We have just returned from 2 weeks in Bali staying at Nusa Dua and Seminyak. Our group consisted of 4 families totally 18 people, and all were "Bali Virgins" except my husband and I who have been several times over the years. I gleaned lots of useful info from BTF in the proceeding months, so its time to "pay it forward"!!
Having such a large group we organised lots from home, and Im glad we did as it was really busy and we found it difficult to wing it the odd time we tried with our large group.
Flew Garuda, pleasantly surprised with newer aircraft and individual entertainment screens. Airport hopeless..no surprise...even though the queues weren't huge, the time each person stood at the desk, having everything but their forheads stamped was excruciatingly slow. My family of 5 stood at the desk for 35 minutes as all passports, doco ect were slowly examined!
It was the first time I had been to Nusa Dua. We chose to try it for several reasons. Firstly, I thought it would be a soft landing into Bali for the newbies and we all wanted a few days of R&R before hitting all the activities we had planned. We stayed at the Melia Bali Villa spa Resort and really enjoyed it. The 4 x 12 yr old boys ran from resort activity to activity around the pool/beach and the older teenagers chilled in the sun. Yes I agree to a certain extent with the ND knockers out there that ND is very sanatised and not Bali, however I would argue that Kuta is also not Bali either but on the other end of the spectrum??(oopps sorry, will I be flamed?)
The hotel was well positioned as we walked to the main gates a few nights for dinner and a wander around the markets/shops. Ate at Nusa Dua Restaurant, lovely meal and cheap and Tropical, yum food,in the Bali Collection which is right next door to our resort and a quick walk along the beach. The trick is to stay close to outside shops and restaurants and not rely on the hotel for meals as they are all really expensive.
On the first day all of our "metrosexual hubbies" did the cooking class at Bali Bumbu and thoroughly enjoyed it, especially going to the meat & fish markets and finishing at the vegie market. They were gone most of the day and came home exhausted having prepared 22 dished some of which would be served that night at the restaurant. The dinner party back in Oz is in the planning stages!!
The 4 women opted to spend the afternoon of our first day at a spa which I had pre booked on the internet (with discount). We has a 2.5 hr treatment at Baliwis Spa,a middle of the range place similar to Bodyworks.We were picked up from the hotel and it cost around $50 US. Heavenly, nothing like shedding a few layers of winter skin with a scrub and massage! We had a giggle though! When we arrived they ushered us into 2 rooms, 2 people a room. I balked at this as I wanted to go solo and asked for a separate room for my friend. The other two girls said its OK they will share. Well an hour in and Im floating after the massage and I had all the goo painted on for the scrub, and I heard peels of laughter coming from next door. Al and Pen had worked out that the small spa bath being prepared, complete with floating flowers was for them both to share! They managed to squeeze into it together,with only their disposable undies separating them, rearranging legs and arms and then strategically balancing the cup of ginger tea served. It was very funny listening to them next door from the privacy of my single bath!
Other stuff we did from Nusa Dua included an afternoon of watersports including jet ski, flying fox and rafting! The crew we went with, sourced on the beach that morning, picked us up in a glass bottom boat from our end of the beach and ferried us up to the activities...had a great afternoon.
We also organised a yacht cruise to Lembongan island on the "relax" tour. Beautiful island, spent the day snorkelling, swimming, kids had a banana boat ride. I thought well priced at US $75 adults, $37.50 kids for everything, lovely lunch, all transport, tour of island etc.
We could have done the great big (ugly & noisy...sorry again!!) tourisy boats that did the same thing and went faster, however nothing beat turning off the motor and sailing back to the mainland for 2 hours. At one point the crew played "Sailing" by Rod Stewart full tilt, we were all singing along and swaying when on cue a pod of dolphins appeared meters from the boat and escorted us for a little while, jumping and playing in the wash....magical!
All up, a lovely 4 days.