This trip was all about showing off my ‘second-home’, Bali, to Paige for her first visit. It was imperative she fall in love with Bali (although this isn’t very hard, I’m very biased). To achieve this, I planned the ideal itinerary for us to balance exploration and relaxation. With Paige being pregnant, our itinerary skipped a few places I would usually visit such as the nearby islands. Really didn’t think morning sickness and seasickness would go hand-in-hand…
In the end, we decided to split our time into three areas and explore from there. These choices ended up being Kuta, Seminyak and Ubud; a perfect mixture of busy and quite with plenty of adventures close-by to each. To mix things up even more, we would be staying in three different accommodation types along the way, a 5* resort, a mansion and a villa. Yep, I’m starting to like this whole couples travelling thing instead of the old me slumming it in hostels!
Kuta – The Resort
I can hear some of you screaming “what, why would you stay in Kuta?”. When it comes down to it when you’re able to afford to stay in an amazing room in a 5 Star Resort for a quarter of anywhere else in the world, why the hell not!!!
To be fair, Kuta does have a bit of a reputation for being full of fat, middle-aged bogans. Of which Paige and I are not… well… I may be a slight bogan at heart. But in terms of throwing her in the deep end the busy-ness of Bali, Kuta was great. Hundreds of great restaurants, beach clubs and markets all within short walks. And the hotels, wow, value for money!
So, I may have been a little cheeky and pulled the old honeymoon card upon checking in and boy did it pay off! Upgrade to a beach-view suite, love cake, roses, fruit platter and even a congratulatory note. Not a bad way to begin the holiday that’s for sure!
Now, I don’t know about you, but one of my favourite parts of 5-star hotels is their breakfasts. The spreads they do can last you until dinner time if you make proper use of them, this hotel was no different. Seriously the options included almost every cuisine on earth from Western to Indian, salads to deserts, waffles to ice-creams. I’m literally craving these breakfasts again as I type this, no joke! Also serious brownie points for having a PROPER espresso coffee machine, a bit of a rarity in some Asian countries! The other thing about staying in big hotels is the pools are usually a notch above private ones, this one even featuring a mini island and waterfall. Seeing a pool bar is always a welcome comfort I’ll indulge in, although the often eye-watering drink charges are usually a bit of a turn-off. The pool here was enormous and had views directly onto the ocean because you know.. why would you want to actually swim in the ocean?
Being Kuta, we used this time to lap up pool time, indulge in massages and try to keep the market stall addict satisfied.
Ubud – The Mansion
Next up was Ubud, the free-spirited, yoga-loving clean eating capital of Bali, just an hour away from the madness of Kuta.
Now we’re not going to tell you the name of this property because we don’t want it to blow up in popularity. That’s how amazing it is. Picture this a secluded oasis where you have no idea that you are basically on the main road, the entire property perched on a cliff, having mind-blowing views of the rice terraces in the valley below. How this came under $100 a night I will never know!
Not only this but we had the choice of an upstairs bedroom or a ground floor one, you know, just in case we wanted a change of scenery. Add on two bathtubs that could fit three people and a humongous open-air kitchen and infinity pool, and you have a serious recipe for success. Just when you thought it couldn’t get better, the local owners who live next door would bring in breakfast every morning. Can I just say this was the best nasi goreng we have ever eaten, and the banana pancakes were out of this world! The wife cooks up something different every morning depending on what her own family feel like. Couple this with their awesome hospitality and you can see why we never wanted to leave!
We spent our time completing unwinding away from any of the buzz of Kuta, occasionally venturing into Ubud centre for occasional eats at some of the popular eateries, go on ridge walks through the rice paddies or explore the traditional local markets.
Seminyak – The Villa
Our final ‘base’ was to be Seminyak, the must visit for any food lover, night owl or aspiring Instagrammer. Seriously this place has some of the hippest coolest restaurants, cafes and beach bars Bali has to offer and there are no shortage cool spots to hang out!
Here we opted for our third accommodation style, the villa. Again, we had a serious hit with our picking here and we were as central as you could be yet with a rice-field beside. Here we had our own private pool that you could look out to from the bedroom. There’s something about Balinese houses and being open air that we absolutely love, this time we had an outdoors bathroom, kitchen and lounge room, heaven!
Just to add to our baller luxury feels, a chef would come into our kitchen every morning and cook up whatever we wanted! Yep, coming home was going to be a shock to the system that’s for sure..
It was in Seminyak that we got to catch up with my younger sister, who like her brother, has seriously caught the travel bug. At 18 years old this was her first big solo trip backpacking around Bali for a month. I think it was a welcome relief to borrow our hot shower instead of having to resort to the cold hostel ones! With her, Paige and myself all being serious foodies we definitely crammed our fair share of Seminyak cafes in. We may or may not have even had lunch twice in one day…
In my eleven trips to Bali, this was actually my first time staying in Seminyak, thanks to travelling this time with a partner. It’s amazing the shift in travel style when you become coupled up, definitely enjoying the tastes of luxury that’s for sure!
If you have any questions or comments drop a message below, we would love to hear from you!
J-P.
Be sure to check out our other Bali focused posts!
Where we ate
Most recommended activities
Or to find out more about how my unhealthy obsession with Bali began