Just a quick JBR from 10 days in Sanur with our two children aged one and three. Dull reading, I'm afraid - probably of interest only to those with small children. It was our second trip and my husband was very apprehensive about taking the children to Bali on their first real holiday. In the end he really enjoyed himself and it was very very relaxing. Here's a quick rundown.
Flights with Jetstar were fantastic apart from the people in row 25 with the screaming baby and whining toddler (us). Left on time, staff very helpful, equipment good. The plane was almost empty on both flights, though - why don't they offer cheap last minute flights and fill the planes?
We stayed at the Sanur Paradise Plaza Suites in a three-bedroom apartment with kitchen. It was huge - bigger than our house in Melbourne. I was pretty pleased with it although the kitchen lacks most cooking equipment. We hired a microwave (thanks to Bali Baby Hire) and DVD player. The portacot supplied by the hotel would not have passed Australian safety standards but was very comfortable and our baby slept well in it. They provide a water dispenser with hot and cold water, which saved us constantly lugging bottles of water around. Also, their shuttle bus takes you to Hardy's supermarket, which has most things you'd want.
The hotel is really well set up for kids, with high chairs, a separate kids play area and pool, a shallow pool in the main pool, etc. The location is pretty bad though, on the Sanur bypass road. You have to get transport to get anywhere fun, but the hotel does have an hourly shuttle bus and can arrange cheap transport into Kuta. Taxis into the heart of Sanur are cheap.
We didn't go out much, although we went to Ubud twice, once to do the cooking class at Casa Luna, which was great. We ate there too - really fantastic food at very reasonable prices. We also ate at Made's Warung in Kuta (average), Ryoshi in Sanur (average), Stiff Chilli in Sanur (average), Café Batujimbar in Sanur (good) and the Griya Santrian in Sanur (good).
We used Casie, the nanny you often see recommended on here. She came every afternoon for least six hours. I won't disclose her rate on here because I think it varies depending on location, number of children, night or day, duties involved, etc, but it was very reasonable. She is an absolute gem. The kids loved her and she never stopped playing with the baby. I would have no hesitation recommending her and I will definitely book her for our next trip because having her round made things much easier. She is based on Sanur. Her number is (62) 081337290491.
I did quite a bit of shopping, but didn't buy a lot. Things were very quiet, and Casie told me prices are quite low because shops just want to turn things over to get some cash in. I bought jewellery, ties, mosquito nets (decorative) and lots of wooden decorations for my kids' rooms.
I visited Chill in Seminyak for a reflexology foot massage which was brilliant and reasonably priced. I would definitely go back there. I checked out Prana while I was there and thought it looked a bit kitsch and not as amazing as it looks on their website, although the treatment rooms really are beautiful. It was very quiet there, but pretty busy at Chill.
I think that's about it. It was a lovely holiday, in an uneventful sort of way.