After a very long 10 month countdown, whilst continually reading the Bali Travel Forum and researching our trip, we left Perth on July 18th for a 13 night stay. We - being myself , hubby and 2 daughters 8 &6 yrs old plus another couple. I have to say - all the helpful info gathered from the forum helped to make our trip so successful - so thanks to all who contribute.
Flight with Garuda was on the tiny '3 - aisle - 3' planes , so glad it is only a 3 ½ hour flight. Headphones didn't work for whole plane so virtually had to lip read the movie. Arrived and paid VOA in Australian dollars and got change in Rupiah. Collected bags covered in tampertell ties and padlocks, only to find our friends bag was left in Perth. Very weird that only 1 bag from the whole plane was left behind. Off to the taxi counter after politely declining the porters,( I think they were all too busy helping the family who were obviously 1st timers !!) and purchased 2 taxis to Tanjung Benoa ( 60 000 rp each taxi - I think )
Arrived at our first stop this trip - 2 nights at The Novotel Coralia Hotel in Tanjung Benoa. Had heard a bit about this being a nice family hotel - so thought we'd have a quick stop this trip and check it out. Also wanted to try the Tanjung Benoa area. Well, what a great decision and what a stunningly beautiful hotel. My first impressions were ' WOW' - I think I've just died and gone to heaven !!! The hotel is so beautifully designed and landscaped . Everywhere we looked was a ' picture postcard view' . It is low rise ( no big concrete buildings ) and everything is made of stone, thatch, and wood. I wanted to take all the beautiful water features etc home and put them in my back garden. There are beautiful touches everywhere. The hotel has 3 pools - all quite different. The beach front pool is the busiest . Then across the road is the lap pool and a bit further on - another pool with sunken pool bar and much quieter. Consequently all rooms are very close to a pool and you have a choice of action, exercise or peace and quiet. The breakfast buffet was huge and excellent quality and catered for tastes all round the world. It is in the restaurant that is set around the main pool on the beachfront and is a stunning setting. We stayed in their superior room which was beautiful. We had our 2 girls in the room - one on the day bed at no extra cost and one on a good quality rollerway bed for very little extra. This made it quite economical. All the rooms have a big balcony with a peaceful outlook. Although I would prefer not to have the kids in our room - I found it wasn't a problem at this hotel as the rooms are so spacious, the balconies are big and the sun lounges were very close to the room if I wanted to escape the tv noise etc.I checked out the Beach Cabanas- really only suitable for couples - they were lovely - right on the beach with their own sun lounges in a garden area at the front of each cabana - and the deluxe rooms- only difference to the superior is their location near the main pool and the beach. The kids club looked really nice, although there weren't many kids there when we were staying. They have a programme which includes outings to The Bird Park and Waterbom - not sure I would send my kids on these - would worry about the quality of the supervision - but the activities at the hotel were excellent and I would have no hesitation sending them to these. There were many nice, cheap restaurants along the road, just outside the hotel and a few shops. It was much less pressured than Kuta. The beach area in front of the hotel was nice - clean, whiter sand than Kuta, not very many hawkers and lots of water sports. All in all I was really impressed with this area and hotel and would definitely go back for longer next time.
From the Novotel we moved up to Amed and stayed 5 nights at the Bali Beach House - but I think I've prattled on for long enough for now - will talk about our stay here and at the Dynasty in my next instalment !!!
Thanks for reading, Jenny.