My sister and her 3 kids 18, 16, and 13 years old just got back from Bali yesterday, and as she doesn't get on here I thought I would do the honours and tell her JBR.
They spent the first 3 nights at the "Griya Santrian" Sanur, now for me the best info I got out of them, was that it was hot at Sanur, the hottest place they stayed, some of you will know how excited that makes me! as I hate hearing about the cool breezes at Sanur(I'm spending a week at the Besakih in August), they said the breezes are warm so I'm chuffed!
They loved the Griya and they would stay there again definitely, had no complaints at all, loved the breakfast and Griya happy hour included all drinks not just alcohol which the kids thought was great, also drinks were half the price as Legian. They checked out Besakih for me and really liked it as well, also commented on the food at Besakih, cheap and the best satay they had (I saw the photos looked yummy).
Next stop was 7 nights at the "Legian Beach Hotel", she thought this was lovely as well, can't remember her words but I got the impression that this hotel, while more luxurious, didn't have the same amount of character as Griya, it's funny although they spent more than double the time here, there are less than half the amount of photos, that's got to say something. Raved about the buffet breakfast here, said it was huge.
She said she would not stay 7 nights at Legian again as she preferred Sanur, and would just stay here a few nights for shopping. But if she did stay at Legian she would stay at this hotel as they did like it.
In Legian they had a nasty experience with a shop keeper using very bad language(F*** ect.) because they offended him with a low offer, it really gave them a fright, especially the youngest, made bargaining a little more scary I would think, lol, poor things.
From Legian they got picked up and did the white water rafting tour with Sobec ? (not sure how you say/spell it) they usually pick up from Ubud and it only cost about $20-$25 usd extra to get picked up from here. My sister and her kids say this is a must, they loved it and assure me it is perfectly safe even for my 9 year old, and there was even little tiny kids in the middle of one boat. Hmm we'll see.
Next stop Ubud "Champlung Sari Hotel" 4 nights, didn't really say much about the hotel, loved that the monkeys came down to pinch breakfast, and climb all over their balconies. Said rooms are nice, food expensive in hotel and just average, rained the whole time they were there but didn't worry them, still warm, but they didn't swim.
Two of them got bitten by monkeys in the forest, even had a photo of one of the little buggers biting my nephew on the shoulder!! But it didn't brake the skin and they laughed about it.
From Ubud they did the quad bike 1 hour / buggy 1hour tour, I think she said the buggies were been trialed so it was a special deal to try the two together? Anyway it was with Sobec again, they raved about it,the pictures looked great, and I have to admit that while we are much more the walking, bike riding type (eg.low impact on locals) this does look like a lot of fun. They said quad bikes are not as bumpy and buggies go a lot faster, they loved both, and couldn't pick a favourite. On both tours they said they guys were really nice, and they felt really safe.
They regretted leaving from Ubud to fly out, as it added that drive to their trip.
They had a great holiday, and no one got sick, another of my sisters nearly died when she found out 4 of them came back, with only 3 suitcases!!,and they were way under weight LOL.
Cheers Deb.