absolutely do not go AI. Food in Bali is lovely and VERY cheap.
As for where to stay, it would depend upon what you are looking for. Do you want loads of bars and restuarants and great nightlife or somewhere more quiet but still with a good choice?
Ubud is the cultural centre of Bali, and worth a stay of a couple of days to experience the temple dances and to hopefully see celebrations on the go. There always seems to be something. It is a brilliant place but not somewhere to base your holiday.
Don't go on tours as such as they cost a fair bit and it is very cheap to hire a driver/guide for the day. There are many excellent ones who will also let you into what live is like in Bali. A couple of years ago this cost us £17 for the day. We let our guide decide which routes to take. ( we had him for a couple of days). If you dont want shop stops just stipulate that, but we liked stopping at some of the artisan villages. The rice terraces just take your breath away. I'll find the link to the holiday where we took these tours to give you some idea of what you can do.

Hi,
We are still trying to decide where to go in the summer! First it was the USA now maybe Bali and Sanur in particular.
Just so hard trying to decide
My wife wants a beach style holiday with a day out here and there and whilst i enjoy that as well,i love Las Vegas and want to go there and we were going to add Savannah in there as well, but Bali sounds amazing.
We were going to Thailand this month but had to cancel
So our summer holiday is even more important,thinking of going end of may.
Don't know what to do,it's a dilemma but a good one!

planning is all part of the fun

Thanks for your tips...

We're now looking for a non-AI hotel :).
We look for a relative quiet place but still with some night and day life. Any recomendations?

We loved the idea of hiring our own guide? How do we do it? Is ot easy? Any security issues we should notice besides the usual?

Thanks again for your help.

Well it sounds like you should look at Sanur. Its close enough to Kuta if you fancy a change of pace.
Our guide was Wayan Kamar
iwayankamar@yahoo.com
his phone number is +62 (0) 8123 910056 ( we didn't contact him till we were in Bali). He uses an internet cafe so might not answer quickly and of course his contact details may have changed in the meantime.
However, I'm sure others have guides they would recommend as well.

I know a lot of people on here really like Sanur - but myself I wouldn't stay there.

I'm a great fan of Seminyak on the other coast. Really nice vibe, lots of great bars & restaurants.

Lots of top hotels - Samaya, The Legian (Not the Legian Beach Hotel!), Elysian, Oberoi, Villa Kubu - all depends what you are looking for.

I stayed in Villa Kubu last May, but would probably go beachfront next time. Samaya or Legian if I could afford it!

Like everyone else said - going all inclusive is the worst thing you can do in Bali!

All-Inclusive definitely canceled
We're going to check some of those hotels (looking for beachfront) and see if we can find any flight+hotel from our country.

We've looked for "just flight" and then booking the hotel on-line but the flight are too expensive, at least leaving from here (Portugal).

How are the prices from England?

flights are a bit of a nightmare this year - prices have gone skyhigh.
Its good to have a variety of places to look at. What suits one doesn't always suit another. I have to say that one place I would never stay at is Kuta.
For accomodation, try to look for Balinese hotels rather than big named ones- not that there is anything wrong with major chains but I liked staying in a hotel I knew I wouldn't recognise from another country.

After some searching we are thinking of booking everything ourselves over the internet.

We will probaly fligh from here to Paris then Bangkok and from there to Bali.

The hotels we have seen are these: Nusa Dusa Beach Hotel & Spa and Melia Bali Villas & Spa Resort.
Do you have other recomendations (it must have a beach )? You talk about true balinese hotels? What do you mean?

Do you know if the hotels provide airport pick-ups or is it easy to get that at the airport on arrival?

One last (but important) question? Do you know if there are any restaurants (besides the hotel's) near these hotels?

Thank you for your help and sorry for any incovenience.

Personally I would not go all the way to Bali and stay there. It is artificial and in no way Balinese. There will be loads of restaurants but I'm guessing they will be more expensive than in other areas as it is full of 5 star luxury hotels. I'm sure someone else can verify that or put me right Saying that, the beach is lovely and you can still get a feel of Bali by going out and about.
There is a taxi desk at the airport where you prepay the set prices. They are cheap and no hassle. Just watch out for the porters who will pounce on your trolley if you let go of it for a second and then somehow need at least 2 of them to push it.

I only know of one hotel that does All Inclusive in Bali but generally it's room and buffet breakfast often referred to as American breakfast.

We stayed at the Melia Bali a few years ago in a superior room. Yes! it's a lovely hotel with one of the best pools in Bali . Melia Bali is in an enclave of top end hotels with prices to match in US$ there is a village nearby where you can eat much cheaply. If I was to stay there again, I'd only want to stay the last 2 nights for a bit of R&R after having been elsewhere first.

We consider Nusa Dua is too far out the way... in the past we've had a mixture of Legian and Sanur. This year it's Legian (Kumula Pantai ) and 2 nights in the middle at Tegal Sari in Ubud. We love the Legian area as it has a vast choise of restaurants and shops.

Have you considered Bali Padma in Legian? it's a great hotel and fabulous pool. It offers many room categories and in a top spot. It's on the beach but there is a paved road between the hotel and beach (no vehicles are allowed) Just outside there are hundreds of great restaurants and shops and you'll never be short of 'Transspppot' Bluebird taxi have a good reputation as the others rip you off and refuse to put their meter on.

Don't forget you have to get a Visa on Arrival (VOA) it's 25US$ for 8 to 30 days ($US10 for 7 days) you can pay in pounds and get the change in rupes but they diddle you. Also, there is a departure tax of 150,000 paid in rupes at the airport on departure.

Getting your own transport is easy. When you leave the arrivals hall go outside and a few metres on the right is the taxi booth. Prices are set and listed on a board. You pay and receive a voucher and you'll be shown to your taxi. We always get our own transport now as Tuban, Kuta and Legian is a one way traffic system. We once we got picked up at our Tuban hotel and went round the hotels right up to Seminyak and was stuck in the small coach (feeling sick with the fumes) for over an hour waiting for others. Tuban is minutes away from the airport. Nowadays we are upfront with any driver we book for our trip back to the airport and say if you're not here at the right time then we will get another driver or taxi... never been let down yet.

The hotel prices in Bali have sky rocketed and are 30% dearer than last year. We have booked both our hotel via email and booked in rupes

Cheers Geri