accomodation Archives - Page 3 of 4

June 26, 2016

Grand Mega Resort and Spa Bali

And here we come to the last accommodation review post of our June 2016 Bali trip. For the last night and day in Bali, we chose Grand Mega Resort and Spa. The consideration was due to its location being closer to airport, yet not too far from supermarket and eateries either. It is on the opposite side of Harris Kuta Galleria where we stayed at last year. Do note that they have a newer hotel next door: Grand Mega Boutique, which is just 1.5 years old; whereas the hotel we stayed at is approximately 2 years older.

The front building design and entrance to this hotel is grand: a lot of glasses, mirrors, high ceiling with chandeliers and beautiful lighting at night-time. The pool is lovely with a pool bar that plays loud music til 10 pm every night. They have gym facility and hubby it was great with many equipment, not just the treadmill and cycle. To summarize, this is the more modern/funky and for youngsters type of accommodation. We had a smooth check in, the staffs are friendly and helpful and they also served cold welcome drinks while they processed our registration. They have motor bike rental in-house which is big relief after what we had experienced in Sanur previously.

We both dropped our jaws (in a good way) when taken to our room 🙂 It is literally filled with many mirrors! The room is compact but works just fine for us. The bathroom is very nice indeed, I think the size itself is as big as the bedroom. There is huge bath tub with a TV, separate shower and toilet each within its own glass cubicle. And then two huge sliding doors to separate the bathroom and bedroom areas. Bed is huge and comfortable as well, we didn’t have any major issues while staying here. We had room number 401 and is overlooking the pool, which is lovely view but at the same also a little noisy from the music by the pool.

Unfortunately the room shows aging signs and seems like haven’t been maintained very well. It certainly looks like it is older than just 3.5 years. And since the color theme is purple as in throughout the hotel, we find the room’s lighting slightly too dim. But hey those little details are not any major issues during our stay. We had our good night sleep, no problems with water or internet and it’s all that matters 🙂

Restaurant area - next to lobby and open up to pool area — Restaurant area – next to lobby and open up to pool area

Pool - behind the pool are the suites and in-house spa — Pool – behind the pool are the suites and in-house spa

~ The Food ~

We ordered their fried rice for the dinner as it was pouring outside and must admit they are very tasty. They came with chicken satay, grilled prawns (which are delicious!), prawn crackers, pickled mangoes and small pot of sambal. Service was also very prompt, our orders were delivered within about 30 minutes!

Their breakfast was not bad either, they were good variety of food. Oh and the dessert table was very eye-catching 🙂 For us, the highlight was Semur Daging which packs with flavor and those super crispy Chicken Bacon. Yummy!! The fresh fruit juice however was too diluted, but then again you get what you paid for 🙂 We cannot comment on how often they change their breakfast menu since we only had breakfast one day.

For less than AUD 50 per night, this hotel is definitely value for money with all the comfort and good choice of food. There certainly are things to pick on if you are going to be fussy, but then again everything works fine. So, I would still recommend this hotel to my fellow readers, especially to the youngsters and have your own transport ready. The location works for us because we rented a motorbike, otherwise this is not walkable distance to beach or even Kuta main strip.

Grand Mega Resort and Spa

Jalan By Pass Ngurah Rai No. 234

Simpang Siur Kuta-Bali 80361 Indonesia

Phone : +62 361 767672

Email : info@grandmegaresortbali.com

June 21, 2016March 9, 2023

The Oasis Lagoon, Sanur

After two peaceful nights in Ubud, we moved to Sanur for our next stay at The Oasis Lagoon. This hotel has good rating on TripAdvisor and we love the travelers’ pictures of this hotel. And as always, this post is our honest opinion of the hotel and not sponsored by any parties at all.

