Thunderroad

If you're facing the sea and then turn and walk to your right, there is a nice little moderately priced place just past the boundary of the Conrad. Sitting there, you get the sea breeze and a view of the water. Nothing spectacular in terms of cuisine, but fine and friendly.

Many more places further up the beach in the same direction, starting with perhaps another ten minutes further along. We were comfortable walking there at night, but you might want to bring a small flashlight since one stretch along that path there is a closed hotel and the beach is not well illuminated there.

Have a great time!

Keyser

my wife & i did this last year & we thought it was completely worth it....we had our own private table by the beach & the candlelight setting was very romantic....

they also have these little menu cards with your name on them that you can keep afterwards....very nice touch....

camsean

That's what it sounds like to me.

bradrutt

I just completed a 10 day stay here and we found several good restaurants within 10 minutes walking distance in the Tanjung Benoa area. To get there, turn right out of the hotel. Our favorites were Cardamon and Bumbu Bali. They will pick you up if you'd like. Meals came to about $40 including drinks, and we ordered a lot to sample the different local cuisine. Also, you can find many good spas here. My wife got a 90 minute hot stone massage for about $25.

rkaradi

Beatt me too it, that is the place I would recommend. Good food, clean place and very reasnoble. I remember having grilled fish. We ate their 2x and had for 5 people was more then 2/3 less expensive then Conrad.

I will also recommedn Bambu Bali for one meal, not the cheapest but it has excellent food.

I can't remember the neame of this place but if you turn left out of Conrad and drive about 1 mile it on the right sideas the road curves to the right. Very simple place with traditional food you can't miss the place becasue it's the last building before the road curves to the right.

Also I'd recommend the sunrise breakfast that 8 degrees offers in a beach bale. Can't remember the cost, but under $100 for 2.

Skyman65

Another ^^^ for Bumbu Bali.

We had lunch there on our last day, just before heading to the airport. GREAT food and atmosphere. IIRC, our bill was <$15 for lunch.

I only regret that we didn't find it until our last day. Otherwise, I probably would have gone there more.

PedroNY

Everyone,

thank you for all of your recommendations. I will make sure to try all of these places. I did notice that Bambu Bali comes in a lot of guide books as well, it is highly recommended, so will make sure to try it out eary in our trip, and hopefully come back again.

Thank you for your recommendations for the romantic dinner and the sunrise breakfas, I will check that out, sounds like a good thing to try at least once.

Best,

PedroNY

CAlex

I'll be there 10-17 may, these updates are very helpful. Thank you.

NoY

Hi, how did your stay go, hope the weather was kind? Dis you receive good Diamond treatment? I have a stay coming up this weekend & would be interested in the latest about this the place. Cheers.

idahost

My wife and I stayed there a couple of weeks ago for five days, we received an oceanfront room as a Diamond, the view and balcony were nice, but room was very small. General Manager insisted (in spite of what other Diamonds have posted) that no Diamonds are upgraded to Suites...whatever...lounge is fantastic and king size beach bales were great.

By the way the place was empty, employee told me only 30% occupancy while we were there.

NoY

Thank you, sounds like you had a nice time. Shame about the Suites though. Looking forward to it all.

CAlex

I booked the Conrad Bali for 7 nights, part of a second honeymoon with my wife (5yrs after first one). As a HH Diamond I booked using points, well-spent 187k points.

Arrival and check-in
Before arrival, I booked hotel transfer from the airport via the hotel, 16$ + 21% charged on the bill. I recommend this especially if you arrive quite late in the night. We arrived at midnight in DPS and the ride to hotel took ~30 minutes. The driver waited with cold towels and bottled water, a nice touch after 3hr on a flight.

Check-in was fast and efficient. I had previously advised the hotel of our "2nd honeymoon" intentions, and they had a room prepared for us, including a very nice bottle of champagne as welcome gift. They did not upgrade us to a Suite part of the Conrad Suites section, but gave us probably the best alternative - A Lagoon room. Situated on ground floor (#1117), we had a large terrace with 1 table + 2 chairs for a late-night drink, as well as 2 lounge chairs and an umbrella. The greatest feature was the direct access to a pool, so we could have a swim at any time of day and night. And since the room was in Block A close to all the action, they could not have made a better choice .

