There are budget homestays, affordable villas and luxury resorts to choose from. Book well in advance to avail of the early bird offers and discounts.
In Ubud, we stayed in Sungu Resort and in Seminyak we stayed in Villa Kresna.
Sungu Resort & Spa (formerly known as Waka Namya Spa), Ubud:
We opted for the Deluxe Villa with a sharing pool. This is a two storeyed villa with a traditional gate, separating it from the other villas and common areas. This is one of four villas that are around a sharing pool. Very convenient as you can step right out of the pool into your villa. It is also very close to the resort spa.
There is a small bed on the ground floor, and a master bed with mosquito nets on the first floor. There is a TV, air conditioning, bed side tables, pool facing windows, and a diwan with cushions on the first floor. There is a mini bar, coffee unit and semi open bathroom on the ground floor. Perfect decor and ambience.
Though it is said that 2 couples could stay in this villa, I would say that it is best for one couple. There is only one bathroom, and no separation between the two bedrooms. It could also be for 4 adults, or for a couple with 2 kids.
The package deal offered complimentary breakfast, afternoon tea and snack, rice paddy trekking, free shuttle to and from Ubud centre and a 30 min full body balinese massage for each person. You can choose between 4 different kinds of breakfast: English, Balinese, Indonesian and Sungu breakfast. Each breakfast offered a juice, a fruit platter, a main dish and choice of hot beverage – Nescafe, Bali Coffee or tea. The free shuttle is a boon as there is no local transport other than taxis. There is a locker facility at the lobby, not in the villa/rooms.
The staff at Sungu are extremely helpful, welcoming and always smiling.
Everything was extremely clean including the villa, the pool, the spa and the restaurant.
Payment is accepted in USD as well as IDR. Change will be given in IDR.
Villa Kresna, Seminyak:
Villa Kresna was highly recommended, but we had mixed opinions after the stay.
We opted for Villa Merapi with a sharing pool. This villa was extremely spacious, with a dining table, a kitchen, a small seating area, glass windows that opened to the pool area, a semi open bathroom and a safety locker on the ground floor. Winding stairs lead up to the first floor. There is an open shower (there is no door to this), a toilet(with a door), a bedroom, an extra room where you could put an extra bed, dressing area, a balcony and a small attic perfect for a kid. This villa is perfect for one couple, a couple with a kid, or maybe even for 4 adults to share (but there is only one proper double bed).
The villa is very well designed, clean and classy.
The package deal offered free breakfast at the resort’s restaurant called Straw Hut. You get to choose any one option on the breakfast menu. This could be a Big Breakfast worth 60000IDR or a Chocolate Croissant worth 30000IDR, This was a bit strange. You also get juice and coffee/tea. While the menu said there are various juices to choose from, on all three days they had only pineapple and watermelon juice.
There is no shuttle service the resort provides. This is also a bit of an inconvenience as the resort is a little away from the main road. If you need to walk it is about 25 minutes to the main Seminyak street. Also the roads from the town as well as from the sea, gets a little dark and scary at night, so you dont feel very safe walking back.
The staff seem very distant and a bit too clinical. There is nothing wrong, but it seems like they just want to get the job done. The Balinese hospitality which is what makes everything else here so endearing, is not something that you get at Villa Kresna.
Payment is accepted in USD or IDR. Change will be given in IDR. Here you are charged 50% advance at the time of booking. And they demand the rest of the payment on arrival even before you get a chance to see the villa, which is also a bit strange.
In the villa, there are lots of doors, so you need to be especially careful that all the doors are locked at night. The main door has just a latch and no lock, which was another irritant. And the upstairs door to the bedroom had no key. And when we asked for the key they told us it is lost, and that it is safe, dont worry. The safety locker is downstairs and the staff were intently looking on when we tried to set the password.
You can call for the massage therapists to come to your villa for the service. The spa they provide you is called Bee7 which was not rated or recommended anywhere, so we gave it a miss.
Lastly, the biggest disappointment here was the pool. It was so dirty that I just could not bring myself to get into it. And even if you ask them to clean it, they would come and take out the big leaves, and leave you with a pool with lots of dust, small leaves, and small bugs.
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