What to do in Bali?

We flew to Denpasar, Bali from Labuan Bajo on April 1st. The itinerary in Bali included two nights in Seminyak, two nights in Ubud, and one night in Legian. My brother joined us in Seminyak, which is one of the main touristy/beach areas in Bali.

Coffee/tea/cocoa tasting in Ubud

Hubby and brother hanging out at the Indigo Hotel lobby

Our next stop for two nights was Indigo Hotel in Seminyak, a five-star that was just finished built last year. I love how well-thought out every single piece of this hotel is.  Its lobby is massive, and well-decorated with intricate little details. You also get access to a private beach. We got a free room upgrade (wooot!) and were able to get an extra bed at no additional charge. We used IHG (InterContinental Hotels Groups) points for our two-night stay, so everything was pretty much free except for the breakfast buffet (25 USD/person, but they gave us a discount so we only paid 12.5 USD/person plus 21% tax -about 205,000 IDR/person). I know the rate's rather high compared to the local standard, but given the variety and quality of the breakfast it was well worth it, especially for those who can eat haha!

Indigo Hotel lobby

Sunset at the beach, Indigo Hotel

We went on a rafting trip along the Ayung River in Ubud on our first full day in Bali. It is a 12-km long, level 2-3 class rapids (hence slower pace/not as thrilling, safe for non-swimmers/beginners).. still quite fun though. Telaga Waja, a river with a higher class of rapids is currently still closed due to the impact of Mt Agung lava spewing late last year, causing mud filling most of the rafting track. 

Mt. Batur, the view we passed on our way to the coffee plantation

The company we did the rafting with was called Red Paddle Bali Adventures. Our rafting tour costed 390,000 IDR/pax (about 29 USD/person). This included a pick up from our hotel in Seminyak (took about 1 hr 15 minutes to get to the departure point in Ubud from our hotel Seminyak) and a drop-off on the way back. The published adult rate for Ayung river rafting on Red Paddle's website is 975,000 IDR/person (roughly 72 USD), but we did book ours through baliwhitewaterrafting.info, which turned out to be a lot cheaper. Another reputable company we know, which we did a rafting trip with prior to this, would be Sobek. Their rate is about the same as Red Paddle, but you could probably get a cheaper deal booking it through another company. Not sure how this whole thing works, but just remember to shop around before booking. Read reviews on www.tripadvisor.com to get a good idea of how other reviewers felt about many different rafting companies in Bali.

Red Paddle provided us with welcome drinks, clean towels/adequate shower facility at the end of the trip, and delicious lunch buffet. The entire tour lasted for about five hours. We got picked up at Indigo Hotel at 8 am and returned to town around 2:30 pm. Overall, for 29 bucks it was a pretty sweet deal.

After Seminyak, we headed 30 km north to Ubud. It's a little less touristy than Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, and Jimbaran -Ubud is such a perfect place to just relax! There are a lot of shops selling paintings and other forms of arts in most of Ubud, few art museums if you fancy looking at some creations made by local artists, and not to forget.. their famous monkey forest.

Our room in Tegal Sari

We stayed at Tegal Sari on Hanoman St. It's a big complex surrounded by a garden and rice paddies. Check our their beauty on www.tegalsari-ubud.com. We loved it a lot and can't wait to return there on our next visit in Ubud!

There are quite a few spas nearby. We visited two while in Ubud: Putri Sari Spa on Jl. Raya Sangginan (putribalispa.com) and Jelatik Spa on Jl. Monkey Forest (jelatikesthetic.com). I highly recommend both places, perhaps Jelatik more so than Putri Bali for its spotless facility and great location -just across Tegal Sari from the Monkey Forest entrance side. On the plus side, Putri Sari Spa provides free shuttle services. As for pricing, they're pretty comparable. Reservations are encouraged and can be done directly on their websites. 

Stopping by rice paddy on our cycling tour

So.. what else to do in Bali? We decided to fill our full day in Ubud with a cycling trip. The tour included coffee/tea/cocoa tasting at BAS coffee plantation in Ubud in the morning, then a three-hour (mostly downhill) cycling in rural Ubud. A scrumptious lunch buffet awaited us at the end of the tour. Our cycling group consisted of 8 people including two guides. The price tag of this tour was 500,000 IDR/pax (about 37 USD/person), this included pick-up and drop-off to our hotel. If you're interested in this little cycling adventure, check out their website on www.greenbiketour.com.

Our Bali trip came to an end. After a two-night stay in Ubud, we headed to Legian. Stayed the last night at Swiss Bel-Inn Legian on Jl. Padma Utara. We visited La Karma Spa and Santai Spa, both on Jl. Padma Utara on our last two days in Bali. We've been going to Santai Spa for many years now, so getting massages there is almost a given whenever we're in Bali. The facility may not be as nice as Jelatik Spa in Ubud, but it's clean and comfortable. The therapist are also consistently well-trained despite a lot of them came and went over the years. La Karma has been our back-up plan whenever we can't get a reservation at Santai. The nice thing about La Karma is that they have three locations (two in Legian, one in Seminyak), and you almost never need a reservation as they have several masseuses on stand-by.

Ayung rafting!

There were some vacations where I felt rather glad heading home, but this certainly wasn't one of them. We left Bali April 6th and still wish it weren't over.

So Bali, until next time!