Hello company 🙂
It’s with great humility that I finish this article on our stay in Bali and decide to publish it. Indeed, the events currently affecting Lombok and the neighboring islands cannot leave me indifferent. We were extremely lucky, as we left just a few days before the first tremors were felt. My thoughts today are obviously with Roy, our guide with whom we’ve made such good friends.
Will these people, who make their living from tourism, be able to continue working with the departure of tourists and the chain of cancellations from those who had planned their stay on the various Indonesian islands? In any case, I’m thinking sincerely of all those locals who can’t afford to leave the islands like us Westerners, and who have to carry on living despite the risks.
I hope that these tragedies will lead the authorities to implement restrictive measures, as Easter Island did recently, to preserve Bali and the Gili Islands in particular, which I believe are affected by overcrowding.
I’ll tell you more about it later, but I think Bali needs to think about its future, for its biodiversity and authenticity, given the excessive number of tourists and globalization.
Coming back to our trip, these 3 weeks off did me a world of good on so many levels. They really allowed me to disconnect from work and the pressures of everyday life. They also gave me lots of ideas for the next stage of our adventures with my boyfriend, and a boost for the blog 🙂 All in all, a real pleasure!
So how is Bali?
Before leaving, I have to confess that I didn’t really have any ideas or opinions about Bali. It was my sweetie who had rather managed the vacation and researched the destination. Apart from the photos and advice of a friend returning from Indonesia and images from the film “Mange, prie, aime” (Eat, Pray, Love), I didn’t do much research as I planned to let myself be guided by the rhythms of my desires.
After 3 weeks, I was able to discover many things and I’ll give you my impressions: I was sincerely charmed by the natural and authentic Bali, with its rice fields, numerous Hindu temples, lush vegetation and incredible fruit. On the other hand, I was very surprised to see that the island has fallen victim to mass tourism. The proximity of Australia and China, combined with the media coverage of Ubud with Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, have completely changed the Balinese way of life and mentality. The locals will have to be careful not to lose their soul in this globalization.
As you can see, I’ve got mixed feelings about Bali, but all in all, it’s still a magical destination with a lot to offer! Especially as, once you’ve bought your plane tickets, the budget on site is very reasonable, whether for visiting temples, activities or gastronomy.
In fact, I’m going to tell you all about it right now and tell you about some of my favorites.
Preparing for your trip
If you’ve read my article about our vacation in Guadeloupe, you’ll have seen that Bali was already a destination we had in mind 3 years ago. We had even bought the Guide du Routard! So, after California, the big trip of summer 2018 was a no-brainer: it would be Indonesia 🙂
So, back in October, we started searching the Guest to Guest home exchange site for available accommodation on the dates we wanted. As luck would have it, we found two accommodations. The first in Kuta, the second in Ubud. I’ll tell you more about them later in the article.
After this first step, we booked our plane and train tickets (to Paris). Strangely enough, we booked our plane tickets rather late (4-5 months in advance), which pushed up ticket prices (especially for July). We found flights with Emirates for around 950 euros (via Dubai). I really recommend it, as I found the schedules to be perfect and the value for money to be top-notch. Even in economy class, the seats are very comfortable and there’s plenty of legroom, the meals are pretty good (the teenagers managed to eat, which is quite a feat!!) and the choice of films, music and games is just incredible.
On both the outward and return journeys, I was able to see a number of very recent films that I’d missed at the cinema, and discover some nuggets! (I’m much more into dramatic films and biopics than blockbusters :)) If you’re a cinephile and interested, here are my favorites: ” Moi, Tonya“, directed by Craig Gillespie in 2017. The film traces the career of controversial sportswoman Tonya Harding, figure skating champion in the 80s and 90s,“Borg/McEnroe“, a film about one of the world’s greatest icons, Björn Borg, and his main rival, the young and talented John McEnroe, as well as their legendary duel during the 1980 Wimbledon tournament,“The Florida Project“, which follows the adventures of 6-year-old Moonee, who is let loose in a motel on the outskirts of Disney World, where she gets into mischief with her gang of cheeky kids. Finally, I was also very touched by“Three Billboards: The Panels of Vengeance” and“This is not a love story“.
