In Reply to: Novotel TB posted by Paseo on Sunday, 8. January 2012 at 05:21 Bali Time:
Hi Paseo,
I've had the pleasure of staying in both rooms.
As mentioned by LMJ, the main difference is that the Garden Wing is located on the opposite side of the road from the beach.
This wasn't a huge problem for us, the rooms are lovely, and quite spacious, upper floor rooms are reached by large sweeping staircases, views are of either the pool area or surrounding lots. I would request a pool view. The grounds are well kept, there are two pools, as well as a cafe and bar in the central grounds of the garden area, and crossing the road is no problem.
Novotel have a crossing guard who stops all traffic to allow you to cross. No waiting, and a lovely touch.
The Tropical Terrace rooms are obviously a bit bigger, they are all on ground floor with private courtyard areas and a sizeable verandah. You don't have a view of anything other than your courtyard, but you are much closer to the beach.
There is one main pool on the beach side of the hotel. Its lovely though not huge. There are plenty of lounges along the beach, though the ones around the pool are usually full by mid morning.
Restaurants etc, on the beach side include the main lobby bar, and neighbouring restaurant (where you have breakfast), a small beach cafe to your right where you can get toasted rolls etc, and a beach side restaurant / bar to your left.
As an indication of preference, our first trip was Garden side... our second we paid the extra to be beachside, and would do so again.
Honestly both are fine, but if you don't want to have to walk for breakfast, and are more of a beach goer than a pool swimmer, you would be better served on the beach side of Novotel.