We arrived back from 11 days in Bali two weeks ago after an absolutely amazing holiday.
Flew with Garuda and I was a bit wary because it was only a few days after the crash in Yojakarta and I am not too keen on flying at the best of times but both our flights with them were great.
We stayed at the Ramada Bintang in Tuban and would have no hesitation in staying there again, it was fantastic, had a ground floor room right near the pool but still very private and the staff could not do enough for us.
We tended to stay pretty close to the resort for meals as there were plenty to chose from and as this was our first time in Bali we hadn't tried any of them before. Febris Restaurant was fantastic, great value for money and they had a female singer so it was good to have entertainment. I will mention the one's we tried and loved: Mini's Seafood, Gracie Kelly's, Green Garden, Sharkey's, Kunyit Bali (excellent value, and it was good to try Balinese food), Celcius Café in the Discovery Centre. The only meal we were a little disappointed with was at the Atmosphere, pretty expensive and the food wasn't great.
Did lots of walking which was the great thing about staying at the Ramada, it was quite central and only a 10 minute walk into Kuta. Lots of shopping, had to buy an extra bag to bring all our goodies home.
Only did one day tour up to Kintamani Volcano, Rice Terraces, Temples, Silver Shops, Ubud etc and our driver Ngurah was absolutely fantastic, he took us to Jimbaran Bay at the end of the day and waited whilst we had dinner at Sharkey's (he didn't take up the invitation to join us for dinner but said he will next time) so if anyone is looking for a great driver you can email me at gracep07@hotmail.com and I will give you his details, you would not be disappointed. In total we were with him for nearly 13 hours and he was charging 350,000 rupiah but we gave him 450,000 as he treated us to a thoroughly enjoyable day out.
Only mistake I made was having a massage in the hotel, it was great but really expensive compared to a lot of other places, but you live and learn, next time I am going to try the spa at Febris, it is supposed to be fantastic and a lot more reasonably priced.
We are busy saving our pennies for next year now, as we are definite Bali converts and cannot express how much we enjoyed our time there and can't wait to go back again.