Prior to this trip, we have never stayed in Sanur area; we had only come here for food. This time we thought it would be a good chance to try Sanur area and see if we will like it. Honestly, we don’t really enjoy the area much and to find out why, please keep reading on this post 🙂

The entrance and the lovely little pond with refreshing greens ❤

The Oasis Lagoon is in Sanur’s prime location at Jalan Danau Tamblingan and about 10 minutes walk to Sanur beach. There are many great restaurants and shops nearby the hotel: Hardy’s Supermarket is just next door and Cafe Batu Jimbar is adjacent to this property. Their website states that there is complimentary shuttle to the beach club, but we were not told of this option.

Upon arrival at the hotel, we were greeted at the reception and welcome drinks are served along with refreshing cool towels. Check in process is smooth, but the room was not ready since we came too early again. We asked the reception staff about motor bike renting, which unfortunately they don’t have in-house. When asked if they could help to find a rental, they didn’t offer much help and referred us to the security guards at the front. At this point, I seriously didn’t feel much welcome 🙁

After leaving the luggage at their storage, we headed to the front security guard. He then pointed us to talk to another guard at far back of the hotel. His fellow walked us through the back alley to a nearby motor-bike rental, who told us none available. Left with no other choices, we walked along Jalan Tamblingan and asked every single motor-bike rental stand along the street. Everyone gave us the same answer, no motor bike available – as soon as they realize we are domestic travelers and stayed in a hotel.

Consequently, this is very upsetting that we would walk back to the hotel, get our luggage and moved to other area. All this time we traveled to Bali, we have never ever encountered such problem! Just before we walked back, hubby tried this last stand and thankfully we got our motor bike, at last! This vendor told us many domestic tourists ran away with rented motor bikes and therefore they are hesitant to do business with local tourists 🙁 So, if you are Indonesian, want to stay at Sanur and rent a motor bike, please communicate with the hotel first.

Apart from all those issues above, the hotel itself is a lovely property. The lobby is grand with semi open layout and airy, pool is nice size and lovely, their restaurant area is inviting. Our Deluxe Room was clean, beautiful, good size, and that little terrace is just too cute! The bed is huge and very comfortable, WiFi worked well with no issues,and no problems in the bathroom department either.

~The Food~

Our room booking came with breakfast and their breakfast was nice. There are good variety of food and they changed some menus during the two mornings we were there. We love their fresh fruit juices, the croissant is buttery, sausage and beef bacon are delicious. Thumbs up for the egg station, serving delicious scrambled eggs and omelette. On the first morning, there is tempura station that made yummy looking tempura. This stand changed into a french toast station the next morning and we both loved their french toast!

oasis lagoon4 — Sausage and Bacon station, Egg station, and French Toast station

Furthermore, they hold many events for dinner at their restaurant, for example Salsa Night with food on every Wednesday; BBQ Satay Nights on Monday, Friday, and Sunday, and so on. Hubby took some photos during the Salsa Night and I wished we had joined it! People seems like having fun and there are lots of yummy looking food!

On our last morning before checking out, they brought this lovely happy honeymoon cake to us after breakfast. Such a sweet surprise!

And that conclude this very long post review on our stay at The Oasis Lagoon Sanur 🙂

The Oasis Lagoon Sanur

Jl. Danau Tamblingan No.136A, Sanur, Bali

Phone: +62 361 282264

http://www.oasislagoonsanur.com/

June 19, 2016June 19, 2016

Bakung Ubud Resort and Villa, Bali

We just came back from a last-minute one-week trip to Bali again and more reviews to come. And this post is about our honest review on staying at a Deluxe Room at Bakung Ubud Resort and Villa. As you know, we usually stayed at Tegal Sari during our Ubud trip, but not this time. We decided to venture a little further out of Ubud center and we take this chance also to review new places to share with you all.

We arrived at the hotel around 10 am, which was way before their standard 2 pm check in time. The reception staffs then processed our booking and payment. After that we were led to their restaurant area for the refreshing welcome drinks. We had booked the room via Booking.com at less than AU$50/night excluding breakfast. Luckily we can leave our luggage at their storage, rent one of their motor bike meanwhile waiting for the check in time.

