Hi there,
Thanks for great advice, but don't panick if you don't follow them all or get all the information you think you might need - Bali is great and the people are really friendly. Here's a first timer's report.
High season.
If you want a somewhat up-market hotel (nice pool(s), aircon, TV, phone etc) you MUST book when trvelling in August. We had several heart attacks before getting a hotel confirmation the day before we left. Flights from Europe also booked solid in August (tons of Italians, but also lots of Dutch people, French and Spanish) - not many Scandinavians.
Which beach?
We saw two beaches in Bali: Jimbaran Bay and Sanur. We never found out how anyone could think that Sanur is the best beach. It is somewhat narrow, there are corals just off the beach (not pleasant to step on) and you have to keep track of when the tide is up or down. No fun swimming in 45 cm water! Jimbaran Bay is an amazing beach though. Very few people, the water gets deep, the beach is very wide and there are very few hawkers, just a few women offering great massages. If you want to hang out with surfers and bikini girls, Jimbaran is too quiet. We never saw Kuta besides on post cards so I can't compare with that.
Jimbaran Bay and the beach side cafes (NOT European style - forget it) with plastic chairs in the sand is a great spot for seafood and fish and it IS fantastic drinking cocktails or Bintangs watching the sunset. We paid 100.000 RP per peson for red snapper and ½ a lobster with giant shrimps and salad, which might have been a rip-off, but it is very cheap by any other measure (appr. 15 USD).
Sanur as a resort.
Sanus IS quiet. We never really got the rge to go out in the night life though, but even though August is super-high season there weren't that many people in the restaurants nott o mention the bars. We never really reached the south end of Sanur but saw everything from Radisson Bali down the main drag to Griya Santrian, Swastika and Gazebo.
Brand Bali Beach is truly an ugly high rise, and just a mega hotel all together. The Radisson Bali has got nice rooms (similar to most upper scale business hotels in Europe) with phone, AC, TV, maikng the bed for the night and things like that. I like beach front and only ended up there, because most 4 or 5 star hotels in Sanur were booked solid the first 2 weeks of August. The hotel is NOT beach front and we only bothered to take their free beach shuttle 1 day because we found out that Jimbaran is much nicer than Sanur Beach. The pool at Radisson (never saw Radisson Suites) is very narrow, it's almost like a stream between the two wings - but it's very pretty aspecially at night. Nice breakfast buffet with everything you can desire (Asian, European or American style breakfast) We paid 69 USD + taxes for the room which is an OK rate we thought. The staff is VERY friendly and not only to get better tips, we felt at home after just a few days.
If you get tired of sates, rice and chicken, try the Lotus Pond Restaurant for Italian style food.
Ubus and mountains.
For first timers: Don't think that Ubud is unspoiled. It is very touristy but still a nice place. Youu have to get out on the smaller roads to see more authentic Bali. The Lake Bratan is somewhat overrated. There are watersports on the so-called holy lake and a market next to the tempel site - no mystery left there and too many turist busses. The next lake further up in the mountains is fantasic though (forgot the name - will find it if anyone is interested). We went on a tour and the only tourists on the lake (coffee break on a small pavillon in the lake) were the 6 people in our Land Cruiser (4WD a must - steep narrowl dirt roads)
The market in Ubud was great though, good bargains on wood carvings, bowls, palm leaf books etc. For t-shirts any place in south Bali would offer you t-shirts for 25. - 30.000 RP In Sanur many stalls claimed that their 60.000 RP (could be bargained to 45. - 50.000 RP) were much better quality than the rest. Difficult to say, but the printings on my 25.000 RP tees faded after one wash. I didn't understand all the hype about shopping before getting there, but somehow you end up buying ashtrays, t-shirts, wooden figures and stuff you thought you didn't need, but it's good fun and very cheap!
Transport
Don't worry about transport: Taxis and drivers everywhere. Jimbaran - Sanur and Sanur - Airport around 25.000 RP (= appr. 3 USD), we would fix the price before getting in and not bother about the meter - we're talking pennies so relax and enjoy your vacation. Taxis within Sanur: 5.000 RP + tip - ridiculously cheap.
Bali - Lombok.
The fast ferry ( 2 hours) is only a little cheaper than flying (25 usd as far as I remember) - you can fly for 446.000 RP return - and next time I'll definitely fly. Several passengers were vomitting during the crossing and it took all my strength not to join them - and I don't get car sick, our plane sick or anything else. Be prepared for a hair raising crossing (Mabou express)
Lombok and Gili Trawangan
Lombok is much less developed than Bali. People are also a lot poorer and many parts of the island is less green, fertile and lush than Bali. But it is definitely woth while going there, unless you want night life. We stayed for 3 days just north of Sengigi and the Sheraton at a small hotel (bungalow style) called Nusa Bunga. The staff was fantastic, the view gorgeous (facing the beach in a small bay with no other hotels and on a clear day you can see mount Agung on Bali across the striat) and it was just very relaxing. You will be about 6 or maybe 8 people around the pool and NO kids (a relief!).
We rented a boat though the pool guy for 150.000 RP for the day and went snorkeling on Gili Trawangan - fantastic day! Only problem was that they didn't bring enough gasoline (or so they said) to go around the 3 Gii Islands, but what can you expect for 150.000 RP? Snorkeling is fantastic there, thousands of multicoloured fish around and beneath you, just off the beach. Highly recommendable (I never snorkeled before) Diving scho as you arrive on the beach run by two Danish girls (Lene and ?) - very friendly, I think it's called Diving Trawangan - will check if anyone is interested.
If you have questions I'll try to answer - sorry for the length of this report but there's a lot to share.
You can certainly enjoy Bali - it is cheap, beautiful and the peole are very friendly.