Recommendations For 4 Days In Bali

[Artamus]

Plenty of information (too much?) for Bali of course, but as always first hand recommendations are the best.

My partner and I (UK/Thai) are looking to spend 5 days/4 nights on Bali early May, and am looking for recommendations for where to stay (area and hotel).

Having searched and read various older posts on ThaiVisa, I have the following ideas/requirements/questions.

- Definitely not interested in Kuta and such-like areas.

- The north coast sounds relaxed and peaceful. Some have mentioned Lovina as a good base/place to stay.

- A search on TripAdvisor only gives a couple of hotels in Lovina, but the Bali Paradise Hotel there gets a good review. At about 2,700 bhat/night it's OK but I am sure there are lots of other nice places people might know of.

- Our main aim over the 4 days would be to do some swimming (hotel pool and beach), visit the mountains and volcanos, visit some quiet bars/restaurants, some moonlight walks on the beach (possible without the hassle?), a little bit of culture (temples, rice terraces etc.), some relaxing, visit some markets, bit of shopping, visit any botanical gardens, etc.

- So looking for a location away from the mad crowds but close to good beach, and somewhere with a quiet hotel (no blaring mosques at 4:30).

All suggestions greatly received.

- anyone rented a car and done self-drive on Bali? (I hate having to tell taxi drivers I am not interested in the places he wants me to go to, so some independent transport is preferred.)

[KhunDave]

Can't help with much information I'm afraid, but I'm doing the same trip later in the year so looking forward to seeing the replies. What I can say is that I got what I consider to be a good car hire price from Avis - 166 USD for 5 days collect at/return to the airport.

[PattayaParent]

Ubud is beautiful.

Don't know any hotels there though.

[Chaimai]

I enjoyed Nusa Dua, staying at Kinds Villa Bintang. It is quite handy for Kuta if you do want to visit.

Ubud us indeed beautiful. Denpasser is worth a visit - museuem is OK but you get ripped-off by the guides/hawkers.

Best trip is Kintamani (Mount Batur) an active volcano.

Good idea about car hire, taxi drivers will hassle you for their NEXT fare ie "where are you going tomorrow, do you want to go to...."

Infact hassle and hawking is worse in Bali than anywhere I have experienced in Thailand.

Ridiculous prices are asked for goods. Usually, 2 or 3 times the price you can negotiate down to. Example, I bought 3 painting for the equivalent of 5,000 Baht - the original asking price was almost 15,000.

Nonetheless, Bali is a beautiful place and I would certainly go again.

[hagler]

Lovina and all beaches in the North of the Island are black sand, volcanic. And it sticks to you like a Russian Hooker who has seen your fat wallet.

Maybe try Candi Dasa on the North East Coast. At least the sand is not black.

Yes plenty of places to self drive.

[theoldgit]

We went last year, four nights, we stayed at Sanur, nice hotel on the beach (Mercure), very laid back resort with plenty of nice restaurants though not too many bars. Picked Sanur partly for it's ease of travel to the airport.

Went to Kuta one evening, really glad we didn't stay there for the duration.

Didn't bother renting a car as you can get a car and driver very reasonably, and you can discuss your own itinerary.

We are going back in August, good old Air Asia - 700 Baht return, and whilst we enjoyed Sanur very much we will probably try somewhere else, only because we like to try somewhere new.

Last year I got a visa on arrival for US$10 as I was going for less that 7 days, they have now done away with this short term visa and you now have to pay US$25 for a 30 day visa,Thai nationals can enter visa free

[whatchamacallit]

2 days 2 night in Ubud: Airport directly to Ubud

Places to stay: Hotel Tjampuhan (US$65/night) - bungalow

Camplung Sari in front of the Monkey Forrest ($75 and up) - bungalow

Maya Ubud (US$125 and up for hotel room, $200 and up for bungalow) - beautiful resort

The Vice Roy (US$350 and up) - Resort

Places to eat: Tradional Balinese: - Suckling pig - Ibu Oka (Near the Ubud Palace) on Jalan Suweta.

Indonesian: Batan Waru - in front of the Soccer field

International: Terazzo

Best BBQ Ribs and Martini: Naughty Nuri's

Fine Dining: Mosaic

Cheap traditional massage: Zen, Verona

Expensive spa: The Vice Roy, Maya, Four Seasons, Amandari

Touristy places to visit in and around Ubud: Monkey Forrest, Antonio Blanco Museum, Neka Museum, Rice terrace of Tegallalang, Gunung Kawi (tampaksiring), Kintamani (Volcanic creater).

