This was my second trip to Bali, my 19 yr old son and I went this time. The opinions are from our perspective. Thank you to all the forumites for the advice, suggestions etc, it made the whole trip enjoyable having much information beforehand. Please excuse any grammar, spelling mistakes. Will base costs in this JBR on 7800rp to the Aud, $Aud will be in (brackets).
We were getting 7910rp - 8020rp whilst we were there, a great rate.
FLIGHTS:
Flew G*aruda, left an hour late from Perth, and arrived at Bali airport 35 min late, go figure. As another plane was departing on our arrival we sat on the tarmac for 30 min or so. G*aruda service excellent provided orange juice when seated. Meal was choice of Beef/Rice or Chicken Pasta, small potato salad, cracker/biscuit, cheesecake, tea/coffee, red/white wine, apple juice, soft drinks, Bintang beer. Nice to have a pillow and blanket provided too.
Checked on flightstats before departing as 4 planes arriving before and also after us, thought may try VIP VOA, booked with Hadi the night before we left via email, cost 175.000rp or $25 Aud. Don't think I would do it again, we could of got thru fine, had to wait for luggage anyway so what's a few minutes. Glad we didn't get VIP thru M*urti for $25USD ($31 Aud ) or Net*fare for $38Aud. Phew!
Return flight G*aruda, left on time, great trip home, excellent food and service.
ACCOMODATON:
Stayed at G*reen G*arden H*otel Kuta for 3 nights, just down from Discovery. Large room and clean. Staff was beautiful and friendly, nothing was too much trouble. Breakfast was buffet, excellent variety that changed by a few dishes daily. Hot and cold drinks, crepes, eggs, noodles, sausages, cereal, toast etc served between 7-11am. Next door was a great laundry, 10 items for 20.000rp ($2.60). Discovery was a 5 min walk, excellent location of hotel. Went to D*ebbie's fixed price across the road, didn't buy anything, shop was small, not a great variety except for the usual stuff. Prices were good though.
Would we stay there again- probably, would try other places as a lot in that area.
Moved to K*uta T*ownhouses (K*T*H) for 4 nights. Excellent location just down from Poppies 2. Had a studio room, reasonable size, quite westernized, wouldn't stay in one of those again. Most of the studio rooms were adjacent to Poppies 1 lane and the motorbike traffic was non-stop 24/7, beep beep all night ! The shower kept overflowing yet suppose that's Bali. Room had a full size fridge. Patio was nice.
The 1 or 2 bedroom apartments looked spacious; room 114 would be the ideal one, ground floor unit. Pools were great, the gym was excellent. We were on the 4 th floor, the lift didn't break down, Phew! We had issues with the reception of the TV, wasn't good so after having 2 of the hotel maintenance team check and then a technician check promptly over a 24 hr period we didn't want our holiday annoyed so asked to be moved, then spent 3 nights on the 2nd floor. The lift did break down (remember reading a post about this a couple of weeks ago); some guests were stuck for half an hour, some problem with the sensor. Breakfast was a choice of light or heavy, like eggs on toast, noodles/rice, also choice of fruit or cereal, coffee/tea and juice, adequate enough and served between 8 am -11am. Wish it had of opened by 7 am though.
Noticed a post a couple of weeks back a post regards getting a taxi to Poppies 1, I only got a taxi twice to K*T*H, the B*luebird taxi drivers don't like going down that lane as it is two way and very narrow. One taxi driver was quite rude snatching the money out of my hand and I only asked him to go to the Secret Garden and thought I would walk the rest of the way. Easier to get a taxi to top of Poppies 2, get off at Bagus Pub and walk down to K*T*H. To save hassles on departure we walked down to Legian St via Poppies 1 with our luggage and caught a taxi to the airport, wasn't a problem at all.
E*v*a's Laundry across from KTH was excellent, laundry promptly ready the next day. You can get your laundry done by KTH as a service yet it's twice the price, would rather walk 10 mts and give Eva's a tip, gave her some pressies the last day we were there. To launder T/shirts were 1.500 (20c), long pants 2.000 (26c), pair socks 1.000 (13c), underwear 1.000 a piece (13c), she was excellent.
Would we stay there again- most likely in a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment.
Admin denied my post so doing in installments.