In Reply to: Mandira hotel & Garden View Cottages Leg posted by baliboy007 on Thursday, 24. March 2005 at 10:45 Bali Time:
We stayed at the Mandira in Dec / Jan. This was the 2nd time we have stayed there, the last time was 1984. Have stayed at other places on other trips, yet though we would have another go for our Dec / Jan trip.
The Mandira has gone through some change since 1984 as you would expect, now just better than it was. They have 2 pools - one is at ground level, the other is elevated (above their day spa and a restaurant). The room we had back in 84 were about the same as we had this recent trip - well kept and nice to stay in. We had 2 Deluxe Cottages (interconnecting) which were the ones closest to / facing the beach (although you cannot see the beach from the room).
Both pools are very nice, the ground pool is close to a bar, yet it is not a swim up bar (which it needs to add - cant beat a swim up bar). The service around the grounds (VERY well kept) near the pool area could have been a bit more frequent, but friendly all the same.
A nice bar to sit at as well.
The rooms were very clean - serviced every day - they also leave free bottled water for you to use (good for brushing teeth etc.)
Breakfast is very nice, buffet style and an egg cook area (for yummy omlettes). They have every 2nd night something going on - usually some dance performance. We only had dinner once and watched one dance while eating. Very good show, and the dinner was good as well.
We would stay there again, yet our next trip in April we are staying at the Legian Beach Hotel again (next door to Mandira) for various rasons.
As for the Garden View Cottages -
Friends stayed there at the same time we stayed at the Mandira. They had a double story place, a room upstairs and a room down stairs. The room down had 2 doubles (I think that was right) and upstairs had a double.
It was a bit old looking, yet they said it suited them ok.
The living area was open to outside - the upstairs room made the roof of the living area. It had a bigish kitchen area, yet they never made any meals (who would in Bali ?? - all that yummy food in so many places). This area just had a ceiling fan, yet the 2 bedrooms were airconditioned.
The pool area was a bit boxed in, yet they did not have all the nice big lawn area like some other places. The GVC is not beach front, just a nice reasonably priced place close to the beach. It does have a swim up bar though (how old are the teenages ????).
The only thing they said was a bit anoying was every night they havea band playing in the bar area (close to the pool). Some nights they just wanted to got to sleep early, yet the band had other ideas.
The bar which is on the street front is a good bar - you must have a "long slow comfortable screw" - drink I mean !
Right next door to the GVC is a Kodak shop, so you should use them for money changing (they are the best place for changing money). Also just a few doors down is a good DVD shop - very good selection. We got 95 on the last trip (too many, but our 2 kids 13 & 14 lost control) and only have 1 bad one. You can check them before you buy, yet who wants to check 95 DVS's when they are less than AU$1.50
If you would like some more details on the area, please drop us an e-mail and we can fill you in with some more info. Just click on our name above, yet remember to remove the _noSpam_ bit at the front.
Regards, Louise & Geoff