Hi guys! Just sharing my recent experience to Bali and my 2 cents. I did not have a budget so I splurged a little. I ate mostly at restaurants and the food there was AMAZING. Hope this will help you guys plan your trip further

First of all, based on a forumers recommendation, we booked Mr. Dewa (+6281933101096; Whatsapp). His English is pretty good and was good to liaise with. I sent him a few places that I would like to visit and he shared the day plan with me. As some attractions I was not interested, I told him to change and he was willing to suggest other places and also slot in places I wanted to go to. As Mr. Dewa was not free, he sent one of his family members, Mr. Bagi to bring us around. Mr. Bagi's English was not as good but he was always on time to pick us and always checking whether we are OK and so polite. Mr. Dewa also called us on our last day in Bali to wish us well and apologize that he was not able to meet us!

Accommodation
We stayed at Amana Villas in Seminyak. If you have the budget, I highly recommend this place. Location wise, it is at a back alley right in the middle of Jalan Kayu Aya, where all the shops are but the villa is extremely quiet. You can see more at TripAdvisor. The serve your breakfast in your room every day from a large menu. The hotel also provides free transport anywhere in Seminyak.

Day 1
Arrived in the evening due to flight delay by 1 hour.
We had dinner at a restaurant called Bambu in Seminyak. It was one of the best meals we had in Bali
Went to Potato Head Beach Club

Day 2 (Tour)
Barong Dance
Silver Factory
Batik Factory
Coffee Plantation (Kopi Luwak)
Ubud Rice Terrace
Lunch - Warong Ibu Oka Babi Guling (must go! extremely delicious)
Ubud Market (we didn't buy anything. mostly souvenirs)
Ubud Palace (just take picture at the door)
Sunset - Tanah Lot Temple (must go!)
Dinner - Some restaurant at the outskirts of Kuta. Can't remember the name.

Day 3 (Tour)
Kuta Bali Galeria & Discovery Shopping Mall (we didn't buy anything)
Lunch - Warong Igga Pork Ribs (didn't manage to try Nuri's but Igga was nice!)
Nusa Dua Beach
Padang Padang Beach
Sunset - Uluwatu Temple
Dinner - Jimbaran Bay

Day 4 & 5 (Rest and Seminyak walkabout)
We had lunch on both Day 4 & 5 at Mamasan which was walking distance. We went there twice because the food was so good.
We had dinner at Merah Putih Restaurant. Food was so so. Better go to Bambu or try somewhere else.

My 2 Cents
- Ubud is a kampung area with very few shops or modern amenities. If you like kampung, peaceful lifestyle then you would want to stay there
- Nusa Dua (nothing but hotels and beaches within walking distance)
- Kuta looks alright but the traffic there is pretty bad
- Best place to stay is in Seminyak. Modern amenities and convenience stores are all nearby
- We bought nothing on the trip. I felt that Bali was more of a place to chill and relax

Wishing you a happy trip to Bali!

Thanks for the info!!! How is potato head beach club? Worth to go? Did u go to any other clubs?

Definitely worth going. The view and atmosphere is fantastic at night. The drinks are great too! Try to get a seat nearer to the beach as it is more cooling. The seats further away from the beach can be quite warm.

Unfortunately, it was the only club/bar I went to. Wanted to check out Ku De Ta but we got lazy.

Just too add on, the airport tax incurred upon leaving Bali has increased to 200,000 rupiah per person. Make sure you guys have enough cash before leaving.

Thanks for the sharing. Will definitely pay bambu and mamas an a visit. Roughly what is the price of a meal for 2 those place will charge?

Thanks for the info

Main course costs around 100,000 to 150,000 rupiah each.
Just be aware that Bambu has a smart casual dress code. Ok to wear shorts but no slippers allowed.

wanna ask here is my car driver rental fee reasonable?
Total is Rp 2,500k. (roughly USD 250)
my itenerary as below:
Time Arrival: 16/9/2014, Tues
20 pizza bagus
21 Check in at Ubud Tegal Sari Hotel

Time Day 1:17/9/2014, Wed
8 monkey forest
9
10 Check out
11 Pura Tirtha Empul/tegallalang rice terrace
12 Batur volcano
13 Kintamani
14 Sari Restaurant
15
16
17 Check in:hotel at Lovina Beach
18
19
20
21

Time Day 2:18/9/2014, Thu
8 Dolphin tour
9 Check out:Puncak bagus
10
11 Bratan lake at Bedugul
12
13 Ulun Danu Temple
14 tanah Lot temple
15
16 Naughty Nuri's Warung 2
17
18 Check in:Best Western Kuta Beach Hotel
19
20 Galuh Bali SPA/hard rock hotel
21

Time Day 3:19/9/2014, Fri
8
9
10 Check out: Krisna Oleh-Oleh Khas Bali
11
12 Padang Padang Beach
13 Water blow
14 blue points
15
16 uluwatu temple
17 jimbaran seafood
18 depart to airport
19

Edit: Sorry, this post was meant for those asking about going to Lembongan from Bali.

