that one would argue that it is in keeping with the Balinese style. I found the room to be very comfortable.
After settling in, we all headed to the bar for an evening drink.
The next seven days were spent doing pretty much nothing, and that’s how it had always been planned. It had been a few years since I’d had a holiday that was focussed around sitting by the pool or going to the beach. To be frank, it was bloody brilliant. My work life can be pretty hectic and stressful so it was so relaxing to find that the biggest decision that I had to make was which pool to sit by and when to have lunch. I’d forgotten how much fun doing nothing can be and how important it is to have down time on holiday.
The hotel is set in many acres of landscaped gardens giving it a very green feel. There are two pools, a traditional ‘blue’ pool with sunken pool bar and the larger ‘green’ pool as well as a plunge pool and Jacuzzi. The hotel fronts onto a long private beach with golden sand and palm trees. During most of the day, soft, calming traditional Balinese music is performed by local musicians to entertain and relax the guests.
The view from the entrance to my room
Walking through the gardens to the beach
The private beach
Relaxing by the blue pool
Bridge over the green pool
Relaxing by the green pool
Our typical day tended to start at about 9.30 for breakfast in the large Wantilan Café. Breakfast was a buffet affair with both hot and cold dishes available. Eggs and waffles were also cooked fresh, to your liking. After breakfast we headed down the pool for a dip. Lunch was taken either by sitting down at the Omang Omang Grill or delivered by one of the waiting staff to our sun loungers. In the evening we mostly headed out of the hotel to one of the bars and restaurants close by.
I have to say that the quality of the food at the local restaurants was outstanding.
Snapper with a mango sauce
The quality of the ingredients and presentation were both unexpected, especially for the price, which was always relatively cheap. Drinks on the other hand were not with everyone expected to pay something close to London prices most nights. This was however offset by the price of the food and it was certainly cheaper than Singapore.
After the third day we’d decided to head out to see what Bali had to offer. We’d arranged a driver through a local contact that Mum had. He took us first to a local temple. We all had to cover our legs and shoulders and colourful saris were provided for this purpose.
Traditional Balinese temple
Next it was off to see one of the islands active volcanoes, Mount Batur. The weather wasn’t good with the volcano mostly surrounded by cloud. However, the most annoying thing were the local street sellers. I’ve been approached before by local sellers in both India and Thailand but the guys in Bali take it to another level. While I was trying to take photos they were literally sticking t-shirts in front of my camera and trying to insert whatever they were selling between my face and the camera itself. I was trying to be polite but eventually lost it and shouted a very loud ‘No!’ at them and walked away. They left me alone after that. I understand that these people rely on tourists for their living but I think that they have to be very careful in finding the right balance. What we experienced could simply be called harassment and it certainly ruined the views of the volcano for me.
The weather had started to get a bit better so we headed off to view one of Bali’s famous rice terraces and then down to some of the rice paddies themselves.
Rice terraces
Rice paddies
A local rice paddy
Call me stupid, but I’d never really thought about how rice is grown or even what it looks like before it is harvested so it was certainly educational to be able to stand right next to the plants and get a closer look.
The last stop of the day was to one of the Elephant ride parks. I must admit that I wasn’t keen on this, ethically. Despite assurances that the elephants were rescued from harsher conditions I did feel that it was distasteful to then exploit these amazing creatures by making them give rides to rich tourists.
We arrived at the Elephant park and went up to the reception desk. This is were the strangeness began. There were no prices and it appeared that the cost of the ride was down to negotiation with lots of calculator tapping. The initial price was a very steep half a million Rupiah which is about £36 or $55. For a 15 minute ride this was ridiculous so we walked away. They then called us back and offered a viewing for 100,000 which we accepted. I felt at this point like the place was run by an organised crime gang, that is how it felt.
We were directed up to where the elephants were. The place was reasonably busy and the handlers there encouraged us to come and get up close and personal with the elephants. They were trained to put one foot up on the footpath and allow visitors to sit on their knee.
Elephants at the elephant park
Strangely, they then asked us if we’d like a ‘free’ ride as long as we gave them a nice tip. I declined by one of our group decided to give it a go. Again, this all seemed very dodgy! They enjoyed the ride which included a dip into the nearby bathing pool. After this we went back to the hotel to meet up with the group. The Elephant park left an uneasy feeling with me and it’s not somewhere that I can recommend to anyone.
The rest of our time at the hotel was taken up with more relaxing, swimming, book reading, drinking and general laziness.
Verdict on the Bali Hyatt
The hotel is probably not quite what I expected, however, I thought that it was excellent. Yes, it is a little dated but the friendly staff and facilities more than make up for this. The open air design was very welcome in the sticky Balinese heat, allowing what little wind there was to blow through.
The room was very comfortable with everything that one would expect. The bars and restaurants served good quality food and drink however it was outrageously expensive with similar prices to Singapore. Better deals were to be found outside of the hotel.
The pools were great and despite housing quite a large number of guests it never felt busy. We never felt the need to rush down to the pool in the morning to secure sun loungers.
I’d definitely go back to the Bali Hyatt and I’d recommend it to others looking for a hotel in Bali with great facilities which is decorated in a traditional style.