So – it was close but the ultimate winner is the Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay.
Without doubt the value for money winner is the Hotel Indigo
Best Villa goes to St Regis Nusa Dua
The service at both the Sayan and Jimbaran Bay Four Seasons was the best
The best Villa Pool was the Indigo
I’d go back to all but the W in a heart beat!
| St Regis Nusa Dua | W Semenyak | Indigo Semenyak | 4 Seasons Sayan | 4 Seasons Jimbaran Bay | |
| Villa | 10.00 | 6.50 | 9.75 | 9.50 | 9.50 |
| Villa Pool | 7.00 | 8.50 | 9.00 | 8.00 | 7.50 |
| Main pool/s | 10.00 | 3.00 | 8.00 | 9.50 | 10.00 |
| Hotel Grounds | 9.00 | 6.00 | 8.50 | 10.00 | 10.00 |
| Beach | 9.00 | 5.00 | 7.00 | 9.50 | |
| Service | 9.50 | 7.50 | 9.50 | 10.00 | 10.00 |
| Vibe | 10.00 | 3.00 | 9.00 | 10.00 | 10.00 |
| Ammenities | 10.00 | 5.00 | 10.00 | 8.00 | 8.00 |
| Value for money | 8.00 | 8.00 | 10.00 | 9.00 | 8.00 |
| Extra’s/upgrades | 10.00 | 5.00 | 10.00 | 8.00 | 10.00 |
| Hotel food | 7.50 | 8.25 | 8.75 | 9.00 | 9.50 |
| Total score | 9.09 | 5.98 | 9.05 | 9.10 | 9.27 |
You never know if you have saved the best till last – until you get to the end. But on this occasion – I think we can safely say that we did….just.
Children are always catered for well at the Four Seasons, from special amenities, to treats, to a take home beach bag and swim top. They genuinely love kids and are happy to wisk them away to feed fish, hunt for water lizards and be entertained.
As you would expect from a Four Seasons the service was impeccable. They have a great iPhone app from which you can text for a buggy, make a restaurant reservation or order up room service. It is prompt and easy and made a big difference. It was too easy to be at the beach and just magically text for a buggy to deliver you back to the room, or to track down the flip flops your small person left at the other end of the property.
Concluding this degustation tour here, at this resort was the right call. There was no better place to finish up our last day.
As we head towards the end of this Bali Villa degustation tour I am starting to feel hungry rather than full! There are so many resorts to explore and so much possibility. The great thing about Bali is the variety and how well they do it. I can see why it is a favourite for many people.
A complimentary guided walk, takes you through the jungle to a local house, where you are welcomed inside and can see close up how the Balinese people in the area live. They were incredibly welcoming and kind. It also gives you an insight into how the hotel has helped its community, paying rent, providing jobs and supporting their way of life.
Along with the guided walk there are also numerous complimentary yoga classes, cycle tours and paid activities on offer every day – like river rafting, secret temple tours and a Balinese cooking school. In the evenings there is traditional music and dance in the lobby bar.
The villa pool is deep and perfectly big enough, but the riverside main pool was outstanding so we swam there each day. The villa pool was perfect for a quick dip to cool off if you needed to. Once again it is incredibly private.
It has been a very different experience and one I would absolutely recommend. No visit to Bali is complete without some time spent in Ubud. It is worth the hassle to get here and if budget allows, definitely worth staying a few nights at this resort.
Is it worthy of the travel and leisure magazine award – best hotel in the world?
Villa: Huge and wonderfully so. Good value for money (but who cares I don’t pay) and a garden of our own, not to mention a huge deck complete with three seating areas. Bliss. Villa Pool: Finally, a deep pool! I have been dealing with 1.2 and 1.3M this entire holiday. How wonderful this feels with an amazing 1.56M deep private pool. I have high hopes for the next place.
You enter via a stunning gilded door into a courtyard that has the pool, a day bed, loungers and an outdoor writing desk. The small person has made great use of the desk especially. There is an outdoor shower and access from the lounge, indoor shower or bathroom. It is well thought out and the spaces is beautiful.