For train tickets, I advise you to wait until 3 months before your departure, when the Ouigo tickets come out. Our round-trip tickets from Nantes to Paris cost around thirty euros.
The advantage of Bali is that you don’t have to worry about visas or special medical treatment.
On-site budget
As I said earlier, Bali is still a developing country, so life there is very reasonable.
On the other hand, if you’re going away for more than 10 days with your family, there are a few things you’ll need to think about, and set yourself a budget not to exceed (otherwise things can go very quickly).
If it helps, here’s what we budgeted per person for 3 weeks (excluding accommodation) – as a reminder, prices on site are quoted in Indonesian rupiahs. 1 euro = 16000/17000 rupiahs:
- Food: 15 euros per day per person on average (if you eat in local “warungs”)
- Guide (with 4 people, the scooter is not profitable and dangerous): count around 30 euros per day of excursion (close to 40 euros if the distances are longer – 500,000 to 700,000 rupees) – I advise you to ask beforehand to find a French-speaking guide, who’s nicer if you want to learn a little about the island (its history, traditions…). Otherwise, I’ve got the contact details of the lovely driver who accompanied us throughout our stay. His name is Roy and he speaks English, but he’s perfect for getting around Kuta! If you need him, don’t hesitate to ask for his contact details, and I’ll let you know.
- Visits: 20 euros per person for the whole stay for the temples (between 10,000 and 30,000 rupees per temple), and 35 € per person for the swings.
- The crossing to the Gili Islands (if you want to go there): expect to pay around 50 euros return per person on the bigger boats if you want to avoid getting sick! I recommend the Patagonia Xpress company, which is very good. On the other hand, don’t bother booking in advance on the Internet – you can negotiate fares directly on the spot!
- Deckchairs on the beach: 20 euros max for the stay (approx. 50,000 rupees per deckchair and parasol)
- Laundry: 10 euros max for the stay (about 50,000 rupees for 4 kilos)
Be careful: if you change a lot of money, you’ll end up with a lot of bills! Make sure you have somewhere to store your change. It’s best to change as you go along.
For your vacation souvenirs, just like in Africa, here you have to negotiate! Even if you don’t like it, you have to do it or they’ll be disappointed! You should know that when they start with a price, you can divide it by 3! For a small Bali Bag, for example, don’t spend more than 100,000 rupees 🙂 After that, there’s nothing to stop you (and it’s a good idea) from adding a little more. It’s all part of the country’s development.
Suitcase or backpack?
The best way to get around easily is to take a large backpack! Personally, I had a suitcase weighing almost 17 kg and a large backpack, but if you’re planning to stay in different hotels, visit the islands… I encourage you to opt for the larger, more practical bag 🙂
My second piece of advice is to travel light! It’s hard to say for a blogger like me, who loves to change outfits and plan the shoes that go with them, but there are so many beautiful things on site in terms of souvenirs, outfits and shoes that it’s better to take less and treat yourself on the spot.
Among the essentials to pack: sun cream, of course, and something to cover your head: cap…. You may also want to pack shoes for the water, as many beaches have pebbles and coral that can hurt your feet! If you’re short on space, you can rent fins, masks and snorkels on site for very little. During the 3 weeks, the shoes I used most were my flip-flops 😉 or small open shoes. Also handy: take an insulated water bottle to keep your water cool all day long.
My top 10 things to do in Bali
In our 3-week stay, we had time to see a lot, but looking back, we’re aware that we organized our trip around the accommodation we found in exchange, rather than the must-sees. If we had to do it all over again, we’d have done it differently! We missed out on a few temples, spent a lot of time in the car and didn’t fully appreciate Amed’s charm. You can’t have everything in life! But that’s why I’d like to bring you our favorites and our best advice, so that you don’t miss out on the beauties that the island and its people have to offer.
In the Amed region
1 – Snorkeling around Amed
While Bali is known the world over for its rice paddies, temples and surf beaches, it is also renowned for its seabed. The best snorkeling spots are around Amed, in the northeast of the island. This part of the island is very pleasant and a wonderful place for diving. The two spots I recommend are two wrecks, accessible by snorkeling. The best known is the wreck of the USS Liberty, a 20-minute drive from Amed. To discover it, head for Tulamben beach, where the wreck lies 50 meters from the shore. Around it, you can admire coral reefs and many multicolored fish. The second wreck is that of a Japanese boat known to locals as the“Japanese Wreck“. It is located some 20 meters off the beach in Lipah Bay , near the small village of Banyuning.
