August ’09 Bali Honeymoon Trip – Hotels

As I have mentioned earlier, there are many new things I did for the first time and one of them is hotel hopping for our stay in Bali. First hotel we chose is Haris Resort at Kuta area, then Taman Sakti for Ubud and Novotel Nusa Dua for the last.

1. Harris Resort, Kuta

At the time we tried to look around for hotel in Kuta area with our budget. Searching for information in the internet for testimonial of hotels and checking the prices. At the time Harris Resort (NOT Harris Riverside Kuta or Harris Tuban) sounds like the most sensible decision since it's in front of Kuta beach, price is lower than the other hotels located in the area (almost half the price from Hard Rock) and claimed as a 4 star hotel.

By the time we arrived, we are relieved to find that the hotel is located in front of the Kuta beach at the main road but this is just the gate, the hotel itself is about 100 meters walk but it is still ok, it is still worth it for the price. When we checked in to our room it's OK as it is clean, good hot water and they provide hair dryer but to my humble opinion it's not a 4 star room. Oh and there's a crack on top of our headboard, I hope they have fixed it by now. At night we could hear night music from the surrounding club once we open the door quite clearly but thankfully once it is closed it's vague enough to bother. Their parking lot is only at the front of the hotel but we could always find a space whenever we needed to park.

wall crack

I think this hotel is made for company's meeting and sort but also quite ok for family as they also provide flying fox and other games as well for kids.

Oh... and it would be better to ask for a pool view room as I think it would have a better view than ours but I'm sure it would be much more noisy from the pool activities.

The last time (2012) we checked the price now has been doubled from the price we paid when we went there, so with the price not much different from the other surrounding hotels I guess we will have much more selection of hotels to choose at Kuta area.

2. Taman Sakti, Ubud

Our friend in Bali is the one who suggested this hotel for us. It certainly is not a big commercial hotel as Harris or Novotel, but more of a private villa, which made you experince living in rural Bali with a view of small ravine, it has a medium swimming pool and a little kiddy pool on the side. I think it only has around 6 rooms for this hotel, but I'm sure they have around 10 or more.

We were given the villa at the end of the hotel it's divided in 2 rooms, 1 for us and the other for our friend and his family. It was really private we could really enjoy talking at our terrace, they kept their garden very beautiful  it's something we could enjoy while watching the children having fun in the pool.

I guess they are trying to give a rustic feel to their room, but the downside is it's not very clean as my hubby found lots of spider webs below our bed and some termites inside the wardrobe, they provide kitchennet but I don't think we would use it and there was an extra bed nearby the kitchennet but with stained sheet. I hope they have fixed this by now. Bathroom is a bit different than the usual, the big bathtub is inside the bedroom area separated only by a fabric divider hot water is working well and only the toilet is in a closed room opposite to the bathtub. The staff was friendly and the breakfast is quite ok for the price. Parking lot is only at the front of the hotel, it's quite small but since we were the only guest who brought car there so it wasn't a problem for us at the time. 

3. Novotel, Nusa Dua

I'm not sure the type of room that was given to us at this hotel if I'm not mistaken it's 1 bedroom apartment but it's quite big, we have our own dining room with a complete kitchennet even a washing machine if I'm not mistaken and a little living room. I guess it's just like an apartment, what I liked about it is it's really clean. The view is the pool surrounding the cafe in the middle but ask for a higher level as possible for a better view.

We are happy with the bedroom, though there is no tv inside but the bed is great I have no complaint for it.

Also happy with the hot water which gave no problem, and a plus from me is providing hair dryer. Amenities is quite complete and clean towels. Stayed there for 3 nights, I only wonder why they didn't clean up our room until we checked out, was it because the type of our room is apartment? And since we went back to our room always late at night we didn't asked to the hotel. But if it's because of the type of our room I think they should have informed us at the time we checked in.

The parking lot is quite big they have the front and back parking lot, you could just choose. Since Novotel is not located nearby the beach, they have their own private beach around 1 km or more which they provide a car to go there. It's located next to St. Regis, we have to pass a track inside Nusa dua's golf course to reach it, and there was this ferocious dog following us and barking like crazy when we passed it. We have to make sure to have a car to get back to the hotel since it's quite far to go by foot and that dog for sure won't leave us alone if we went by foot. At the time the beach is open at 9 am and closed at 6 pm. Too bad our camera's battery was dead by the time we arrived at the beach so we can't take any pics there.