Tag: travel

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.

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.

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.

We had never stayed in northern part of Seminyak before and on this holiday, we decided to do just that. We actually saw a good deal of this place from Group*n and when I emailed them for availability prior to book via Group*n, they offered us the same deal for direct booking, which was what we ended up doing. We stayed at one of their villa for three nights before heading back to hubby’s hometown.

As mentioned before, I emailed them with queries about the availability and whether there are going to be any constructions nearby, which they replied promptly. This factor was what had pointed me to book with them, because out of a few villas I emailed, Bali Island Villa was one of the very few that replied within the same day. Even after we booked with them, for every time I had questions, they would replied in the same manner and time frame. The only worry we had was that due to its location (it is right next to Potato Head Club), would it be too much noise? And as always, try to refer to as many past reviews as possible, which in our case we checked it out on TripAdvisor and it sure doesn’t look too bad. Looking at all the pictures, hubby was concerned that the villa seems to be too big for just both of us, this turned out to be just perfect size!

We arrived at around 2 pm and were greeted by the staffs who showed our way to our villa directly. We got Villa No. 2, which is very close to entrance/parking area. The air conditioner was already on when we got to the villa and the lady showed us the switches and whats in the villa, then served us some fresh fruit juices while we filled in the forms – all in the comfort of our villa. Yes, we were impressed and especially thankful for the air conditioner part!

So, of course the first thing we did after the lady left us was SWIMMING! The pool was nice, although the water could get fairly cold where there was no direct sun. I was told that the pool size is 2 m x 10 m, with such length you could totally do laps; but due to the width, we couldn’t really swim side by side; not a big deal, we can always take turns because it was holiday and we had all the time at hands ¯_(ツ)_/¯

I especially love the walk-in wardrobe, so many shelves to put your stuffs in, it is bright with a floor-to-ceiling mirror on one side of the wall where you can do your make up. I find the bathroom is too dark, maybe due to the dark-coloured wall. The bath tub is huge, however I only used it once, it took too long for the water to fill up due to its size. Water pressure was good, we didn’t have any issues here. The master bedroom is huge, spacious, and filled with sunlight, or you can close off the double-layered door and totally blocked out any sunlight ♥‿♥

As for entertainment in the villa, there are some novels (some in Japanese), magazines, and DVDs collections; which we didn’t make use of since we went out most of the time and if not, we would just watch TV. There is a massage bale in the rooftop, which we also didn’t make use of since we had arranged our massages else where. We went up in the first afternoon we got there, and it was so hot; never bothered to go again up ever since, it probably is nice in the morning, though. Wifi worked very well throughout the villa and can be connected straightaway without the need to sign in with user name/password; hassle-free!

We don’t like the bedding, despite the size that we love, the mattress is way too soft for us that it feels like you sink in to it. Thanks goodness we didn’t wake up with back pain during the three-night stay ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ  There were signs of wear and tears in the villa, but nothing major that annoyed us. Whenever we had problems (not sure how to turn on the stove, or air conditioner couldn’t be turned on), we rang their reception and promptly someone will show up to solve the issues. We ordered breakfast the night before and they will deliver it the next morning at your specified time. Breakfast consists of one choice of fresh fruit juice, one choice of main, and one choice of espresso or tea per person. Overall breakfast was ok, but not great; best to just get the fried rice and fried noodle. Fresh fruit juices are excellent, very refreshing and a great start for the day.

On the second day of our stay, the staffs knocked on our door in the afternoon with a chocolate cake. How sweet of them! I asked them months before our trip whether they could arrange something for our wedding anniversary day and they sent me a brochure of in villa dining options, which looked really nice. Unfortunately, we didn’t go ahead with the in-villa dining option because we went else where that were recommended by some friends. And even so, they still remember our wedding anniversary date and being so nice to surprise us with a lovely heart-shaped chocolate cake. That was nice gesture and we truly appreciates that (っ˘ڡ˘ς)

We tried the laundry service there and it was fast! We left it off to the reception in the morning and when we came back after lunch, they are already freshly washed and ironed. They also offer free shuttle to Seminyak area, which we didn’t get to use because we rented a scooter. Hubby tried out the gym and he said it was not bad either, there are basic gym equipment and not big, but we think the villa deserves extra points for having the facility in house.

Overall stay experience in the villa was ok, the staffs are friendly and they had always tried to help, the lay out of the villa is good and very spacious, everything worked, location is fantastic, and we didn’t get the noise from Potato Head at all, in fact we had relaxing time in the villa. So, there really is nothing to complain about the place, and I would not hesitate to recommend this place to my friends and family. Whether or not we are going to go back, I think probably not only due to the fact that there are so many other options that we can try.

Bali Island Villa and Spa

Jalan Petitienget No. 469

Seminyak, Bali

Phone: (62) 361 473 6656

Email : reservation@islandvillasbali.com

http://www.islandvillasbali.com/

Tegal Sari was the very first stop of our holiday trip to Indonesia last month. Arrived at I Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali filled with excitement and the driver from Tegal Sari was already there holding a sign waiting for us. We originally booked for a Super Deluxe Room No. 11 but upon arriving there and saw that the bathroom door has gaps to the outside, we decided to change to other room. When they said there was one Nyalian Suite available for the period we were staying, we couldn’t be happier to make the move! It costed double the price of Super Deluxe rooms but boy, is definitely worth every extra cents!

I booked Tegal Sari about 6 months before the trip and this time I just emailed them. It took 2-3 days for them to reply to my emails but they were very helpful and honest with questions (whether there were going to be any nearby constructions scheduled) and even sent pictures of the room we were asking for. The super friendly staffs at Tegal Sari are real jewels beside the cleanliness of the rooms and their gorgeous rice paddy views. This was the second time I stayed at Tegal Sari and there were still many familiar faces I remembered since my first visit last year, this ought to be a good place to work at!

Now, the Nyalian Suite is huge, seriously it is so spacious. If you bring along a child, I am sure he/she will happily run around. The decor is modern minimalist, so a little different to their older rooms where decor was more traditional wooden type. And there was also a flat screen TV with a nice couch that hubby was very happy for. The Nyalian Suites and Rooms are located in the new building, in which on its rooftop was the new swimming pool and a yoga studio (although, we were told that they have not had a fixed yoga schedule in place at that time). Also, in that rooftop you would be able to view night lights of hotels in Nusa Dua area and top of Mount Agung if the sky is clear.

I have recorded a video of the place and wish to share it with you all, hopefully it can be of use. By the way, we were also shown the Nyalian Room (which I forgot to record – duhh), the difference being the bed set up and it’s floor location. Nyalian Rooms has double beds as opposed to Nyalian Suites with king sized bed plus there is a day bed and also a massive bath tub. Nyalian Rooms are located on ground and first floors whereas Nyalian Suites are on higher level which gives you better paddy field view.

The balcony is also very spacious and I had really enjoyed sitting there with a cup of tea in the morning looking for sunrise, rice paddy below (although when I was there, they barely just started planting the seeds), just listen to the birds and enjoyed the moment. We did have a great relaxing stay at Tegal Sari, just a wonderful start to our holiday.

We also rented a motor bike through Tegal Sari when we arrived and they had it ready for us right away with two helmets and rain cover (which we didn’t have to use at all). As mentioned before, everyone here is just so helpful, we asked for directions to get to Gianyar Night Market and they printed us a map, carefully explained which ways to go and which turns to take, etc.

These videos below will take you to the walk-around Nyalian Suite No. 43 and the rooftop area.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)