From Sanur.

Local Boat leaves Sanur at 08:00 and Nusa Lembongan at 08:00, and costs 60,000 to 100,000 rupiah (depending on their mood) and takes about 1 to 1.5 hrs.

Perama local boat leaves Sanur at 10:30 and Nusa Lembongan at 08:30, and costs 150,000 rupiah Same timing too.

Fast boat services between Bali and Nusa Lembongan: Scoot and Rocky Fast Cruises. Scoot charges 300,000 rupiah one way and Rocky 250,000 rupiah one way.

More:
Perama Boat Service
T: (0361) 750 808
http://www.peramatour.com/Daily-Bali-Lombo...e-Bus-Boat.html
Rocky Fast Cruises
T: (0361) 801 2324
http://www.rockyfastcruise.com/
Scoot Fast Cruises
T: (0361) 285 522
http://www.scootcruise.com/

Hope this helps.

This post has been edited by malaysia-asia: Jul 7 2014, 02:46 PM

Hi,

I am going to Bali on 20th August.

Any recommendation for hotel at UBUD. Price range RM300-RM400? This is my 1st time going to Ubud with family.

Most important is walking distance to all the shops and souvenir center.

This post has been edited by queenstory: Jul 8 2014, 06:28 PM

try tegal sari

I just back from Bali last week, am here to highlight for those who planning to have dinner at Jimbaran Beach. Yeah the view, the feel is awesome especially sunset, but the food there is really bad. Usually you will get a set of meal from the restaurant, if you feel not enough for the meal, i suggest you don't order extra seafood. I been chopped for RM100 on a small fried squid and grill prawn, which is totally not fresh and taste bad.

Just came back from my 5 days 4 nights bali trip.

Stayed in Aria Exclusive Villa in Seminyak, highly recommend this villa nice staff, great room. Only minus is breakfast is the same and not much variety, and quite a lot of mosquitoes at night. Despite that, my next trip still very likely to stay at Aria, price about RM 540 per night. If you stay 3 nights or more, then free return airport transfer. Just 30-1 hr car drive from airport depends on road traffic. This villa has a back door that connects to the busy stretch of Jln Petitenget, and walking distance to Potato Head Beach club.

Next up, food reviews.

Potato Head Beach club is awesome, the view and atmosphere, please just go there to experience yourself. I wanted to have dinner so i sat back, further away from beach, and it is quite warm. Suggest to get lounge seats further out, nearer to the beach to enjoy the sea breeze. Dinner for two cost about RM 170 with drinks. Will definitely return there again, staff there very helpful.

Warung Made, seminyak, decent place, food so so, went there for lunch, cost bout RM80 for two with drinks. Not likely to return.

Naughty Nuri's Batu Belik, nice ribs, warm staff, recommended. Didn't visit the Ubud Nuri's, but this branch from different management is nearer to my villa, and the ribs is definitely awesome, order the set and the choc brownies with ice cream is super delicious too. About RM 120 for two person. Definite revisit.

Poppies restaurant, very nice restaurant setting in kampung house style, ordered the indonesia food platter, price bout RM 140 for two person. Likely to return.

Mamasan, the best restaurant during my visit. Food is really good. Only complaint is the staff did not inform me of the portion size. Ordered 4 dishes with two servings of rice for two, when the food came, it can actually feed 4-5 person. Should've just ordered 3 dishes, and even with 3 dishes, i'm sure two person can't finish cause the portions here are large. Spent RM 220 for two person, only because I underestimated the food portion and wasn't informed by the waitress taking my order. Defnite return.

Kintamani hill top buffet restaurant - nice surrounding view, but food is really bad. bout RM 40 per pax, so for two person it's RM 80. Avoid at all costs.

Shopping:

Note: All ralph lauren polo in Bali are not the same as the ralph lauren USA. This is a brand registered in Indonesia and has no ties with ralph lauren US at all. It's just another brand that uses the same name, and try to produce products that looks exactly the same as the US counterpart. I went to this "Premium Outlet Ralph Lauren" in batu bulan. Each T-shirt cost USD 60, spent USD200 on 3 ralph lauren polo t-shirts, came back and found out that it's not what I thought. Bear in mind though, they are still original Ralph Lauren Polo, as the company is registered officially in Indonesia. Some smart businessman, not sure if it's indonesian or korean registered the ralph lauren polo in Indonesia business directory before the ralph lauren US able to penetrate the indonesia market. Therefore, within indonesia, their products are not imitation as the company is legally registered in the country. However, I do want to mention that the quality of the shirts are not bad. Just bear in mind you're paying USD 60-80 for a ralph lauren polo "indonesia" that has no connection with ralph lauren US.