Bakung Ubud Resort and Villa is a mid-size accommodation, located about 8 minutes drive my motor bike from Jalan Raya Ubud, where the surrounding is still fairly quiet with lots of rice paddy fields. There are total of 24 rooms and 9 villas within this lush property. Prior to our trip, I emailed the hotel to inquire about their airport transfer service also to confirm our booking and they responded very promptly and politely. This is usually an indicator on how good the staffs are, and it has worked for us many times at least.

Beautiful and lush property... — Beautiful and lush property…

The room we stayed at was beautiful and very spacious, I believe the rooms downstairs that have easy access to the main pool would be in similar layout and size as well (from the glimpse when walked past them). They provide tea, coffee, sugar, two cups, electric kettle, bar fridge, and two bottles of mineral water per day. Bathroom is also huge and clean with a separate shower area and a big bath tub with another shower attached. However, I cannot find a hair dryer in the room and didn’t ask the reception either. Maybe if you are planning to stay there and need to have a hair dryer, please contact them before booking.

http://https://youtu.be/suGltPCsV1c

We got back to the hotel around 1.30 pm and the lady at reception told us the room is ready that we can head there right away. One of the staff then led us to our room where they have brought our luggage in earlier and turned on the air conditioner. Little gestures that we love!

The only negative I’d comment on is the mattress. We think that it might be too old, where you can feel all the springs when you lie on it. Thankfully, it doesn’t give us back pain – but that’s really a turn down for me personally. The other factor you might need to consider before booking here is that you will need your transport. The hotel provides free drop off and pick up shuttle to Ubud area few times a day, and you can certainly pay a little extra for shuttle outside that time-table. But, if you like to explore Ubud, you may need your own transport because metered taxis are rare in Ubud. Also there is no lift facility on this property, so if you taking little kids might be better to request the pool access rooms downstairs.

Unfortunately that our booking did not include breakfast and we always ate out, we cannot review on this matter. But we generally had a good stay at this place. We find it very peaceful and relaxing during our two nights stay in their Deluxe room.

Bakung Ubud Resort and Villas

Jalan Sri Wedari,Desa Tegallantang, Ubud

Phone: +62 361 4792660

Fax: +62 361 4792757

Email: info@bakungubud.com

http://bakungubud.com/about-us/

November 4, 2015January 1, 2016

Harris Hotel Kuta Galleria, Kuta BALI

The main reasons we had chosen this place is because of its location, it is very close to airport, not in the jam-packed area of Kuta where we could be trapped in the traffic on or way to airport; also, this hotel has a back door that connects to Bali Galleria Shopping Centre. This is perfect setting for us, just in case we need to grab something in the last-minute 🙂 And on top of that, despite the budget friendly rate per night, the room size is actually not too small like many other budget hotels.

I actually stayed at this hotel twice, once at the end of my second Bali trip with mom and brother; and another time with my husband at the very end of our trip before heading back to Sydney. The first time we stayed here, I made the booking directly to the hotel and they had good offer for a connecting room. Whereas the second time, I actually booked via Indonesian web travel (travel*ka.com) where they had special rate for the period we wanted. Communication with the hotel staffs was easy, they responded to emails friendly, fast and informative. And that was also how we felt when we stayed there, the staffs were all very helpful and friendly.

The rooms are all decent size, furnished with a king size bed or twin beds, a minibar fridge, a work desk with chair, a small wardrobe, a couch that makes packing so much easier, a flat screen TV and you usual 2 complimentary bottles of water per day with tea/coffee making facilities. The bathroom is also good size and practical, clean and fluffy towels, shower cap, toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo and shower gel, which has the fresh citrus fragrant that I love. There is also a little balcony that you can actually step out to get some fresh air and you don’t feel like constricted in a small closed space all the time. Another thing that we appreciate is the curtain, it’s fabric is the really thick one, so good at blocking the early sun shine.

