Bali Hotels
 

My wife and I are traveling to Bali in November for four nights. We cannot decide on hotels. We are interested viewing the wildlife and golfing.

We prefer small hotels away from the masses.

We are considering Uma Ubud, ALiLa Manggis and ALiLa Ubud.

Bali is not really a wildlife kind of place. There are a couple of golf courses but I am not sure I would go all the way to Bali to play golf. In any case, I don't think Ubud would be a great location if golfing is what you want to do.

Bali isn't known for the wildlife...geckos and lizards maybe, but not much else. There are some birds and frogs we saw...snorkelling or diving, if you do that, you could see plenty of fish and coral if you go to the right place.

Away from the masses...Uma is just a bit outside of Ubud, which is the masses, but not the Kuta masses. The Alila Ubud is outside of town more, and is quiet. The Alilia Manggis is on the east coast near to Candidasa. Lovely hotel (used to be the Serai) with a lovely pool. If these are the only three places you can consider, I'd say the Alila Ubud you might enjoy most, as they offer guided walks and other interesting activities.

For golf, there is a course in Nusa Dua (masses), Nirwana in the southwest (Meridien is here and sells golf packages), and another near Bedugul I think is called Handara...we drove by here, and it is definitely not near anything that resembles masses. It's about an hour drive to get to a golf course from Ubud.

The national park in the northwest likely has the most wildlife...it is quite a trip, but there are some lovely places up there.

If you want to consider other hotels, an idea of what kind of place you like and your budget would be helpful to those making recommendations to you. Bali has the full range of hotels, fro $2.50/night homestays to $1000.00/night or more exclusive villas.

Thank you for your thoughts. I understand that there are bird, flower and of course monkey tours in Bali.

Regarding hotels, those listed are only our first thoughts. As this is my birthday present to my wife, I would want hotels that are special.

Thank you for your input.

In April I stayed at the Komaneka Suites, an all-villa resort outside of Ubud -- not far from the Alila in fact. It was absolutely fantastic. Our villa was all the way at the back, on the very edge of a steep valley. We could sit in jacuzzi/plunge pool or laze about on the outdoor bed and look across the valley to the terraced rice fields on the other side. It felt like we were all alone in the countryside.

The most wildlife I've seen in Bali is on the white water rafting trip, which is on my "must do" list every time I stay in Ubud.

There is a bird park near Ubud. We have always skipped it as it is touristy...some friends took their children there and the kids got a kick out of having a couple of birds sit on their shoulders.

Monkeys...there are quite a few places you can see monkeys...the Monkey Forest in Ubud being perhaps the most famous. The monkeys are absolutely accustomed to people, expect to be fed, and are notorious for stealing glasses, hats and sometimes even bags. We took our daughter there...the temple structures in the forest were more interesting to all of us than the monkeys. We found the monkeys aggressive, expecting good. They sell bananas right outside the gate...I'd discourage you from buying them as the people we saw who did have food were surrounded by monkeys who were quite relentless.

We saw monkeys on the road north toward Munduk as well....it's a famous monkey forest as well, but the name of it escapes me right now. The monkeys there were fewer in number, but not a bit shy either. We made a brief stop, and moved on.

The flowers and plants are lovely. We did a wonderful village tour where we could see coffee, vanilla, cocoa...rice, of course, various flowers, fruit trees and home livestock as well...very informative and one of the highlights of our stay. I'd recommend doing something like that one day rather than any sort of monkey tour. The Alila Ubud offers a village trekking tour that may be similar to what we did.

For hotels, there is no shortage of special hotels, and in all price ranges. Some love the Uma Ubud...we visited friends there and found it rather sterile and cold feeling, but they were happy there.

Other places that I would consider for a special stay in no particular order are
Rumah Bali www.balifoods.com The owner has a save the turtles project

The Legian
The Oberoi
Maya Ubud
Pita Maha

Puri Ganesha in the northwest, Pemuteran

Waka Shorea www.wakaexperience.com

Sanda Butik Villa and Restaurant www.sandavillas.com

If you want a real splurge, than the 5 star properties in Bali are many. The Four Seasons and Aman properties are popular, and there are many others. Begawan Giri, Bagus Jati, Ibah Luxury Villas, Murni's villas, Linda Garlands....there are so many places that are unique and special its impossible to list them all.

The Natural Guide to Bali is a great guidebook in my opinion. I ordered mine from Amazon...of all the guidebooks I have, this one is my favorite. You could also have a look at hotels on some booking sites like www.balibagus.com and www.balidiscovery.com. Check pricing both directly from the hotel and by contacting the booking services, as sometimes the price is better with a booking agent, and sometimes the price is better direct.

I've also had excellent luck with e-mailing hotels with my wish list for what kind of place I'm looking for and they've all been very honest and helpful.

llspe, You have some good choices. The Alila group is a favorite of mine. It's medium priced with a luxury attitude.

The regular rooms at the Alila Ubud have had some mixed reviews here. They're well designed but not too Balinese in feeling. The upstairs rooms get more light and have a better view of the valley. The downstairs rooms have little verandas.

We always go for what they call a suite which is really a large room with a wraparound terrace perched over the river valley. I think Room 103 is one of the nicest places on earth! On several occasions I've wakened to find monkeys looking in the window.

I'd also strongly recommend the trekking guide at the Alila Ubud, Sanputu. I've been to Bali dozens of times, but everytime I go out with him I learn something new or see something that I've never seen before.

I also really like the Legian on Seminyak beach -- a regular room, not the villas. If that's out of your price range the Sofitel is also really nice.

For golf, I'd second Kim's list. For Bali Golf and Country Club in Nusa Dua or the Meridien Nirwana in Tanah Lot, Seminyak beach is centrally located. Bali Handara Kosaido, the golf course that's in the volcano, is absolutely spectacular. It's about an hour more or less from Ubud.

I'd recommend against going to the Monkey Forest. There are monkeys all over Bali but these troops are especially vicious. Avoid them.

No shortage of birds in Bali: I always see kingfishers on the raft trips and of course the herons are legendary. There's a famous Western guy who does birdwalks in the Ubud area. I can't remember his name but the hotel could find him for you.

hey have u ever visited http://www.traveloworld.com .. its really a cheap site for hotels

I'd recommend either Uma Ubud (where I stayed and really loved) or Kayumanis . I give the total thumbs down for Alila Ubud. It was awful. If you do a search on this forum, you'll see some negative comments, including mine. I can give you more info. on these if you need it. By the way, Uma is in a perfect location - quiet and peaceful, yet near some great restaurants and within walking distance to the center of town.

One very special hotel that happens to be relatively close to the Nirwana is Hotel Tugu. It is one of the most exotic places we have ever stayed. Great atmosphere, wonderful food and attentive service.