We: myself, husband, 6 yo son & 4 yo daughter spent 21 glorious days in Bali from 4/4 to 25/4 we flew Jetstar from Sydney over and back. The flight on the way over was delayed 1 hour, but we arrived in DPS only 5 minutes later than scheduled arrival time. On the way home we would have left prior to scheduled departure time if not for late boarding passengers.
Mum & Dad joined us for the 1st 12 days and as it was their 1st trip to Bali we decided to move around for the 1st week.
Places we stayed:
2 nights Sanur at Swastika Bungalows, the rooms are very basic but clean and they have 2 good size swimming pools. Mum & Dad paid $US30 a double and we paid $US40 for 4.
2 nights Ubud Bungalows, these are located on Monkey Forest Rd about ½ way between the markets and the Monkey Forest. The rooms and bathrooms were lovely, the kids had to share a bed it was about the size of a king single, they top & tailed and had no problems. We paid $US47 Mum paid $US30 a night (fan only). The pool was small but nice and they had a nice breakfast that changed daily.
2 nights Puri Bali Lovina, this hotel is located slightly closer to the beach than Rambutan. The rooms are very very basic and we were in the Deluxe rooms LOL but what do you expect when we paid $US27 a night for the 4 of us and Mum & Dad paid $US22. It has a great pool though which the kids got plenty of use out of.
1 night Pacung Indah, our family of 4 stayed in the Executive Bungalow, and the kids loved having a toilet with a view and husband & I enjoyed having a room to ourselves. Mum & Dad were in Suite 1, I think, both rooms were lovely and we had a great view of the sunrise over Mt Agung. The only problem we had was the rooster crowing right behind our room at 2.30am then 3 then 4, it sure was one rooster that was eagerly anticipating sunrise.
Mum & Dad spent their last 5 nights at Secret Garden Inn, which they both liked. We spent our last 14.5 days at Kuta Townhouses, in a superior apartment, I found the breakfast here had improved since our last stay August 2006. My sister & her husband and 13 yo son joined us in Kuta for 2 weeks, they stayed at Masa Inn. As you can tell we are budget travellers :)
Restaurants we ate at more than once:
Le Madre at Lovina (think that is how it is spelt) just down from Rambutan. The rest are in Kuta, Munching Inn Jln Benesari, Gong Corner (hubby had fantastic seafood basket with crab, whole baby snapper, prawns, mussels for 50,000) this is located between Kuta Townhouses and Poppies II, Alley Cats Poppies II , Treehouse & Keddies both located on Poppies I and my husbands favourite for the Duck in Balinese Sauce is Dayu II on Jln Bunisari (just down from Bemo Cnr).
Things we did: Bali Zoo and must say it has improved since our last visit in 2006. We had a quick look at Kintamani on our way from Ubud to Lovina and our lovely driver stopped at a place where only 1 hawker appeared, Dolphin Watching (or is that chasing) Lovina, Buddhist Monastery & Hot Springs west of Lovina. We stopped at Git Git Waterfall on our way to Pacung. We went to Tanah Lot on our way from Pacung to Kuta, I was last there in 1992, oh my god how many shops and restaurants are there now :0. Once we arrived in Kuta we spent most days at the beach except for 1 day at Waterbom. The kids got to release baby turtles 2 days in a row at Kuta Beach in front of Inna Kuta, the 2nd day they even got to birth them from the sand which they are still talking about.
Almost forgot we went over to Nusa Lembongan for 1 night staying at Two Thousand Café & Bungalows, the rooms and bathrooms were really quite nice considering it only cost RP200,000 per room for 2 rooms for the 7 of us. The only downside was they only had a large desk fan and boy was it stinking hot all night. I ended up dragging a chair in from outside & sitting the fan on it at the bottom of the bed. We ate at Lindas Bungalows that night and the food was fantastic, and also had a few very icy cold Binnies at Scooby Doo Bar & Restaurant.
Now I just have to talk my husband into going July 2009 for my sister's 50th :)
Cheers Sue