If you were me, headed to Bali....
 

And you/I/we like to swim in great pools, sit under palapa's on the beach, have a great room/balcony in a nice property, located so its easy to explore sights, restaurants and shops. I found acceptable deals at Aston Bali, Raddin, Holiday Inn Bali Hai, Ramada Benoa, Villa Bintang or Parigata. Which would you choose???Thanks.

If I were you I would avoid Kuta area. I stayed in July in the Nusa Dua Beach hotel and loved it . All that you described I had there. In Kuta beach you will only be hasseled.

Teresa?<BR>What do you know about snorkeling around the Nusa Dua Beach hotel?

I went to Bali and stayed in a cottage in Kuta on Nov. 1999. I was in dire need of a vacation and I thought Bali would be ideal but I absolutely hated every hour of the day, everyday. I was harrassed by many solicitors. I was also harrassed at the beach when it was pretty apparent that I had absolutely no money on me. I just couldn't get away from them. I ended up laying out at the pool of my hotel. <BR><BR>I took a trip out to Jimbaran and it was a lot nicer. You still get the solicitors, I don't think you can get away from that completely, but it wasn't as bad. Kuta is probably the worse as it is downtown.

Bali does have wonderful hotels and it's an amazing island for the scenery, culture and arts. However, the island is much much more than Kuta Beach and Nusa Dua...they are fairly the opposite of each other except that they are both on beachfront areas. It's a shame that so many travellers to Bali stay at Kuta, which is the equivalent to Disneyland or Venice Beach of California, when there are so many other places that are much more authentic and relaxed. If you are hassled by hawkers, check out of the hotel and head for places like Amed, even Jimbaran, Sanur or better yet Ubud. As an analogy, if you go to California and you don't like Venice Beach or Disneyland, you would go to Carmel or San Francisco or somewhere else, right? And yet tourists hoping for a quiet vacation flock to Kuta where it's dominated by young backpackers who are there for the partying and nightlife. <BR><BR>Kuta is less than 1% of the island, yet because it's the most widely publicised area it gets 95% of the tourists. The majority of the people who work and hawk things there are NOT even Balinese but immigrants from other areas. Nusa Dua on the other hand is a government-developed resort area that is fairly sterile compared to the rest of the island.

Made, there are some racist Aussies bashing our beautiful Bali over at the Australia forum.Perhaps you cld set them straight!

Yea Made. Set em straight. Bali is very safe.

Oh yeah. Real safe! LOL<BR><BR>Very fun. The discos in Bali are a blast.