In Reply to: intercont posted by pk on Wednesday, 14. April 1999 at 17:09 Bali Time:
I stayed at the Bali Intercon in October. The hotel is great, no doubt about it. Its a good deal too. We got the loft rooms for a walk i rate of USD 150, which included the absolutely best breakfast and use of the spa and gym. The four seasons is way more expensive and just next door. About the BEACH...I lived in the Philippines 20 years and have seen many beaches all over the world. I was disappointed about the quality of all the beaches on Bali. We moved to the Intercon from Sanur because we wanted a beach where you can at least swim and have fun. Sanur beach is polluted and infested with green plants, which is because it is protected by an outside reef and the water is stagnant. The afternoon low tide makes it impossible to swim after 2-3 PM. Jimbaran is different. It is a long bay, home to one of the better beaches on Bali. The best part of the beach is between the Intercon and the 4 seasons, a stretch of about 300 meters, which is also at the nicer end of the beach. It is very quite and frequented by some local surfers, hotel guests and some mellow hawkers which are really relaxed compared to the quite insistent ones at Sanur and the pesty ones in Kuta. Waves are very nice for surfing and body surfing and the tide does go out at 2-3 PM, but you can still smim. On the other far end of the 2 km. long beach is the airport runway (we never heard a plan, only saw them land in the distance). About 1 km away is Jimbaran town which is home to a large fishing fleet. That is probably from where the plastic bags and dead fish come from which occasionally float around. It was not polluted though. The hotel staff clean the beaches from the Intercon up to the 4 seasons resort so that it is really a nice beach. The hotels are really laid back and the service is perfect. The pools and landscaping really blend well with the vegetation. There are many restaurants to choose from and the hotel food prices were actually cheaper than we expected. I can recommend to walk down the beach for a sunset drink and fresh fish dinner on the beach at one of the numerous local fish restaurants in the middle of the beach. You can choose the fish you want, they grill it for you and serve it with about 5 side dishes like rice, potatoes, spinach, sauce, etc. for a good local price.
Bali has many other highlights to make up for what it lacks in beaches. The people, the culture, and the nature. They all make for a well balanced, sucessful honeymoon. Make sure to take some day trips around the island inbetween. It's what Bali is all about.
We hired a driver with a car, which are available everywhere, and loved it.
Have fun