During our stay in this region, we stayed in a gîte: “le jardin”, run by André, a Frenchman and his wife. The welcome is excellent, with homemade iced tea, and the swimming pool is very pleasant. The rooms are simple but very clean, and the outdoor bathroom is very welcome, as is the hammock at the entrance.
If you’re awakened early in the morning by the sound of roosters crowing and fishermen leaving the village, take advantage of the opportunity to go for a walk on the black sandy beach (be careful with your feet if the weather’s nice, take shoes to avoid getting burnt!) located just opposite, the “lipah beach”. You may be lucky enough to see a turtle in its natural element 🙂
The two “warung” (traditional restaurants) we tried near the hotel to discover typical dishes such as nasi goreng (rice-based) and mie goreng (noodle-based) were top-notch! Go there with your eyes closed. There’s“Di Lipah Warung” and“Wayan’s Warung“.
2 – Visit the Water Palace in Tirtagangga and the Lempuyang temple
In this region, you can take a day trip to visit these two exceptional sites: one of my favorite days!
Tirtagangga is a town to the north-west of Karangasem. It is home to a magnificent royal park, the “Water Palace”. Many people mistake it for a temple, but it’s actually a palace. This 1.5-hectare park was built for the Raja of Karangasem in 1940 and belongs to the royal family of Karangasem. Admission costs 30,000 rupees per person. It is possible to bathe in the cool water for an additional 10,000 rupees.
The ponds, adorned with statues, are magnificent. Small flagstones allow you to stroll around the pond and feed the Koi carp. I really enjoyed discovering the whole palace and improvising a photo shoot 🙂
After this visit, head for Lempuyang.
The entrance fee depends on your donation, and you can borrow a sarong for 10,000 rupees.
Lempuyang Temple is one of Bali’s most sacred Hindu temples. It’s a place that has to be earned, especially for cars as the climb is vertiginous, but it’s well worth the detour. At the summit, the view of the Agung volcano is magical. It is made up of 7 temples, the last of which is at the summit. It takes 4 hours to reach it, climbing 1,700 steps through the wilderness. We stopped at the first and second temples. Stairs lead up to a gigantic, symbolic white stone gate, as if suspended in mid-air. It’s this famous door that’s so famous on Instagram. Don’t expect to see a body of water in front of the door – the mirror effect at the bottom is made with a simple pane of glass placed near the phone’s lens!
The temple’s courtyard is simple, but the carved staircases, depicting nagas (mythical snakes), are impressive. Their bodies undulate along the steps, ending in an imposing dragon’s head (note that only the left and right steps are passable. The central ones are reserved for ceremonies).
This was a very special occasion for us, as Roy, our guide, was visiting the site for the first time. He had planned many offerings and a ceremonial outfit. It was very important for him to pray for his whole family, as normally all Hindu Balinese must make a pilgrimage to the Lempuyang temple once in their lives. He took the time to explain to us what the “puja” was all about. It’s a rite of offering and worship. The puja is a ritual designed to bring about the “descent” of a deity into an image representing him, a statue or a symbol such as a lingam. The invocation, performed by the officiant, begins with the tinkling of a bell, which summons the divinity. It continues with the offering of fresh flowers, food and incense, accompanied by music and the recitation of mantras.
Along the way, young girls offer you various local fruits, including the famous “salak” or snake fruit.
In the Ubud region
3 – Pamper yourself in Ubud: a yoga session, Balinese massage and vegan meal
Ubud really was my favorite place in Bali. Here, “Eat, Pray, Love” takes on its full meaning. If you want to take a break, disconnect from social networks, enter into meditation… the town is the ideal place. Vegan food, yoga, massages… Wellness is the watchword. You’ll need to stay for at least a week to get the most out of the place and its surroundings.