Room and hotel areas, activities
The room itself was very large with nice sitting area, a desk, very large bathroom and a huge king bed . Everything clean, attention to all small details, Conrad-expectations met in full. As HH Diamond we also got free internet, which we could use throughout the entire hotel.

The pools areas are by far the biggest asset of the hotel, and the staff works to keep them in shape every day. Everything was designed in the smallest details, to make it enjoyable for all guests. The nicest touch I found the 2 sand-filled pool areas, so that families with small babies can enjoy the time. The only 2 things that could be improved would be soem areas where the pool is deeper than 1.2m and some jacuzzi-like areas with whirlpools. We spent almost every day in one of the Bale by the beach, but bathing in the pools.

The Conrad has one of the best beaches in Tanjung Benoa area, but the shallow waters and horde of ski-jets around make it less desirable for a swim. Not sure what the hotel could do about that, but if you are going there for the beach and sea, it's probably not the best place. We went 2 years ago to Hilton Phuket and found the beach there much-much better.

If you like watersports, Bali is the place for you, they are good and very cheap. 500m from the Conrad I found an all-inclusive hotel with very good prices for watersports, and with no scams or haggling involved. For trips in-land we chose a company recommended by a friend, who gave us the regular tour of the island for 600k IDR (70$).

Restaurants and Spa
Breakfast at the Suku restaurant is very good, with plenty of dishes to choose from. They have sepprate juice station where they prepare any juice you like, as well as sepparate areas with Indian, Thai and Japanese food.
We did not have lunch at the hotel, as we always had late breakfast.
Before dinner, we had some cocktails in the Executive Lounge situated in the Conrad Suites section. They had fantastic cocktails and canapes, and we enjoyed all of them. The canapes were not in a buffet-style as in other Exec Lounges, but very good starter for dinner.
The hotel offer a multitude of on-site dinner options, with 5 restaurants. We only used "SUKU" and "8 Degress South" for few dinners, in other nights we went out. We specifically appreciated the dinner at 8 Degrees South, which is right by the beach and resembling very much with the 105$++/pp private dinner the hotel was offering.

Around the hotel there is not much to do or to see, so in several afternoons we got a taxi until "Bali Collection" where one can enjoy a multitude of spas, shops and restaurants, at much "friendlier" prices than the Conrad. We appreciated a lot the spas here (150k IDR for 1hr compared to 900k IDR at the Conrad) and some of the restaurants, the food was very good. They even drove us back to the hotel for free every night.

Conclusion
Overall we had a fantastic stay, and found the Conrad Bali to be THE place where we would return with our son(s) in few years. I compare it with the Hilton Phuket which we visited 2 years ago, and the Conrad wins due to the pools, the people, the Lagoon room and the overall quality of the proprety and service. It comes in second when it comes to the beach area and proximity of shops/restaurants/things to do and see. PM me for pictures, I did not discover yet how to insert images here

NoY

This detailed update is much appreciated - we will be checking in there today. Our hopes are high. Will report back with update/comments.

NoY

Well, a quick update before some more detailed feedback. We were upgraded on the first night of our stay from a standard room (Deluxe Garden View) to a Deluxe Ocean King. We were also told we had been upgraded to an Ocean Suite for the remainder of our stay. Great. We found the Ocean King room to be pretty awful. Old, worn out & in real need of renovation. We experienced a series of service issues whilst in the first room & were then told that we were being upgraded (for the aforementioned remainder of our stay) to a Conrad Suite in the private Suites section of the hotel.......much nicer accommodation of course, but still with some niggling service issues. More to come.

mileageking

NoY, did they confirm the oceanfront suite upgrade at check-in or after you complained on your deluxe oceanview room? Did you request to be upgraded to a suite or did they offer it to you voluntarily?