In Reply to: Lovina - Jennymc posted by Alfie1 on Saturday, 10. May 2008 at 20:14 Bali Time:
We stayed at the Bali Taman which is a little outside of the main area but was really wonderful.
We got the 2 bedroom family suite which came with the outdoors shower/4 poster bed and a big wide verandah that fronted the beach.
Instead of lots of shops and people the hotel is surrounded by rice paddies and the road into town has tamarind trees with the fruit there for the picking.
The hotel restaurant is not up to the excellent standard of restaurants to be found in Lovina proper but the breakfasts were very good.
We relied on bemos of a day to get us into town but they stop after dark. Transport was never a problem though with the smaller restaurants giving us a lift back and many of the locals provided cheap rides. (highlight for my 2 teenage sons was when we all got a lift with some of the local lads on their motor bikes)
Shopping is fine though limited, but the quiet provincial quality of Lovina is part of its appeal -there's heaps of places to visit around the area and the trip there is very beautiful.
The beach hawkers however are the most vociferous I've ever come across - partly due to the fact that the post bombing downturn is still being felt there and the people are very poor.
We paid $80 US a night for the hotel for all four of us including breakfast. There's lots of places to choose from and I'm sure other people have their own recommendations but we found staying at the Bali Taman was like getting back to Bali 25 years ago- when we went to Sanur after Lovina it felt like a metropolis !(know this is a cliche but there you go).
Hope this has helped.
Cheers,
Jenny