Balinese Dance: Everynight at the palace starting at 7:00 - walking distance to Ibu Oka and Terrazo.

day 3 in the am go directly to Candidasa (2 hrs drive by car):

Places to stay: Alila Candidasa (US$150 and up) - right on the beach

Puri Bagus (US$65) - on the beach

Aman Kila (US$350 and up) - resort

If you want to spend time relaxing and not doing anything else but enjoy a quiet day - candidasa is the place to be... Puri bagus is quite nice to do nothing at all.... massage offered there for about $10.00. Swim, snorkle, etc.

Or if you want to be closer to the airport - then stay in Sanur.... a bit touristy but much quieter than Kuta.

Many big hotels such as The Hyatt, Bali Beach are located there - but there are also many smaller hotel right on the beach.

Bali is a beautiful place. Enjoy and have a safe and pleasant trip.

[devaram]

Ubud is the cultural heart of bali and is a requirement to visit.

If you want a quiet beach paradise for cheap price I recommend padang bai

From there you can also get the ferry to lombok and gilli islands..

Bali is an extremely rare place on this earth there is nothing else like it anywhere..

[SICA]

in my opinion i wouldn't bother with Lovinia. The beaches are ceratinly not what you would expect on an island like Bali. As metnioned already, black volcanic sand and rarely cleaned.

Ubud is a must and a place to stay for a night. Thoroughly recommended.

Don't visit Kuta if you can avoid it, it's not worth it.

Legian and Sanur - west of Kuta along the south coast, are really up and coming and have some fabulous restaurants and bars and hotels. There are also some nice places on the east coast where you would get the ferry to Lombok and the Gili Islands. the Gili island, particularly Gili Trewangan are beautiful and very relaxed. I wouldn't recommend Lombok unless you want to be confined to your resort. It's full of hawkers and conmen (in my experiences)

There is a great bus service on Bali and they offer trips to all of these places at really low cost and are generally on time and hassle-free.

You could hire a car for the more 'independent' feel as there is a lot to explore. Also if you are diver then there are several of what are considered the worlds top dive areas located in the deeps around the island.

Sorry i can't be of any help regarding accommodation although there are heaps of top-class hotels located in all of the areas.

Have you thought about looking at the cost of renting a villa? I am sure at the moment there are some good offers as it is shoulder season in Bali.

Have a great trip and i for one would love to know any recommendations when you return.

[itishothere]

Avoid the north - there really isn't much there and the beaches are not great.

I like Seminyak. Some great restaurants and shopping. Easy access to serious shopping in Kuta. Plenty of excellent hotels to suit all budgets/tastes.

Taxis are very good and cheap, far better than driving yourself if you don't know where you are going. All hotels would easily arrange a private vehicle for day trips and such. Just make sure they know EXACTLY where you want to go or yes, they will take you to Grandmas little shop and Uncles jewellry store.

Ubud worth a visit, nice and quiet in parts but no beach, so I would just do a day trip up the hills to Ubud to see the sights and then have dinner on the way home somewhere. There is culture in the south too - a half day/evening trip would do that comfortably.

You can walk for miles on the beach from Seminyak and can be fairly free of bother.

PM for more if you need it.

[Artamus]

Many thanks folks for the replies and suggestions. Now finalising tickets and accommodation, and we'll be going end of next week. Plenty of suggestions and we'll probably rent a car and drive around ourselves.

I'll post a follow-up message here when we are back, with our experiences.

[Artamus]

We are now back from Bali, so here's a summary of our trip.

We flew to Denpasar from Bangkok on Air Asia. No problems with the flights either way.

Not wanting to stay in Kuta we opted to stay in Candi Dasa.

Candi Dasa was quiet and a good base providing you have access to transport, if you want to see other areas of the island.

We stayed at Bayshore Villas. $75+tax for villa. Nice place with good breakfast.

We rented a car from Bali Car Finder which met us on arrival at the airport and were waiting for us when we returned the car. Good service, and a good car (Avanza) for $22 a day (all in) plus $15 airport delivery (free delivery is rental 5 days or more). I would recommend them.

If driving, try to get a map a Bali before arriving, as the free tourist maps are useless for driving around. A GPS helped a lot.

Driving on Bali is slightly more crazy than driving in Thailand with a lot more (even more crazy than here) motor-cyclists. If you drive in Thailand you will not have a problem driving in Bali.

We visited:

Ubud - nice cultural area with markets and a pleasant laid-back atmosphere (although it is very busy with locals and tourists).