The advantage of the accommodation we found on the Guest to Guest website was that it was ideally located, in the heights of Ubud. I’d really recommend this area, as the scenery is incredible, very soothing with its vegetation and alleyways a little set back from Ubud’s tourist center, but which can be reached on foot in around twenty minutes. However, I wouldn’t recommend staying in this house, as it’s too dirty and run-down.
Nearby, two things you absolutely must try: the“Intuitive Flow” yoga studio and the“Yellow Flower Café” vegan restaurant.
It was the first time in my life I’d ever taken a yoga class! At 7 euros a session, in a magical place with an incredible view, it’s definitely worth a try. This moment to yourself allows you to reconnect with your body and release all your tensions.
After your session, to continue on the path to well-being, go for lunch at the nearby Yellow Flower Café. This is a popular restaurant, as both the view and the food are to die for!
My boyfriend and I had a romantic dinner and came back with the kids to enjoy some exquisite vegetarian dishes: avocado, mint and feta brushetta with tomato salad, rice pancakes stuffed with a variety of vegetables. All accompanied by fresh fruit juices and desserts, each more delicious than the last: from coconut topped with banana and chocolate to coconut brownies and smoothie bowls… Our bodies said thank you :)!!!
To round off your wellness break, treat yourself to a Balinese massage. There are plenty of massage centers in town. I’m not much of a massage girl, but I have to admit that Ubud is the perfect place to take a break and let yourself go. Close to the house, there was a center offering very good value for money: the Sedona Spa. My men tried out the massages and really enjoyed them. As for me, I treated myself to a leg massage, manicure and nail polish 🙂
4 – Attend a “Kecak” dance: a traditional show
It’s impossible to leave the island without attending at least one traditional dance performance.
Ubud is the ideal place to treat yourself to a cultural evening. The town offers around ten shows every evening, many of them of the highest quality. To choose, we relied on the reviews on the Trip Advisor website and went to see the“Kecak Fire & Trance Dance“. Honestly, I was really seduced and enchanted by the singing! I felt I had a better understanding of Balinese beliefs.
The Kecak is a Balinese vocal percussion choir (made up of around 100 men seated on the floor in a circle) that accompanies trances during rituals. The show recounts the episode in which the monkeys help Prince Rāma defeat the demon Ravana to recover his wife Sītā, kidnapped by the latter. To do this, they sing the distinctive “chak-a-chak-a-chak” uninterruptedly and make synchronized movements around the various characters in the story who intervene at the center of the chorus.
At the end of the show, a fire is lit with coconut shells and a man walks barefoot through the embers. Impressive, but I felt bad for him 🙂
5 – Visit the waterfalls and temples around Ubud
The region is so culturally rich that two days won’t be enough to visit the magnificent rice fields and temples around Ubud. Here are my program suggestions (to be discussed with your tour leader/guide/driver):
Day 1: Taman Ayun Temple, Jatiluwih rice fields, Ulun Danu Beratan temple
Rest assured, on our excursions, we always took time for breakfast. After all, we’re on vacation! Roy, our driver, always picked us up by 10:00 am. As a result, we always got home after dark, between 6:00 and 8:00 pm.
Taman Ayun is a beautiful temple located in the town of Mengwi. Surrounded by water, it is perfectly maintained, as until the end of the 19th century, the town was the capital of a powerful kingdom. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the temple organizes numerous cultural activities to promote its traditions. As luck would have it, we happened upon the Barong Dance Festival, entitled “Festival Taman Ayun Barong”.
After this very interesting first visit, we head for the magnificent Jatiluwih rice fields. As we drive along the rice fields, it becomes clear why Unesco wishes to protect this panorama. For a few rupees, you can enter the area and enjoy the scenery. Better still, stop and take the footpath through the fields to observe the physical labor of the Balinese on the terraces. Incredible.
To bring the day to a wonderful close, we climbed a little higher into the mountains to reach the Ulun Danu Beratan temple. Even if, for once, the weather wasn’t perfect on the lake, the setting was still magical. The temple, dedicated to the goddess of water, sits as if on the lake. The walk around it is very pleasant and relaxing.
Totally by chance, I came across Margot, the influencer better known as“You Make Fashion“. She was vacationing in Bali at the same time as us, with her brother and mother. You can find her article with good restaurant addresses and her vlogs on her You Tube channel.
