BootsnAll's Travel Community

I will be going to bali next mid-september for my honeymoon.

We will be going for a month. So far we only have a rough idea. Spending some time in Kuta,legion and seminyak. Definitely spending some time in Ubud, possibly going to Gunung Agung. Then going over to Senggigi and then to the Gili Islands. I am hoping to just rough out some destinations and then see where the wandering takes us...

My questions are these.

IF you had a month in Bali what would you never want to miss? (i know this is a huge question but would love to hear some peoples views.)



What is the general opinion of Candi Dasa and do you have any other recommendations of other stops along the southern and eastern portion of bali that would be quieter and show a bit of the less touristy parts of bali?


Also most of the trips we will be staying in the cheaper places but we are looking to stay in a nicer sort of "boutique on a budget" place when we first arrive and then maybe once or twice more on the trip to splurge.

Any recommendations of somewhat lux small boutique-y places on the beach that have character and are not huge resorts for a first stop on the honeymoon in and around legion seminyak or possibly the peninsula.

Any one have any thoughts on Kuta on Lombok or Gili Nanggu?

Many thanks!

Welcome. To start with, feel free to browse Baliblog , its been going for almost 4 years and had hundreds of recommendations.

Not to miss places:

Tanah Lot temple
Dreamland beach
Pasir Putih white sand beach in Prasi East Bali
Tirtaganga water palace (you can swim on the raja's swimming pool)
White sand beaches either side of Padangbai.
Amed
Rice terraces in Sideman / Iseh
Ubud area
Driving through Jatiluwih in Tabanan, rice terraces.
Sanda Butik Villas in Sanda
The quiet west coast at Balian. Stay overnight.

Candi Dasa is okay, its the only place in East Bali with a selection of places to eat and drink. Padangbai is more bamboo style, but has better beaches. Candi Dasa has some noce palces to stay at the very end of the street, keep going straight, after the road turns left.

There are many small villa type places around, that don't seem to advertise. right behing Bintang supermarket in Seminyak is a maze of alleys. A friend stayed in a place for $50 a night, which gave him an AC master bedroon, outside kitchen/ lounge / pool, completely private. Look online for Bali villas.

On the Bukit peninsula you will find some nice boutique places. Here's Balangan and Bingin .

Check out Seraya Shores in East Bali and Poincianna in NE Bali .

Hope this helps.

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I agree with all of Nick's recomendations. We spent a month on our honeymoon last year in Bali and we did one thing not on the list. We flew to Yogakarta, it is less than a one hour flight for $60 r/t, you can take a taxi to Borobodur temple, about a 45min ride from the airport, entry fee is $10.00 for tourists and climb up an ancient pyramid. The largest, oldest buddist temple in the world. It is a world heritage site. You could do all of this in one day, without being too exhausted. It is a not to be missed site. We ended up spending a week in Kota Gede (a small district in Yogakarta) shopping for silver, which you can buy worked & exquisite sterling for just about the price of silver by weight. I sold all of the earrings and most of the bracelets when we got home & actually paid for our whole trip that way. I am still stuck with most of the necklaces. I also had some custom made sterling silver jewelry made in Celuk in Bali. They can do anything that you want & it is soooo reasonable. I will never have to buy another piece of jewelry, although next time I'm taking some well planned designs and having several things made. Think of high quality bejeweled necklaces & bracelets for about $10 to $15 a piece! I'd be happy to tell you more if you like. You will love Bali, it gets into your heart & soul and you always want to go back. Oh and don't forget a full hour massage for $10-20.

Go stay at the Damai Lovina Resort, up north in the Lovina area (kalibukbuk I believe is the name of the village). Make sure you eat at least one night there and have their taster menu. You said you wanted to be able to splurge a few times along the way, this place is definitely worth going out of your way to experience. You won't regret it!

My husband and I spent a month in Bali/Gillis for our honeymoon last year and it was brilliant.
We stayed at Seraya Shores for a week. It is very isolated and absolute heaven. If you want to relax, eat lots of wonderful food cooked for you largely at request (and go with Sassa to the market to choose your dinner - somewhat confronting!), swim in the beautiful pool and do a couple of day trips I couldn't recommend anything better, it is stunning. But, if you need a bit more to entertain you maybe a shorter period would be good. While we were staying there there was only one night with more than one guest, but it doesn't feel spooky! I think there are around 6 rooms.
We are going to Villa Gils in July. My parents went last year and highly recommended. It is near Candi Dasa. It has quite a good web site - eastbalivilla.com (I think). Profits go to East Bali Poverty Project, so relaxing in luxury and contributing something to the area. You book the whole villa for the time of your stay - no other guests.
Both of these places are luxury at very affordable prices and very private.
We also went to Gili Trawangan, and despite 'party island' reputation, it is nothing like supposed equivalents in Thailand - very chilled.
Would also highly recommend going to Gado Gado, Ku de Tah (sp?) and Living Room in Seminyak for some high class (and pricey) dinner/drinks along with Mozaic in Ubud. Although these places seem stunningly expensive, if you think about cost for similar things at home it is very reasonable and afterall, it is your honeymoon!
I agree with Nick's suggestions. From Seraya we did a great day trip around Amed, back through the rice fields, to Tirtaganga.
Kristen

PS, if you want a super splurge for a little bit, Maya Ubud is incredible.
My husband organised this as a surprise for the last 4 nights we had and we will probably never stay somewhere as amazing again - at least until we are retired!
One word of warning - don't admit to be on your honeymoon halfway through dinner if you can't fit in cake/desert. Lots of times along the way we mentioned to waiters(generally after strenuous cross examination) we were on our honeymoon and a little decorated cake of some description arrived!
Kristen

Another PS - don't waste your time with Gili Nanggu despite what you will hear about it being the most stunning 'secret island'. The island is nowhere near as beautiful as the more well known gilis and the accommodation and food are expensive for the the relative quality and it is quite a long trip to get there.
It also gets invaded by boat loads of day trippers each day who take the only available small bit of nice sand beach and all of the shade under the trees, leading to a bungalow retreat.
We were really disappointed with it and wished we had stayed on the main gilis for the extra time it took to get to Nanngu and back to lombok.

We loved Candidasa. Not many tourist, we were there in late March 2007. We stayed at the Rama Candidasa and it was great, food and staff were outstanding. The town is definitely quite, the Lotus Bungalows have a great Italian Resturant and Vincents in the heart of town was super - the Mojito's were delicious. The "Blue Lagoon" - for snorkeling was pretty dirty. There is a Kings Palace, the Water Palace and the Water Park, nearby that is worth a trip. Super people they really appreciate you there. John

Candi Dasa is a very user friendly place to hang out. Easy to locate, there is some white sand beach at the far end of town, quiet place, with decent accommodation and restaurants.

If you enjoyed Candi Dasa, next time check out Amed, another nice spot.