Bali Vacations

[hatty]

I have searched through the forums, and I have found more in regards to SE asia then I have a specific area, but i was wondering to get any input from members who have visited Bali, and where they stayed and recommendations.

Also, if anyone has done the villas instead of the hotels, and their experiences, I am looking to go in the first week of September for a honey moon.

Thanks!

[Flaming Choy]

I went for a couple days in Ubud and Seminyak.

I loved Ubud, pretty laid back, lots of cultural things to see (temples, traditional dance, monkey forest). The food was fresh and healthy. Seemed to be a strong focus on the Yoga lifestyle.

We stayed at the Swasti Eco Cottages and enjoyed our stay there. We hired a driver to take us around to sites, which was pretty cheap and covered a good quarter of the island.

In Seminyak we stayed in one of the private villas (Nyuh Bali Villas). It was pretty cool to have your own pool and that sort of things, but its in a quieter part of town (could still walk over to the beach, but it's definitely not right outside).

The other kind of neat thing we did was a sunrise hike up Mt. Batur. Not the highest peak in the world, but we both enjoyed hiking and there was decent views. I think we started walking around 3-4am or something. I can try to chime in more if you have more specific questions.

[bagofpucks]

We went in December 2014. We stayed about 4 kms outside of Ubud in an Airbnb. Here are some highlights of our trip:
- did a day at the spa because it was dirt cheap
- lots of great food
- visited many temples
- took an amazing cooking class
- took two car trips; one to the water temple and the rice terraces and one to white sand beach.
- got lost walking a number of times in town!

If you have any other specific questions let me know. It is definitely an interesting place and not exactly my cup of tea, but it is very beautiful.

[Northendzone]

I hope you find the answers you seek to this important problem /end green text

[Party Elephant]

I went a couple of years ago for a short backpacking adventure. If you want to party, go to the Gili Islands and thank me later!

-Have cash in hand when you arrive as Indonesia requires you to pay for your visa on arrival (it was $25 US when I went) and they don't take credit card. I didn't have any cash on me, and the whole ordeal of getting money to pay for my visa and then going through customs took almost 3 hours

-Get used to hustlers yelling at you constantly trying to sell you stuff

-Haggle on everything. They know you're going to pay more than what it's worth.

-If you want to use your phone, be careful where you buy a sim card (pretty much every street merchant has them). I had some idiot nearly ruin mine while removing the sim card

-Kuta sucks, don't waste any more time there than you absolutely have to

[Scrambler]

I was there in Nov 2015. Loved it. Why not do Villa at Resort, best of both World's imho. If you want you can check out my pics here: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...t=folder%2cjpg

PM me if you want more help/suggestions.

[verda13]

I went 2 years ago, spent 2 weeks in Seminyak in the honeymoon suite at an amazing small (10 rooms) boutique hotel http://www.baligingersuites.com/ the service was incredible and the price was very reasonable. (<100/night) It was quite central and a 5 min walk to the beach.

As others have mentioned, be prepared to haggle while shopping and be pestered on the beach by people trying to sell you stuff(including sad-faced children). I'd recommend renting a chair on the beach from a local (i'm not convinced they own the loungers but they will clean them and serve you drinks from the restaurants

I also spent a week in Ubud at a majestic, albeit, ridiculously expensive resort owned by the royal family http://www.royalpitamaha-bali.com/ with an absurd amount of stars to walk, great after skipping 3 weeks of workouts!

Ubud is a very laid back, hippie like place. Very relaxing.

Wherever you stay, hire a driver for a day or 2. Its is very reasonably priced ($50/8hrs) and the driver will (should) know places that you will want to see, excellent restaurants (don't forget to offer to have him join and mention that you will pick up the tab, they are very grateful) as well as help you barter at shops.

Feel free to ask questions.

Also, don't forget to try to poop coffee... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

On second thought, after reading the wiki page, maybe avoid the poop coffee...