just wondering if any of you have been to bali, we are heading there in a couple of weeks, wrote up a bit of a itinerary but any input from people would be great,
places to go/see etc, places you stayed????
we haven’t booked accommodation yet was going to head over there and see where we fancy many thanks

Yes, we went there for our honeymoon. It’s not very big, so you can see most of what’s worth seeing in a short amount of time. We went to Gili Trawangan (actually Lombok not Bali, but ignore that technicality) for a few days, which was amazing. Then Ubud for a few more days, which was very nice indeed. Then Sanur for the last few days, which was also quite splendid. Nice place.

Have a look at agoda.com for hotels / beach resorts.

Negatives – Bali is now covered in beach resorts of varying quality.

Positives – many of these are very nice if you like that sort of thing. A trip inland and away from the coast will yield a little more of the real Bali, it’s popular with the hippy set or whatever they are called these days as If you look a little there is a bit of a “scene”. There are a few harder to get to Islands which are great. I’m not sure if it’s in season but the diving is very good if you go to the right places.

theflatboy – we where looking at heading to the gili islands just wasn’t to sure which one, heard trawangan was more the party island and air was the more layed back romantic place…..is that correct?

The busy towny parts are razzle dazzle – fake goods, methanol cocktails, massage parlours and Ozzies on hols. Bali for us is like costa-del-sol for Brits.

Having said that, hire a taxi for the day ($15-20) and go up into the mountains, see the volcanos, visit some temples and the villages. Beautiful and truly friendly people once you get out from the touristy bits. Beaches arent’t amazing compared to Oz – lots of litter, but the surf is good if you’re into that kinda thing. If you hire a jetski pay attention to the condition of said jetski as a usual con is to charge you for “damage” when it’s returned! Bali Hard-Rock cafe have some good Indonesian bands on that play covers.

Oh and pay attention to the tsunami signs.

Drink Bintang, buy the vest and the stubby-cooler.

I liked it – it’s cheap. Get off the beaten and explore.

Watch out when you’re on public roads walking, ppl trying to con you or rob you. If you buy something and they offer to wrap it, check you have what you paid for before leaving the store.

Go to Ubud,

avoid the coast and it’s resorts, prepare for drunk aussies at the airport,

inland a beautiful place,

the smell of incense and the sound of chiming bells always takes me back there and is burned into my memory for ever,

visit the volcano Batur and the other larger one Agung in the north,

monkey forest and cremation site in Ubud is worth a look too,

It’s relatively cheap, very safe ( i had no problems walking through villages off the beaten track the locals are very relaxed and willing to engage)

someone may try to sell you something carved from wood for quite a lot of cash especially if your taxi driver takes you to a carving shop, this and the drunk fosters swigging louts is the only nuisance.

enjoy

Have you been jekkyl? We’ve had very different experiences if you have!

Jekkyl, that didn’t happen to us once in the entire time we were there. Our understanding from before we went and the Aussies we know is that Kuta is the place to avoid as it’s as aphex and potentially Jekyll describe. Of the parts we went to Sanur was arguably the closest to that.

As for the Gilis, the difference you mention are probably right – we inadvertently went go Gili T in Ramadan so the party atmosphere was a bit lacking! Lovely, though.

Gili T beach bar sunset by theflatboy, on Flickr

Chairs at Batur Volcano by theflatboy, on Flickr

Mass transportation Ubud style by theflatboy, on Flickr

pics look awesome and defiantly going to try and get up to see the volcanos, im sure the beachs will be amazing compared to blackpool lol

We honeymooned there last year. Was ace. We stayed clear of Kuta etc and spent the majority of time outside ubud and up on the north coast.

Seriously, whether you have a love of nature or not, if you are in Ubud, book a walk with Bali Bird Walks. Sumadi is an amazingly fun, enthusiastic and knowledgable guide. Mrs Beagle, likes a walk but not standing round watching birds, but she enjoyed just as much as me. Not just birds, you walk through local villages, paddy fields and you get all the local knowledge of that too – farming, village life, culture etc. Great stuff! Included in the price is lunch afterwards. I had veg curry with caramelised banana. And an ice cold Bintang. Mmm.

The people were fantastic, friendly and if ever you were asked to buy anything, a polite ‘no thanks’ sufficed.

We made effort to learn a little Balinese (not Indonesian) and people REALLY appreciated that, more than anywhere else I/we’ve been.