Day 2 : Tegenungan / Pura Gunung Kawi / Tirta Empul Holy Spring
If you love waterfalls, you’ll love this first visit! Tenenungan Waterfall is located in Sukawati, between Ubud and Sanur.
For 15,000 rupees per person and a bit of sport (a hundred or so steps), you’ll be able to take some great souvenir photos. Despite the many tourists, I really enjoyed the impressive waterfall and the lush vegetation surrounding it. The Balinese are well aware that an “Instagrammable” site gets more visitors! As a result, a number of wooden spotlights have been installed, allowing you to shoot with the waterfall in the background. At the entrance, you can also enjoy a bite to eat.
Pura and Tirta Empul Holy Spring
One of my big disappointments of the trip: not having visited these two temples!
We missed out on a day to do them, but if I ever come back to Bali, I’ll definitely do them! From what I’ve seen in the guidebooks, these two temples look incredible. They’re both located in Tampaksiring, about thirty minutes north of Ubud.
The first temple: Gunung Kawi is apparently set in a valley with pretty rice fields. You have to climb down some steps and venture out into nature to reach the place where the rock was cut and sculpted.
Last but not least, the Tirta Empul spring is a sacred spring that attracts many pilgrims every day, who come to purify themselves in these so-called “miraculous” waters. Like Lempuyang, the site is very important spiritually for the Balinese, who try to go there once a year to purify themselves. Many of them bring back the sacred water of Tirta Empul in water bottles to bless their homes, cars…
The purification pool has 13 fountains with different names (the last 2 are reserved only for deaths in the family). The Balinese begin by placing an offering at the main temple so that they can bathe in the pool and pass under the fountains to pray. Putting your head under the fountains cleanses you of impure thoughts and internal demons.
Tourists can purify themselves at Tirta Empul, but it’s best to ask a guide how.
My final tip for visiting Ubud is simply to enjoy the surrounding area. If you go in the morning, for example, you can take the time to admire the Balinese women placing offerings at the foot of houses and stores.
Yes, those hundreds of little palm-leaf baskets you’ll come across on the ground, filled with rice, flowers and little cakes, are offerings called Segehan, which the Hindu Balinese offer to the demons every morning. Don’t worry if you step on them, it’s the act of placing the offering that’s important.
Afterwards, you can take in the rice paddies on the outskirts of the town, before ending up in the center, where you’ll find the Ubud Palace.
6 – Taste Balinese cuisine
If there’s one thing I really enjoyed in Bali, it was the food! As a near-vegetarian who LOVES tofu, I really enjoyed tasting Balinese dishes. Especially since for just a few rupees, you can get really good food. Admittedly, you sometimes have to be careful not to ask for the dish to be too spicy (otherwise it may be inedible for you), but apart from that, it’s all good fun!
On a daily basis, the Balinese eat two main dishes: Nasi Goreng or Mie Goreng, a simple dish based on rice or noodles, fried and served with tofu, chicken or shrimp, as well as crackers.gado-gado an Indonesian culinary specialty, consisting of a salad of crunchy vegetables, or glutinous rice, topped with a peanut sauce.
With the dish, you can drink“Teh botol“, a local ice tea very popular with young Indonesians, or the local beer “Bintang”, very light and refreshing.
For dessert, try a fruit that’s totally unknown to us: salak or dragon fruit, with its magical pink/purple color.
To conclude on the subject of gastronomy, I also recommend a few good addresses, tested and approved during the stay:
- In Ubud: the White Orchid and the Uno restaurant near the Ubud Palace.
- In Kuta/Legian (near our apartment): Bamboo Warung (local food with very good value for money) as well as the “Kynd” café I’ll tell you about just below 🙂
In the Kuta region
7 – Treat yourself to Smoothies Bowl at Kynd
Kynd Community is THE vegan coffee shop in Seminyak that all bloggers love, because its pink wall and tropical flowers are perfect for Instragram photos, accompanied by pretty (and tasty!) smoothie bowls, café lattes and coconut juices.
I really love this coffee shop concept, where you can find souvenirs, something to eat, have a drink and take pretty pictures. In a second professional adventure, I dream of being able to open a concept of this kind with healthy and good products, and a cool theme that you want to photograph 🙂 It’s given me some great ideas that I’ve already scribbled down in a notebook… it makes you dream!
