Hotels in Seminyak

Life in tourist Seminyak revolves around the sunsets on the beach which are spectacular and beautiful. Beach beds are reasonably priced and most of the small bed/parasol businesses have cold drinks for sale. Enjoy the charm of having local families who enjoy sitting on the sand in the part of the parasol shadow you are not using yourself. A friendly "tidak mau" (I don't want) is normally enough to make sellers of all kinds of goods continue to the next sunbed. If yo do want to trade with them, do not forget to haggle, start at a little less than 50% of the price they start out with and you can get a good deal if you really want a towel, sunglasses or other merchandise. The Seminyak area is full of good restaurants which provide excellent value for money in many price classes from extravagant hotel buffets to little beach shacks. A piece of advice: Choose Indonesian/Balinese food! Western style beefs, burgers and pizzas tend to have a similar look to the Western equivalents but lack in taste (there are good exceptions, look for the outdoor open pizza ovens!). In one of the main streets, Jalan Kayu Aya some restaurants are tourist traps, wildly overpriced and with less than average food - even the Indonesian ones. Café Bali is a glaring example - it is full of people but malfunctioning, we got mains which where cold and the drinks arrived only half way through the meal. Very disappointing. Rent a motorbike to get around if you dare - if not, most places in Seminyak are within walking distance. There is no public transportation around and taxi prices vary from reasonable to excessive (e.g. on New Year's Day).

Seminyak is good for vibrant travellers, young at heart but not childish personalities. People who likes to go out and enjoy food and company, music, some nightlight vibe, but not only to get totally pissed (for this, go to Kuta where young teenage - often underage australians with fake ids get pissed and annoying people). Get a hotel around Kayu Aya Street is most convenient. Seminyak hotels are mostly mid range to super luxurious. Hotels like IZE (I stayed here once and I am happy with it) are perfect for walk everywhere in Seminyak. Hotels like the W are also great, but considering the facilities and price, these kinds are more for people who have time to enjoy the resort facilities (great pools and amazing breakfast, awesome room and bath, etc). For budget concious people, room and vespa series boutique hotels are great and enough: location+good core facilities. Go to Ku De Ta or potato head for beach club and sunset, both have pools and beach access with lifeguards. Clean beach and much fun. Get some great coffee at Revolver (also good for breakfast). Another good breakfast spot is Sisterfields. This place is a bit overpriced but the quality and taste of the food are good (coffee and acai berry mix were great). Go to Petite India at Lasmana Oberoi (close to the Legian, the Colony hotels) for good Indian food (canai and curry!). Also enjoy some Spanish (not so authentic but pretty good) at La Plancha during sunset or at night. Great decoration. Try mama san for great asian street food like pho, shanghai noodle, etc. Seminyak is also a good location in Bali: quite in the centre with good access to Ubud, Jimbaran, Nusa Dua, or Kuta/Legian. so this is also an area you can stay in if you want to explore bali on foot (in Seminyak vicinities) or with motorcycle or car (to reach farther places). Also good for shopping, although some places can be overpriced.

We enjoyed the food and shopping experience called Mades Warung (budget $20pp), Spa Bali is really good value for the ambience, and the best milkshakes in the world are at Wacko Burger – let the kids loose! Ku De Ta has a very funky pool, bar and restaurant on the beach (cocktails $11). To the south of Gado Gado, we preferred the rustic bean bag warungs on the beach to the over-hyped Double Six Roof Top Bar – look for the one with the umbrella lanterns. Revolver and Sisterfield are great for coffee while shopping around Seminyak Village. Bo and Bun (budget $20pp) is an absolute must for slow cooked pork – it’s not far north of Mades Warung. Mamasan (budget $45pp) was amazing but don’t take unadventurous kids. La Lucciola (budget $50pp) don’t have an ‘official’ kids menu but offer fettuccini napolitana or bolognese to unadventurous kids – take them for a sunset dinner. We walked back along the beach from La Lucciola – lovely. For a ‘real’ warung experience try the Nasi Campur or BBQed fish at Warung Eny’s (budget $8pp and order sate for the unadventurous kids), and then walk back down toward the main shopping strip for dessert – you’ll pass some VERY ritzy restaurants e.g. Merah Puti. A long lane leads down to Potato Beach Club (cocktails $14) which is well worth the visit (very very funky pool and bar with access to the beach). If Ku De Ta is a funky 5 star experience, Potato Beach Club is 6 stars. The metered Blue Bird taxis are very cheap (50K IDR to Waterbom = $5 AUD) – we always gave a 5K IDR tip to boost the fare because the drivers need to earn 350K IDR per day before they start making money (some days they lose money).

My favorite place in Seminyak was the beach in front of Oberoy hotel as this was the only peaceful place at the beach without bars and restaurants and mix of loud music from few different places. Be careful and watch your step while walking on the beach as there are plenty of street dogs around and dog owners who don't clean after their pets. We ate mostly in Zula and Earth cafe as we prefer to eat healthy and the quality of the food in these 2 restaurants was good. The taxi drivers barely speak any English and it was difficult to communicate with them. You have to ask them to switch on the meter otherwise they just charge you crazy amounts. There were so many occasions when people drove their scooters on the pavement and almost run over us. The place is polluted, dirty and overcrowded. Be careful with the "money changers" and change money only in the big exchange bureaus if you don't want to be cheated. I've traveled a lot to many different countries and Bali was the first place where I paid to enter a temple, to see the volcano from the road, to see the rice terraces from the road and to walk and see the Git Git Waterfalls. Nature is for everybody to enjoy and it should be for free!!! If you are going to Bali expecting to see some nature prepare yourself to book tours to find some unspoiled nature and be ready to pay for the views. If you want a good professional massage and other beauty related services in a clean salon you need to pay almost the same amount which you pay in Dubai.

Since my wife and I got into the Ramada Encore Hotel everything went pretty well. The welcoming was very friendly, and staff in the reception were always ready to assist us to make us feel as home. Rooms are very nice and the facilities are good enough as any high standard hotel. The very next morning, we found the most kind and gentle staff in the Mahadawi restaurant; I would like to mention that Gita, Enra and Dewi were so special, and they did the most they could do to make us feel in a 5 starts hotel. Moreover, I would like to make a special mention to all the team who always worked so hard to provide the best service. Also, room and housekeeping services were good enough.

Batu Kali Cafe was our favourite place to eat dinner. Chandi and Ultimo were close seconds. Biku was a great high tea experience. Seacircus and Sisterfields were a toss up as our favourite places to eat breakfast. We had a local driver Gusti from Gusti Torisszz who was very helpful and would recommend to anyone wanting to go on a day trip or even for local trips. He can be found on facebook. Inni Kulit located in Seminyak is a great place to get a bag made up. Amo and Bodyworkx Spas were great. The massage places along the street are also great for a quick foot or back massage. Visited Bali Zoo - wouldn't do that again - expensive and found it a bit sad.