I bought a few replica watches at bagus watch near kuta beach. Not alot of exp on replica watch, but the quality looks good, and priced around RM 200+ to RM 400+. Higher price range are for the newer panerai model, with automatic movement.

Paintings:

In short, paintings here are cheap. For super cheap paintings that are mass produced, head to Krishna Oleh-Oleh in kuta sunset walk street. Super cheap paintings, can be as cheap at RM 20 each. For better quality painting, even comes with certificate from the artist, consider go Ubud to visit Dewa Putu Toris. If not buying them, just a visit to the gallery is worth it if you are on the way to Ubud. Very big and nice gallery. Those art gallery along seminyak also worth a visit as I saw a very unique paper art that can't be found anywhere else cause the artist is contracted solely to that gallery.

Spa:

Tried Amo Spa in seminyak, recommended. Nice place, good for ladies as lots of treatment. Got my hair cut there for about RM45, roughly same price as KL. Massage there about RM 75 per hour. Hard and soft massage option, i took the hard massage and it is really hard. Will return to try the soft massage.

Tried another spa near my villa, Tanah Merah spa, by Bali Island Villa, not that good. Best to skip this place. only went there cause all spa around that time were fully booked.

Beach:

Kuta beach is really nice, i like the feeling of waves taller than me hitting on me and pushes me off balance. Fun place if you like to play with water and get urself wet. 100% returning.

Pandawa beach (on the way to Uluwatu), nice place to relax by the beach, sit on the bench under umbrella and chill while having a massage. Nice for ppl who dont want to get wet and just chill by the beach. No waves, just kayak, water very shallow, generally u dont come here to play with water.

Tanah Lot vs Uluwatu
pretty much the same, u come here for the proving to others u've been to Bali before. Not likely to return after 1 trip.

Ubud
just drive by the place, didn't spend long, went to visit ubud palace, nothing much. Ubud market no good, price jacked up very high, if they quote you RM50 on their first offer, you can easily bargain it to RM15 and they will sell it to you. So 70% bargain is the minimum you must obtain from sellers here.

I used the driver Erick, Arief's friend. Erick speaks decent english and I have absolutely an easy time with him driving us around. PM me for Erick's contact.

I've been to Lembongan.
If any of you want more info can PM me.
It's a fukken nice place provided you need to stay 1 night to cover all activities (including cliff diving) which I missed because the tide was high and I got no time to wait till its low. SAD but WILL DEFINITELY RETURN~

i also just back from bali, i used Arief friend oso, mr oktan..good driving skill though..(1 hour frm kintamani to jimbaran )

just my 2 cents on bali trip..

1) food were very expensive in all famous/aircond/tourist restaurant..min RM30 - RM50/person for 1 meal + 1 drink.
2) very cool weather this few days
3) airport custom queue + luggage claim need wait appx 1 hour - 1 hour 30 min. be beware there are 2 queue line, 1 for all countries, 1 for ASEAN countries(including Malaysia)
4) Legian more happening than kuta, more pub and shop
5) uluwatu monkey very clever, they will perform swimming and diving show to attract you then grab your glass or whatever to exchange food with you.
6) Bali have too many nice villa, cheap and big..cant decide which 1 is best.(i stay at kuta puri & dura villa)
7) local food at roadside stall were nice and cheap too. provided you dare to try.
8) massage/spa - feel jakarta's massage better and worth.

dint buy much souvenir, because local hand made souvenir all expensive(painting, batik, silver, luwak coffee, kite), only those mass production (probably china made) souvenir will cheap.

definitely will go back again as i miss few tourist spot..



This post has been edited by desertkids: Jul 17 2014, 02:37 PM

Hi guys. I had one of the guys contact and he actually charge me rp150k picking me from airport. From what I can see, forumer seems to recommend not to hire straight but it seems to be quite expensive. The place I'm staying is in seminyak. Anyone just come back from there? Can advise?

100k rupiah should do for airport transfer..you may contact popular supir this forum. arief / oc-tane 62817537826 (whatsapp). he charge me 500k for full day, 300k for half day, 100k for airport transfer.

plan ur trip well

So looks like 150k is over charged. Thanks man, will try contact this guy also.

By the way, which restaurant at Jimbaran is ok. I'm affraight they slaughter tourist as I'm going together with my partner only.

Lyn forum recommend lia cafe. I try it but nt so nice, seafood nt fresh,coconut oso damn sour to drink. 250k for a set meal for 2 person.(consider cheapest meal i hv in bali). U may reserve through lia cafe email. At dinner time there are a group of guy can sing for u nearby ur table (giving tips la),but their quality of song so so only. Sunset b4 620pm.

anyone going to bali in raya week?