8 – Take a surf lesson at Legian Beach
If there’s one cool thing I didn’t know when I left for Bali, it’s that one part of the island was reputed to be a great surfing spot. No wonder all the big brands like Billabong, Quiksilver and Rip Curl have their stores and some surf schools in the south of the island.
So for me, who’s super chilly but quite sporty and loves board sports, Bali was the perfect place to take my first surfing lesson! With Morgan, my son-in-law, we found a really nice instructor on Legian beach at the Yogi Surf school. For almost 2h00, we learned, first on the beach and then in practice in the water, how to catch the wave and stand up on the board. I loved this first experience! Even though I got a nice bruise on my thigh and burns on my fingertips, I’d happily do it all over again 🙂
9 – Visit the temples on the coast: Uluwatu Temple and Tanah Lot
Even if the south of Bali (Kuta in particular) is very touristy and too standardized (shopping malls with all the big international brands like pull & bear, zara etc.), I have to admit that the coast is very pleasant, with its heavenly beaches and cliffs on which temples stand.
The first temple we visited during our stay in the south of the island was Uluwatu. Built atop a sheer cliff, the temple is inhabited by a colony of robber monkeys! Once you’ve paid your entrance fee (30,000 rupees for adults) and put on your sarong, put away your cell phone and glasses and securely fasten your camera strap. The animals have understood that when they manage to steal something, the guides offer them food in exchange… They’re very clever 🙂 Move on, then, and head for the beautiful walk that will take you to the heights.
The second temple on the coast is Tanah Lot.
Pura Tanah Lot” is a popular pilgrimage site for tourists and photographers, especially at the end of the day when the sun sets. It is one of Bali’s seven sea temples. These temples are built along the coast in such a way that the next one can always be seen from the previous one. They are all Hindu in style.
10 – See the beautiful beaches and sunsets on the Bukit peninsula
The Bukit peninsula is located in the very south of Bali, south of the airport. It boasts fine sandy beaches, and the waves are gentler than in Kuta. No wonder Club Med and other luxury hotels have decided to set up here.
For sunbathing, lounging by the water’s edge and admiring the sunsets, this is the ideal place to stay for a few days.
If you don’t feel like rubbing shoulders with the palaces of Nusa Dua and prefer a “cooler” clientele, I recommend the town of Jimbaran. The atmosphere is really nice, especially if you’d like to enjoy freshly caught fish on the beach and on the barbecue.
I’d also recommend watching the sunset on Padang-Padang Beach and the small beach of Dreamland, where surfers enjoy the last of the rollers before nightfall.
5 things I wouldn’t do again in Bali
1 – Go to an agrotourism to taste Luwak Coffee
On the road between Kuta and Ubud, Roy, our driver, suggested a visit to taste the “Luwak Coffee”, a coffee that is the pride of the Balinese. Indeed, it has the reputation of being the most expensive in the world. On arrival, we first pass by some sad-looking cages of small animals: the Luwak (local name for the palm civet). Next, the guide explains how this famous coffee is made. The “kopi luwak” is a coffee harvested from the animal’s excrement, as digestion is almost non-existent.
The civet consumes coffee cherries, digesting the pulp but not the pit, which ends up in its excrement. In the luwak’s digestive tract, gastric juices – composed of enzymes that divide protein chains into smaller chains or individual amino acids – transform the coffee bean’s aroma in a beneficial way.
This coffee is produced mainly in the Indonesian archipelago, in Sumatra, Java, Bali, Sulawesi, the Philippines and East Timor.
When I asked why the animals were locked up and not in the wild, the guide, who seemed embarrassed by my question, replied that it was to protect them from dangers: humans, roads etc… Not convinced 🙁
At the end of the tour, the guide offered us a free tasting of 12 different coffees and teas, then explained that it was possible to order a luwak coffee (50,000 rupees) and buy products at the exit. As the teas were far too sweet and tasteless, we tried a cup of luwak coffee and left.
Frankly, I wouldn’t advise you to take this kind of tour, which endorses a business where the authenticity of the coffee leaves much to be desired. You might also wonder about these nocturnal animals on display in cages in broad daylight.