We pushed the boat out, but can certainly recommend Spa Village Resort in Tembok, if you fancy a real switch off and unwind for a few days. Incredibly relaxing, and the opposite of our West Coast/island Scotland trip this year!!

thanks beagle we did look at the bird walk but couldnt decide if it would be interesting or not will add it to the list many thanks for the help

Went in February 2010 with kids. Prepare for a long flight.

I would advise taking American dollars as these were taken just about anywhere and it is easier to calculate how much you are spending or being ripped off. Baggage handlers will take advantage if you are not familiar with the currency. Get your visa sorted before the airport at Bali as there was long wait otherwise (2-2.5 hours).

Be prepared for very persisting water sports attentants and masseurs on most beaches.

We honeymooned there about 5 yrs ago – did Ubud which was great – a days cookery course was good fun and we went to a shadow puppet show as well which was worth it. We stayed at Como Shambhala the at Ubud Hanging gardens – each for about 5 days and both very nice. We then went north of Kuta to Petitenget, next to Seminyak, for a beach break. i-escape.com has some good hotel listings which we then booked direct.

We were in Bali at Easter. Yep, looong flight but worth it. Spent the first couple of days in Sanur, where we first discovered Bintang in a cracking little bar called Linga Longa with a brilliant house acoustic band. Whilst staying in Sanur we took a trip out to Ubud and did one of the bike tours with Bali on Bike. The bikes weren’t up to much, but the scenery and culture was spot on. Friendly guide, and a lovely meal put on for us at the end. Were sent on our way back in the taxi with several bottles of Bintang to keep us hydrated…

Middle portion of the holiday was spent in Tulamben to get some scuba diving done. Loads of fish, including bumphead parrotfish (though an early start was needed to see them on the USAT Liberty wreck) and barracuda. Apart from a perforated eardrum on the final dive at 5am, this was utterly brilliant.

Final few days spent in a small “resort” of seperate bungalows with a bar/restauraunt and pool a couple of miles further down the road. Would have been great had I not spent the entire time in agony and unable to sleep with the aforementioned ear trouble.

Flight back was horrible thanks to KLM managing to get everything wrong, which on top of our bags being delayed by 24 hours on the way out has put us off them somewhat. But despite this, we’re itching to go back sometime in the future

thanks for all the help and ideas really appreciate them, not sure how to get a visa in advance, will do some more research though, and we choose not to fly klm due to previous problems and booked etihad instead,,,,,not sure if there better just know they sponsor city lol

also wondering if anyone stayed in jakarta as we will be flying there first before getting a connecting flight to bali

Jakarta is a dirty great city! Just sprawling, noisy and smelly. I quite liked it. If anything it will just serve to emphasise the tranquility and beauty of Bali.

This was worth a visit:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istiqlal_Mosque

I’d echo the posts above about getting inland to see the good bits of Bali, particularly Ubud.

If you want some beach time, I would avoid the coast of Bali completely and head to Lombok or the Gilis. Kuta for example, couldn’t be further removed from it’s namesake in Bali, Gili T for partying (especially if you enjoy a mushroom shake 😈 ), Gili Air or Meno for tranquility.

Alternatively take an inexpensive flight from Bali to Labuan Bajo and visit Komodo and Flores to see Komodo Dragons. You can do an overnight boat trip, sleeping on the boat under an amazing blanket of stars. The national park is pretty amazing, one of my favourite places in Indo. The Komodo national park is also worth going to if you’re an an experienced, advanced diver. Some of the best diving I’ve done in SE Asia, particularly if you like big pelagic life (Mantas, Sharks, etc).

Jakarta is good for a night out, I particularly like Skye bar, a rooftop haven where you can really get a sense of the sprawl of “The Big Durian”. Also worth giving Stadium a visit, totally safe but not for the fainthearted!

I’m a regular visitor to Bali and other parts of Indonesia, so if you have any specific questions feel free to drop me an email…

B

Watch out when you’re on public roads walking, ppl trying to con you or rob you.

Not my experience at all…I’m not sure why anyone would bother trying to switch around an object you bought for a dummy in wrapping paper – all that’s going to happen is they’ll have some angry red-faced tourist yelling at them twenty minutes later, and they’ll have paid sod all for the objet d’art in the first place.

Everyone in Jakarta was very nice to me, and we went to a couple of very nice restaurants, but despite having a pretty high tolerance for unglamorous places, I thought it was just a bit of a dump and wouldn’t go back without a good reason…