Hubby and I decided to have a week in Bali and booked with only 3 weeks notice.this was our 12th trip to Bali. Got a good price with Garuda from Perth to Bali but had to hunt a bit harder to find suitable accommodation. Ended up deciding on Legian Beach Hotel - which was a great decision and we would certainly go back there - although would only stay in Bungalows.
Garuda flight no hassle - and lucky enough to have a spare seat next to us so room to stretch out. This flight was on one of their older planes. Ours was the only plane landing at 10.45am so no delay with VOA and immigration - all done and into taxi within 25mins.
We had booked a Deluxe Garden Bunglow at Legian Beach Hotel - the reason behind our trip was our wedding anniversary - so not rapt when we were given a twin bed bungalow. Staff were helpful and beds were pushed together with the promise that we would be changed over by the next night - which we were. The bungalows were wonderful - beautiful surroundings and there are two pool areas and never a problem with finding a lounge. There were very few children at the hotel so the pool areas were peaceful - even though they stated they were running at 100% occupancy. The buffet breakfast was excellent - everything hot and fresh and plentiful with changes to choices each day.
One of the other things we wanted to do was check on the accommodation we had booked for our Xmas/New Year holiday. We had gone with Breezes Resort in Seminyak but were concerned about conflicting reviews on this hotel. We were very glad we took the time as we quickly realised this was not the hotel for us. We were coming back with our teenage daughter so had requested interconnecting rooms and were told the only ones they could guarantee were the Standard Rooms. These rooms are located in the corners of the hotel. We took a look at the rooms and their location and weren't at all happy. The rooms were clean but very basic and small - we were also shown a Pool View Deluxe room and other than a view of the pool the room standard did not change. We also did not like the feel of the hotel - it was too much concrete and looked hot and sterile. We also did not like the location - went for a walk along the street and thought that there was very little close by that would have suited us. It was probably not helped by the fact that we were staying at the Legian Beach and this was so lush and green and with very little 'concrete' feel to it. By the time we were back in the taxi our first stop was to contact our wonderful travel agent Deb to say that we had to change accommodation - no easy task when its over the holiday period. We threw a few choices around - would have loved to have stayed at the Legian Beach in bunglows but the cost for two bungalows (and there wasn't actually availability anyway) was going to be an extra $3500 on top of cost of Breezes. We had stayed at Bali Garden Hotel a couple of years ago and while the location was wonderful we actually didn't really enjoy the actual hotel or surrounds, but I had taken a look at this last year and seen the extensive renovations and we went back for another look and decided we would be very happy to stay here again. The new pool areas are fabulous and we were told that they expect all the rooms to have new furniture by December - the only thing that is still waiting to be done is the re tiling in the bathrooms and that they are finding this difficult to do when they have such high occupancy. So between BGH and Deb we were able to get the first 8 nights accommodation confirmed and on the waitlist for the 3 days over New Year - but fingers crossed that we will pick up on a cancellation. We are then due to go over to Nusa Dua for a week to stay at the Novotel Apartments through our APVC membership. So - that was very time consuming on a quick holiday but very happy it is done and looking forward to our holiday in 5 weeks time
We had some of our best meals at Mozzarellas in Padma Street. Wonderful ambience and mood. First night we waited 30mins between my starter and my husbands starter - then when we went to order our mains (which we do so that our meals are not rushed at us) both the ones we had chosen were no longer available. But we were impressed with what we had so went back for another meal. Spent a lovely afternoon and night at Lanai's upstairs - wonderful to sit up looking over the beach and seeing the happenings and the sunset and enjoying great drinks and food. Had a couple of great nights out at Norms Bar in Melasti Street - great staff and lots of fun.
Garuda flight home was on one of the new planes - but although they advertise all these wonderful videos on demand the only ones available were the Indonesian ones. Lots of children having fun with the games on the touchscreen though.
All in all a wonderful holiday again and looking forward to Xmas/New Year there again.