2 – Gili Trawangan
At first glance, it’s clear that the Gili Islands look like paradise. A real postcard landscape: fine white sand, translucent water, no cars on the islands…
But behind these landscapes lies another image that I personally didn’t appreciate.
First of all, the island is overcrowded with young foreigners keen to party and thinking more about drinking than visiting and discovering the culture. Forget group snorkelling trips during school vacations, otherwise you’ll be like us, surrounded by a hundred people in flippers wanting to see the same spots: statues, turtle point… pretty but not extraordinary…
Secondly, behind all the talk of “sustainable development” without cars, we find an island that manages its waste very poorly. You only have to go to the middle of Tragawan, where tourists are not welcome, to realize that there are open-air garbage dumps.
Finally, the horse-drawn carriages that take tourists to the luxury hotels are often overloaded and pulled by very tired horses. In three days on the island, I’ve never seen the owners of these carriages give them a drink. Clearly, I don’t condone this kind of treatment of animals. The same goes for the horses used on the beaches to take photos with tourists.
After the negative points, if you still want to visit Gili, I recommend Meno or Air, which are less developed.
Otherwise on Trawagan, I still enjoyed our hotel and the evening when we were able to swim with a turtle, which came very close to the beach.
If you would like to stay there, here are some of my good addresses:
- Hotel Bintang Darmawan Villa (BDV) : it’s a ten-minute walk from the beach where the boats arrive, so there’s no need for a horse-drawn carriage 🙂
- Pituq Café : a vegetarian restaurant to die for. The setting is as romantic as you could wish for, with its little huts on stilts where you can enjoy your meal sitting cross-legged. Tasty dishes and an inventive cuisine that revisits some well-known desserts to our delight 🙂 Make sure you book well in advance, otherwise it’s almost always fully booked.
- Casa Vintage restaurant in the center of the island: this concept store features a roof-top bar-restaurant. In the evening, the atmosphere is really cool with its little garlands. You can enjoy delicious tapas and salad bowls.
The Italian restaurant across the street is also worth a visit, with its wood-fired pizzas 🙂
3 – Bali Swing
On Bali, this type of park, made up of swings, attracts many tourists. Had it been just the two of us, it’s clear that we wouldn’t have wasted a day swinging. But with teenagers, I have to admit that we got carried away. Admittedly, you’ll have to be patient to put up with the 15,000 Chinese tourist poses before your turn, but overall it’s a pleasant place to be. For lunch, the buffet is included and the staff are very friendly. The photos are really good and the sensations are great. To sum up… if you’re a family and you’re prepared to spend 35 euros per person, the day is well worth it. If you’re a couple and don’t give a damn about social networking, pass!
Good to know: you can book directly online and ask for a free shuttle from Ubud! (the driver picks you up near Ubud Palace and brings you back at the end of the day :))
4 – Visit Denpasar and its market
During our week in Kuta, in order to meet the locals and live like them, we decided to take a “bemo”, a small blue minibus, which is hard to find as the Balinese tend to travel by scooter or cab. Near Kuta’s information center, the“ITIC – Indonesia Tourist Information Center” (very useful for ideas on sightseeing and outings), we found one that took us to Denpasar (for 10,000 rupiah per person).
We’d seen in the Guide du Routard that the market could be interesting, but honestly, after the walk, I didn’t find anything extraordinary. It’s true that souvenir prices are much cheaper… but they’re not worth the detour.
5 – Batuan temple
As we were on the road between Kuta and Ubud, our driver suggested we visit the Batuan temple. I would have preferred to visit the Goa Gadja cave and the Yeh Puluh site, located close to Ubud. These sites seem unusual and worth the effort, especially with an English-speaking guide. The Pura Kehen in Bangli also looks very beautiful.
To conclude this article, I’d like to share with you the videos made by Maël, my son-in-law. They’ll give you a musical introduction to the different landscapes we saw during our trip.
I hope this story will help you prepare for your trip, and if you have any further questions after reading my article, please don’t hesitate to leave me a comment. I’d be delighted to hear from you and help you plan your trip.
See you soon for new adventures 🙂
