Thought I would break up my report into the destinations as others can maybe add their findings to the thread.
My review for the Griya Santrian is here. If anyone has further questions on the hotel just ask away.
I had lots of ideas of what to do when we got to Bali but put them aside as health problems continued. We decided to just use the holiday to relax and we had a brilliant holiday.
I preferred the position of the Griya to the Puri Santrian. There were loads of beach restaurants around it and the market was 5-10 minutes walk along the beach. We had no problems at all with getting beach loungers at our hotel but if we had had, we would have just have hired from one of many places close by. We loved strolling along the beach walkway to find somewhere for our lunch. Our favourite place was Bennos. Also good at night.
You can't really sunbathe much after 4pm as you end up in the shade. This did not bother me too much as I already had had plenty of sun by then. Sanur tends to have a wind most of the time and it can be easy to burn if you are not careful. I use the word wind and not breeze by the way If the wind died off we found it far too hot to lie out
Some great restaurants and we never ate at the same one twice( although we did revisit from the year before). Some places
Mings- french owned I think. Brilliant food but expensive. You did get lots of "freebies" though and service is very attentive.
Mezzanine- another expensive place but well worth it
Natah Bale( next to the Cat and Fiddle)- love this place. We have gone all 3 years we have been to Sanur). Its easily missed from the road.
Pregini- just across and down a bit from our hotel. We found this late on and to be honest would have revisited if we had had time. Balinese through and through. Small but busy.
Picaddily- sounds English but I think its owned by a German. We did visit again for a drink later on. Good atmosphere and just up the road from our hotel
In addition we had a few drinks at a Tapas restaurant and bar. Cant remember its name but it had good music. Another good place for entertainment is the Trophey Bar on a Friday night- brilliant group and very popular. The place next door to it also has good groups a few times a week. We had a drink in Double Dutch which had good groups last year but the one they had this year was just dreadful( DD is expensive).
We had a night in Kuta and ate at Cafe Wayan. I knew about this as it has one in Ubud which is well recommended. Great menu with some original dishes on it. Kuta was everything Sanur wasn't. Its fine for a night out but I would not like to stay there.
OH runs marathons and did a couple of runs down the Sanur Walk but most of the time it was too hot.
All too soon it was time to leave Sanur and head off to Ubud.
I struggled with the food this year in Bali and found everyone had the same menu and a variation of the same theme. Perhaps this is because we eat a lot of Asian food at home. If you checked my pantry/fridge you'd swear I was Asian
We don't go to up market restaurants... I have yet to drag his nibs for breaky at La Lucciola, he's not a breaky person and says 'cornflake still same' however, in saying that he's definitely going next May. The weekend is apparently better as they have a full menu.
I'm off now to find your your photos.
Cheers Geri
You are away ahead of me - the photos have not been loaded yet. I have Ubud and its hotel to do first and then they will get done. Have family coming round today though so goodness knows when it will all be done
I'm looking forward to seeing your photos. I know of someone on my Bali forum who today has asked if anyone had stayed at the Griya is the last couple of weeks. She was asking for photos of the renovated garden rooms and pictures of the fish pond which has been made into a pool. It would be great if you had the photos so I direct her on HT.
I'm useless at loading photos, I have tried and failed.
Cheers Geri
The renovations were being done in a closed off area. We only saw two pools- are you saying they are having 3? I didnt take photos of any other room apart from ours I'm afraid although in the main garden area next to the pool we probably do have some- they didn't look as if they had just been in the last couple of months though.
Glad you enjoyed the Griya Santrian. We tried to book this hotel at the end of September / early October but we were unable to get rooms (any type). This also applied to the Puri Santrian - I believe that it was because of the Grand prix in Singapore and visitors taking a break immediately before and after the Grand Prix in Bali!
We also think that Mings is a great restaurant. We had a meal there for Janet's birthday, last October. They produced a birthday cake and put on a show for her - and to top it all the food was great.
It is interesting that you preferred the position of the Griya S to the Puri S. We thought that the PS was just tucked just a bit too far down the coast. We fancied a change of location to the other side of the Hyatt.
As we will be doing Thailand next (in place of Bali) and then Vietnam and Cambodia in the New Year, we will probably give Bali a miss next year (shame - it is a great location for a September / October break).
Anyone know much about Zanzibar in Sept / Oct ?
Peter
We did choose the Griya originally for a change but have to say we spent as much time down around the PS this stay as round about our own hotel in the evenings. I think it has just encouraged us not to be so lazy and take transport to the other end. We just fell into staying close by our hotel before this holiday.
Still havent made it up to the places at the Bypass but that just gives us other new venues for our next trip. Have been meaning to try the Jazz place and the Arena.
Thanks for the photos they were lovely. I recognized the beautiful plant pots around the grounds I would have loved to have shipped some home.
I understand the fish pond in the middle of the garden wing is being transformed into a swimming pool, last seen as large hole in the ground. So sounds like a third pool.
Bali is absolutely booming by all accounts and almost back to how is used to be before the terrorist attacks and reports of double booking and shunting people to other hotels on arrival. We've had to book our hotels almost a year in advance for May 09. Fortunately, these hotels allocate rooms on booking and so far haven't turned anyone away on arrival... well not yet anyway.
You can always make Melbourne your destination as we have the Grand Prix too :-)
Re the Griya- I should have been a bit more nosey and investigated the work going on.
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