Posted by Liz on Monday, 1. February 1999 at 18:14 Bali Time:
In Reply to: Nusa Dua posted by Kate on Monday, 1. February 1999 at 12:34 Bali Time:
The hotel we stayed at (Nusa Dua Beach Hotel) priced everything in rupiah and charged in rupiah - they said they had to and were not allowed to charge in US$. Whether that is true of the other ND hotels or not I don't know. I think some of them may quote a price in US$ (to make it easier for some tourists I guess) and then convert back to rupiah for your bill. What is for sure is that all the hotels & restaurants in ND charge much more than elsewhere in Bali - I suspect they work out an average international 5 star hotel price for something, convert that to rupiah, and then charge you that, or even more if its something they have to import.
A Bintang in our hotel was 35,000 rupiah, and a cocktail 45,000 rupiah. Soft drinks were about 18,000 rupiah, mineral water 15,000 I think. Very, expensive for Bali, but pretty normal for good hotels. Food was perhaps a little cheaper than normal international hotels - 3 courses in the best restaurant in our hotel was 155,000 rupiah, which was pretty reasonably given the quality of the food & service & the surroundings, but very expensive compared with anywhere outside Nusa Dua or top hotels.
We had a great time, but we ended up going out of Nusa Dua for dinner almost every night - luckily taxis are extremely cheap so this wasn't a problem, and we were pretty careful about ordering drinks in the hotel and went outside to the supermarket to buy water & beer which we then kept in the fridge in our room. Basically, if you want to stay in your hotel complex all the time, your holiday will be expensive, but if you are happy to go out and about, and go out in a taxi for dinner you can save lots. It's up to you.
When we go back we won't stay in Nusa Dua again because there are much more interesting bits of the island where you can get even nicer accommodation for much less money, but if its your first time & you are concerned about hawkers etc. it is not a bad place to stay, but it's not "real" Bali at all - it's a kind of purpose built, Disneylandish place catering to the more upmarket & less adventurous tourist who want to be protected from anything that can be challenging. Being located in the South it can also be quite a long trip in a car to some of the "sights". It all depends on what you want from your trip really.