In Reply to: How about Candidasa? Any thoughts posted by Jody on Wednesday, 22. June 2005 at 09:00 Bali Time:
Just got back from 4 days there.
personally love it in Candi Dasa as its very quiet. there is no beach as such although at low tide some sand appears!
We stayed at Puri Bagus and it was a lovely hotel. I dont think its one of the cheaper hotels but we got a great deal.
Very quiet, there are a few good resturants along the main strip, enough to give you variety but after 6 days you would probably run out of places!!
Personally I loved Vincents. Its not very Balinese as such but the food was fantastic and the cocktails excellent and reasonably cheap.
the watergarden resturant was also nice. There are a few decent warungs around aswell but we also went to a couple shockers!
Things to do.
Well aside from eat sleep and walk you can do snorkling and go out on the fishing boats etc. There are a number of great sightseeing places nearby (as mentioned by others) and we went on a long walk up to the fishing temple one morning.
There is a traditional balinese village nearby (name illudes me, heads still in dreamy Bali mode)that you should visit. Its donation entry and we ended up donating more by choice when we left as they are using the donations to rebuild and you can see them working hard at it.
Water temple springs are a must see....
6 days is a long time there, we were ready for something a little busy after 4 but were eager to return once we spent one afternoon in Kuta (too busy for me!)
Anyway I LOVE candi Dasa but I love peace and quiet and there is bugger all shopping! The small stores like 'Gemini's' are handy for your basics and you can still get everything there. the exchange rate is not so good in Candi Dasa though.
We only got back yesterday and I am already planning a return!