In Reply to: Amed or Tulamben beachfront room? posted by iamwhatiam52 on Monday, 1. November 2004 at 12:24 Bali Time:
I had done heaps of research on where to stay and like others before me from the forum had had trouble deciding where to stay. We ended up booking Bayu Cottages as it looked nice, had heard good feedback and Nengah the manager was involved with a Rotary project at the nearby Lean Beach School. Words and pictures cannot do this littel gem of a hotel justice. For USD$40 per night we had 2 rooms for the 5 of us including breakfast. We were met by Anee (Nengah's wife) and her staff and given a cold drink and they carried all our stuff up to our rooms. There was quite a bit to carry as we had lots more school supplies for Amed schools.
Bayu has 6 rooms and the hotel is 7 years old , but underwent a refurbishment 2 years ago. The staff are fanastic. Within 5 minutes they knew all our names and the boys enjoyed spending time chatting to them.
I came to Amed with intentions of looking at other hotels, but was so happy with our choice that to be honest I really couldn't be bothered. Had a quick look at Pondok Vienna - great position, looks to be good value, but no pool. Met a few people staying at Coral View Villas who said although the pool is good and the grounds are nice, the rooms are quite rundown. I can't comment on this as I didn't see inside.
The rooms at Bayu are very spacious and extremely clean. Our rooms had a queen bed and a king single in each. The bathrooms are fantastic. Marble, nice fittings and a garden atrium is a very nice touch. Air conditioning, but no TV (even the kids didn't mind) and no Bar Fridge - But's that's okay as ice cold Bintangs are only 9000 rupiah from the fridge near the kitchen. The staff are fantastic. The rooms were cleaned with fresh flowers on the beds - a nice touch. There is a small restaurant with 4 tables and open kitchen so you can see (and chat to) the staff while they are cooking fantastic and cheap meals (from scratch I might add). The restaurant overlooks the small infinity pool overlooking the ocean. The pool is about 8 metres long, so not too big, but even our 3 kids were more than happy with it to cool off in. The Bayu is not at beach level, but it is less than a minute walk down their path to the beach.
Breakfast is included - we usually had juice, eggs, bacon, toast and coffee and the kids had jaffles and juice. Then we went for a snorkel on the beach. The coral is pretty dead, but there are plenty of fish. Don't go expecting the Great Barrier Reef, but all of us had a great time. The kids didn't find Nemo, but they did say they saw Gill and someone else from the movie. It is best not to go snorkelling in Amed at low tide.
hope this helps...