Mt Batur volcano. Dissapointing as only very little smoke. Good area to buy cheaper clothing than Kuta and the such like.

Kuta/Legion. Spent the last night here. Restaurants and very overpriced shopping. Very like Pattaya.

Candi Dasa area. Nice and quiet. Best place to eat we found was Candi Dasa Cafe.

Various temples, hte best of which was Besakih.

The worst and most over-rated temple we visited was Tanah Lot. Overrun with tourists and market stalls. Not worth the effort.

[PattayaParent]

Always nice to get feedback, thanks.

[roamer]

Sanur anyone ? Going back in August after 10 year gap, stayed Kuta/Legian before, definitely not now....Sanur any different ? Recently I mean...

[stevehaigh]

i'm just eying up some cheap flights on air asia and having never been to Bali before, thought i should check out the scoop here first

most of the hotel prices mentioned here are way out of my budget. when i'm traveling in Thailand i can always find an ok place with breakfast for less than 1000 baht. are there any places in ubud (sounds like the best place to go) for less than $30US?

i found a few places on the net for about 1300 baht but i wonder if you walk around the town, can you find something cheaper?

also, can you rent motorbikes cheap like you can here?

Edited August 26, 2010 by stevehaigh

[Peterbigeyes]

Have been thinking to go there for a vacation.. going through this thread makes the idea most enticing

Edited August 26, 2010 by Peterbigeyes

[roamer]

Avoid Ubud on a Sunday during the tourist season,hardly the tranquil atmosphere you need to appreciate it.

[bangkokburning]

I am taking my gf to Bali (Sep30-Oct10)...If there are any similar couples. I will stay on and try to make a trip to some very remote parts of Indo, returning mid/late Nov out of Jakarta. Banda's, Flores or Manado. I can speak bahasa although the island speaks Balinese. We are active, semi-sporty, both been to Bali prior (she 1x, me 4x).

We are struggling with what to do. Kuta and Ubud nightmares, Lovina and Gili's over-hyped and done. Narrowed it down to snorkeling north Bali or Penida (which is cold and has currents). both look $$$.

Our fall back plan is a few days Kuta (apply TH visa), few days Padang Bai (Blue Lagoon) and few days Kuta. This is after all a glorified visa run, not a holiday...but I want it to be nice for her and a bit of adventure. Trouble is Bali is so tripped out anything remotely adventurous takes a huge effort and time.

[roamer]

I am taking my gf to Bali (Sep30-Oct10)...If there are any similar couples. I will stay on and try to make a trip to some very remote parts of Indo, returning mid/late Nov out of Jakarta. Banda's, Flores or Manado. I can speak bahasa although the island speaks Balinese. We are active, semi-sporty, both been to Bali prior (she 1x, me 4x).

We are struggling with what to do. Kuta and Ubud nightmares, Lovina and Gili's over-hyped and done. Narrowed it down to snorkeling north Bali or Penida (which is cold and has currents). both look $$$.

Our fall back plan is a few days Kuta (apply TH visa), few days Padang Bai (Blue Lagoon) and few days Kuta. This is after all a glorified visa run, not a holiday...but I want it to be nice for her and a bit of adventure. Trouble is Bali is so tripped out anything remotely adventurous takes a huge effort and time.

Your so right about Bali being "tripped out" these days, shame. But after giving up on the nightmare of Ubud during the tourist season we drove down to Candi Dasa, nice drive. Seemed like a million miles from Kuta, incredibly peaceful, well really its dieing on its feet,in Kuta we had struggled to find a room, sold out. In Candi I would estimate 5% occupancy, bad for them, nice chilled vibe for us. However I'm walking into places that are virtually empty and they were asking laughable amounts, finally found a nice place (pics below) that was realistic and got it for 300,000 IDR @ 1000 THB, can't remember the name but opposite the Candi Dassa Cafe. The (mountain) coastal road from there towards Amlapura is incredibly scenic, came round the bend to the Water Palace and it just took our breath away. We were the only tourists, hard to believe we were just 2 hours from the Kuta hordes. The rice terraces on this route incredibly beautiful and not a hawker in sight. Dive resorts along the way but don't know the prices. Just thought I would mention this as an alternative. Our times were governed by sunrise & sunset, which was ultimately rather unfortunate for us as when we got to the airport at Denpassar we discovered we were still on Jakarta time and were denied boarding our flight (Thanks Air Asia)and had to fly back to Singapore on Garuda at a cost of $560, the sting in the tail being that the Air Asia flight was still on the ground (delayed again)as we took off, still that's a tale for another thread. Enjoy your trip.