I didn’t experience noises at night or early morning and have had good night sleeps on the two separate occasions I stayed there. Air conditioner took a while to cool down the room, but after that it works fine; no mosquitoes issues as well; water pressure was good. Note that whilst many Harris Hotels in Kuta area offer free shuttle to certain drop points, there is no such facility in this location. So, if you are staying in here just for transit or if you have arranged for your own transport (there are plenty of parking available) then it should not be any problems. But again, taxis are cheap and you can always ask reception staffs to order one for you whenever needed.

There is also gym facility in the hotel and whilst we didn’t make use of it, the equipment looks not bad at all. Our bookings were excluding breakfast so I couldn’t review on how the breakfast, but looking at others’ reviews they are doing okay. I believe they also have kids club as well to entertain and keep those little ones busy 😛

We have enjoyed staying at this hotel, in fact husband thinks that for our next trip to Bali, we should just stay in here and get a motorbike again! I won’t disagree to that idea at all hehehehe

Here is a short video I took on my first stay for room no. 350, it is a connecting room which I only showed the twin share room. Both rooms are exactly the same except for the bedding.

November 1, 2015January 15, 2016

Kampoeng Villa, Kerobokan, Bali

On my second trip to Bali during our holiday in Indonesia, we stayed for three nights at Kampoeng Villa. It is on Kerobokan area and distinctly quieter than Seminyak. Few reasons that made us went ahead to book at this villa are the price per night (Ag*da had a good deal back then), their swimming pool is fairly good size (not the plunge pool type), they offer free shuttle to Seminyak, and there is an extra toilet downstairs. Since we are in group of three, having an extra toilet would be great!

As usual, I would check out reviews on TripAdvisor to short-listed my options and by the way, Google Map is such a helpful tool to give you an idea of what sort of surroundings you would be expecting. I then emailed Kampoeng Villa just to confirm their facility, size of their pool, and whether or not any constructions around the area, which they responded very promptly and informative. We had also booked the airport pick up and had no problems at all with the service.

Upon arriving in the villa compound, it felt so quiet and serene. And although we arrived past midnight, the front staff greeted us with friendly smile and showed us to our villa – Villa Ubud. Cleanliness of the villa was not so great, perhaps it has been vacant for a while; we felt the floor was sticky (especially in the bedroom and bathroom), bath tub was dusty and some of the lights were flickering throughout our stay. We didn’t make fuss of these little issues as it was already late and we could always wear the slipper provided, not used the bath tub and not turned on the flickering lights. The size of the pool is 6 m x 3 m and is 1.5 m deep, so it is a nice size pool.

Apart from those little mishaps, the villa itself was beautifully designed, it was huge (way too big for a couple), the bedroom and bathroom are just massive. I also loved the bedding, comfortable mattress with soft linens. There are four units of air conditioner in the entire villa (two on each floor), which all worked fine while we were there, had no issues with water pressure either, no mosquitoes problems. I really like the Balinese carved wooden door to main bedroom as well as the bright and huge all-closed bathroom. All closed bathroom is one of the most important criteria when I shortlisted my options, so Kampoeng Villa totally ticks the box for this!

You will need to order breakfast the night before and they will bring them over in the morning at your specified time. Breakfast was hit and miss for the three days we were there; the food was either too bland or too salty, they were served with fruit juice (not fresh fruit juice, these are loaded with sugar) and tea/coffee. There is a kitchen with stove and pots and utensils in the villa, but no microwave. I was told that if you need to heat up your food, you can always ask the staffs to do that in their kitchen where microwave is available.

kampoeng villa

There are not many shops or restaurants nearby, but we had expected this before and since we rented a car it has not been a problem. A lot of nearby restaurants offer delivery options or else you could order food from the villa itself. Taxis are cheap and easy to find, plus the villa has free shuttle to Seminyak area which we used once. Our villa was at the very end of their property and next to us was the paddy field, great view from balcony at the same time expect some noises in the early morning.

In summary, we had a fairly good stay in this villa. Yes there were few mishaps but I guess for the price on offer we could not complain. If you want a peaceful stay, not too fussy and maybe have arranged your own transport, this could potentially be a good place to stay.