The adjective “magical” suits very well this Indonesian island. First time for me, we did quite a lot of things and I am exhausted when it is time to come back to work, need some more holidays.

Ubud

The cultural city of the island, looks like the Thai city of Chiang Mai. We did a wonderful #massage there, I can only recommend for the atmosphere very typical, the sound of rain pouring (well ok, that is why I loved it) giving a slight romantic and nostalgic air and the expertise of the women. Trek in the rice fields, dinner at the famous ‘Lotus Café’ with the typical dance show, feed the monkeys, dive into the hotel swimming pool, do rafting, and trek on the Batour mount to see the sunrise at 5 AM are for me the top things to do for your 4 days-3 nights in Ubud. An extra day maybe worth it if you to chill a little bit more. For cultural visits in Ubud, I chose a light short with flowers from H&M and a black t shirt (to avoid bad stain because of the heat). Havaianas flip-flop were my best friends all along: easy to remove when you enter a temple (no shoes authorised), don’t keep you warm and you can exhibit the pedicure you would have taken care to do before the trip!

Tip 1: I was so disappointed by the coconuts! Not the same taste as their Thai counterparts… To avoid!

Three Monkeys restaurant (8/10) : Jalan Monkey Forest, Ubud

Lotus cafe (7/10): Jl. Raya Ubud, Ubud

Massage (9/10): White House Bali Cottage, Jl. Monkey Forest

Seminyak/Kuta

For those who know Paris, it is the “Marais” district of the Island, very modern and “Westerned” city while keeping the Indonesian twist: I really enjoyed it. Even if the prices were “far” higher than those in Ubud, there are there some really good restaurants to try. ‘La Plancha’ is the spot to take a #rosé while enjoying sunset at the end of the afternoon if you want to avoid the crowded m’as tu vu Potatoe Head and Kou De Ta. Beach is great, the one of Kuta also but I definitely preferred the long and sweet Seminyak one. We had a wonderful villa with private swimming pool, quite nice! Tanah Lot Temple on the big rock is breath taking and if you have some time, treat yourself with a drink and a bath in the wonderful swimming pool of the ‘Pan Pacific Nirwana Bali Resort’. Unfortunately, big failure with a pouring and unstoppable rain that prevented us from enjoying a dirt cross session in the rice fields but I tried to surf for the first time #bigfun.

La Plancha (9/10): Jl. Dhyana Pura Seminyak Kuta-Bali Benoa Kuta

Bali Ayu Hotel & Villas (9/10): Jalan Petitenget No. 99 X, 80361 Seminyak, Indonesia

La Lucciola (6/10): quite pricey, I would recommend to go for an early breakfast to calmly enjoy the view on the ocean before it gets crowded – Jl. Kayu Aya | Petitenget Beach, Seminyak

Pan Pacific Nirwana Bali Resort (8/10): for a drink or more if you are spoiled! – Jalan Raya Tanah Lot, Tabanan 

Jimbaran/Uluwatu/Padang Padang

Last stop was Jimbaran and our hotel was very typical Indonesian bungalow (all right, quite rustic I must admit), but surprisingly, a good restaurant there. But the Uluwatu and Padang Padang beaches were so disappointing (rocks everywhere, not easy access, no sand to stretch onto….) that we only made the inescapable seafood dinner on the beach before leaving back to Seminyak.

Brothers Bungalows Balagan (7/10): quite far from everything, even if there’s a  tiny beach quite close – Jalan Pantai Balangan, Jimbaran

October 2019: Back to Seminyak and Canggu

Bali is one of our favourite destinations and we went back to the paradisiac island in October 2019 for a long weekend of 3 days. Even if we stayed in Seminyak and enjoyed the pool of our hotel, we had our best day at the Finns Beach Club in Canggu. VIP seats next to an infinity pool, delicious food, great vibes and massage, it was a dream day. 

—

A beautiful trip, not relaxing if you want try a lot of things. My advice: I wanted Mister L. to make the month driving license there because we heard so many things about police corruption in Bali. But it was not worth loosing 1 hour in the administration mess to get one as even nobody asked us our paper while we drove the sinuous roads in motorbikes.