St. Regis still wins, but probably because I don’t pay any of the money for these places. Advantages of childhood. Personally, I believe the villa is great. Though the swimming pool is only 1.2m deep, a little chilly, and there is a serious lack of a garden, the villa is amazing and thank goodness, it doesn’t look like a cell! Unfortunately several tiles fell off the roof during our stay onto the floor and into the pool. Unbelievable. The people we phoned didn’t believe us either.
My personal favourite thing in the Purple Hotel is the shared space outside our villa with the hammock. It’s wonderful. And I only fell off once, despite what my mother will tell you…
To say that arriving at the W after the St Regis was a culture shock, was a bit of an understatement!
The hotel was fully booked with a summer music festival and concert in a few days. That meant the main pool was a construction site as they built a stage covering half of it. A little frustrating as on line they advised that construction would start on the 4th, a day after we checked out. Because of that I suspect we missed the full glory of what the shared pool spaces should be. Still we were fairly happy to hang in our villa pool rather than fight the hoards for a pink bean bag in the sun.
The views across the beach to the sunset are spectacular and there are two bars to choose from to have you sundowner offering happy hour discounts.
The beach is full of sunset seekers, surfers and families. But it is far from a beautiful pristine beach, littered with rubbish and plastic. Swimming was not advised when we were there as the surf was pounding and currents strong. The sand is course and brown, so not as pretty as where we were in Nusa Dua. If you had young children and swimming in the sea was important to you- Seminyak is not the beach for you. But every hotel or beach club has a great pool area.
Dotted along the surf are hotel after hotel with beach clubs interspersed between, so you are never far from a cold dip or a drink at a bar. The Legian a short stroll down the beach front offered spectacular sunset views across the pool.
The W is definitely fun, tongue in check and just a little bit naughty.
This was a step-down. The only step-up was dinner and the private pool. The main pool was half gone because of some construction for a music festival
The entrance to the hotel was pretty cool.
I still dislike the service, because I suspect they are the reason for the disappearance of my pretzel sticks…that, or my father. He didn’t disappear – unfortunately.
This trip was meant to be a sneaky 10 day bonus holiday to use up some air miles that were expiring. For all sorts of reasons (floods, rebuilds, work, and cheap airfares) it took on a life of its own. For a while there it seemed like a complete extravagance. To be fair – it was and still is. But by the time we boarded the flight, I really needed a break.
Now, to be fair, we could not afford a room like this. It was an eye watering $4,000 NZD a night plus taxes. But if you wanted to mark a special occasion, a wedding, a 50th – this is the place. It is not unlike the
The beach is immaculate, the hotel beautiful, the grounds lovingly tended and the staff warm and friendly. Nothing was an issue. Extra tea bags, no problem madam. Another towel? Ice cold water? How about complimentary hats and beach bags? Magically tending to the pool, garden or room when you go to breakfast? They are just waiting to help. So alongside the stunning gardens, the stunning location, the incredible pools, the service was second to none.
One of the things I love most on a holiday is the sunrise. It’s completely peaceful, no one is around. There is nothing I enjoy more than a cup of tea, watching the world wake up. When you can just step outside your walled garden onto the beach, to your private deck chair, in your fluffy bathrobe – it doesn’t get much better in my book. The sun rises on this side of Bali. A nice way to start a holiday – we’ll be enjoying sunsets by the end.
The breakfast was vast – lots of choice and friendly attentive staff. Other meals were a little hit and miss. I think partly it is the quality of the ingredients that can be sourced locally. However the cakes and pastries are perfection. Any any hotel that offers ice cream and pancakes for breakfast gets the vote of the small person.
And yes, our room is lovely. The private pool is a little cold, but once you’re in, you’re in. The garden is probably the best part. I’ve never had so much outdoor space. It’s amazing, though the room we were upgraded from is pretty amazing too. I agree with Mum on the whole mansion part…. Yes, for once I agree with her.
The pool is probably the second-best part in the resort, after our room. Personally the whole salt-water part of a salt-water lagoon irritates me – I’d prefer it to be freshwater for when I’m swimming and accidentally inhale some. It burns.
We have loved every one of the 13 nights we spent in the Danang/HoiAn area of central Vietnam.
We went with a guide who was able to unearth the site’s secrets. The sign posts and information generally is lacking so you gain a lot more if you have someone who can explain the history.
