Just back Sunday after 19 days at The Patra Bali.
Hotel is just wonderful 2nd time we have stayed. Brilliant place for 2 adults and 2 kids aged 6 and 9 years. Taxi to kuta around $1.30 each way.
Having 2 girls, spa services were a must for me and daughters. Best value for money by far was Salon Hana (Benesari lane - go to end of poppies 2 near memorial, walk towards beach and Benesari lane is on the right about 50 meters up from the end of poppies 2, walk up Benesari for about 200 meters and is on the left).
The prices here are INCREDIBLE.
Haircut with shampoo 15,000 (all of us had a haircut and was fantastic!
manicure or pedicure (with massage hands or feet )18,000 each
Foot massage 20,000
Back massage 20,000
We went to many other spa's, but always ended up coming back here especially since we could tell our girls to go for it and have as many treatments as you want. We would spend 3-4 hours there and walk away with only spending like $25 and would have the 4 staff fussing over us.
Now the staff there work on 10% commission only of whatever the bill is, so I always left them extra, after the many hours of hard work it was well worth it.
Now the following is my opinion only and dont want to offend lovers of the Dynasty hotel - but i would never stay there after having a really good look at it this trip. Everytime i book the hotel is first offered and great for families so thought i would look this time.
The lobby etc is fantastic, lovely clean and modern. We then walked through to the pool area and i was shocked. The pools are small (ok i am comparing to The Patra which has an enourmous lagoon pool and 2 smaller). i hated how the rooms are in like motel blocks and surround the pool. The pool was so full and because of the setup of the motel style blocks surrounding it, there was no breeze coming in and the noise bounced off the walls. To me it was mayhem, and so many lounges so close to each other and not a spare inch of space around the pool.
We ate at Febris many times. The restaurant/lobby is beautiful and the food incredibly cheap and would be by far the best place we ate at on holidays. 4 main meals, drinks, desserts, garlic bread etc always came to around $25 all up. The pool is nice, not huge but big enough. A few lounges around the pool but not a great deal of shade as it is frangapani trees they are under and they dont provide great shade. i would say it's a great budget hotel and the spa is the best presented I have seen on this trip - bit pricy like 160,000 for a parrafin pedicure, but very luxurious.
lots and lots of shopping done
sunglasses 20-25000
girls t shirts 25-35000
roxy/von dutch/mooks denim skirts 60-70000
billabong t shirts 30-40000
wallets 30-50000
handbags 80-120000
had a queen size quilt cover made to order at the shop opposite ketut's fixed price shop off melasti street. $35 got me quilt, 2 pillow cases and 2 cushions - took only 2 days and lovely lady with lots of material to choose from.
lots of art work around very cheap - got a canvas to match new quilt that is 1.2 metres long x 40cm wide for 120,000.
Overall wonderful trip again and just love the Patra and will be staying again there in march and may 2009.