we liked

Written: 2 october 2009
Travel time: 20 march — 3 april 2009
Who does the author recommend the hotel to?: For a relaxing holiday; For business travel; For families with children
Your rating of this hotel:
9.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms: 10.0
Service: 9.0
Cleanliness: 10.0
Food: 10.0
Amenities: 9.0
Hello, everyone who is going to go on vacation to the warm seas. From my own experience I know how difficult it is to make a choice, and how the Internet helps in this, so I definitely decided that I would overcome my laziness, lack of time and leave my review.
Indonesia, Bali, Ayodya Resort hotel (the name of the post was Ayoda). Rested from 20.04. 2009 to 03.04 2009. A ticket with a flight from Novosibirsk cost $ 2250 per person + another ~ $ 1000 food, excursions, shopping.
I must say right away that thanks to the Internet, we chose the hotel very correctly. The main lobby is shocking, huge, with many tall columns, without walls - real Jumanji, I don’t know why, but this comparison suggests itself. The rooms are spacious, everything you need is available, the air conditioner works properly (only when you enter the room, you understand what a paradise for a Siberian is cool). Our winter things have not become damp and, moreover, they have not become moldy (as less fortunate travelers write), hang everything on hangers.

The view from the balcony we got is awesome, from the fifth floor (it's already taller than the palms) the blue ocean with a foaming wave, a green garden under you, and in the distance the sacred mountain Agung rises. It is on the other side of the island, but I think it is 3700 meters high, and it is clearly visible from the hotel. I did not want to write lyrical digressions, only in essence, something that may be useful to new travelers, but emotions seem to be stronger than reason. Probably, other “five” in Bali are not worse than Ayoda, and some are even better (like Laguna), I don’t know if there was, but there is one indisputable advantage. This is the presence of the ocean always, even in strong ebb tides. April 25, Balinese New Year, new moon. We are returning from snorkeling, and where there was water recently, now it is dry land, and people are walking on it, looking at something, it’s cool. To the left and to the right of our beach there is no sea, but we have, although smaller, but there is. And you can swim safely.
It seems that at one time they deepened the bottom near the hotel and now tourists are happy, especially those like our family, who cannot live without water. There wasn't a day when we didn't swim whenever we felt like it. Even if they returned late from the excursion, they went to swim at night. The beach is illuminated by a bright spotlight, and it's not scary at all. They say that on the coast of Nusa Dua there is also the Niko Bali Hotel (it can be seen from our beach) always with the ocean, but it is far from the village (you need to take a taxi), and from Bali Collection (a network of outlets and restaurants, a whole town). In general, if you go to Bali, then I advise you to the Ayodya Resort hotel on the coast of Nusa Dua.
Yes, I will make a reservation, this is the best option for our family. My husband and I are 43 years old, we have two daughters, 23 and 13 years old. It would probably be more fun for a young couple to relax in Kuta, where there are many discos and shops. But I didn’t like the beach there at all, it’s urban, a lot of people, a big wave (they say it’s good for surfing). From our hotel to Kuta, 20-30 minutes, according to the counter 50.
000 rupees, less than $5. In Kuta, in Discovery and Matahari supermarkets, good shopping (of course, you can’t compare with Thai prices). Souvenirs were bought at home in the village of Nusa Dua (5 minutes from the hotel to the left), and they dined there more often. Have you been to Mai-Mai, Boris restaurants? Tropical, Laguna. Most of all we liked the Laguna, you don’t have to go to the Tropical. The food is very tasty, beautifully presented, and the prices are not expensive. For example, for four people in the village we spent $40-50 (with beer and wine), and no matter how we tried to order less, we still overate. Tried to eat seafood!
Jimbaran.

We visited Jimbaran (more precisely, in restaurants on the ocean on the coast of Jimbaran). We got on the advice of an Internet taxi with a counter to the Bali Intercontinental hotel for $ 4. Passed the hotel through to the ocean and there to the left. Choose any restaurant, they are all the same. We liked the waiter, he spoke a little Russian, turned to him. With live lobster 1.4 kg (400000Rr.
per kg), shrimp, fish, beer, juices, coconuts, dinner for four cost 960.000 rupees or (divide by $ 11.500. 84. Fresh-frozen lobster is even cheaper - 250.000R. You need to go to their kitchen and poke your finger at the fish you like, and they will fry it for you grilled. Of course, the kitchen is not very clean, and the smells are not so hot, but it’s interesting to hold the mustache of a lobster whipping tail and take a picture with him. The sunset was beautiful, when it got dark, an orchestra of five Balinese sang several songs to our table, including The "Little Raft" vine, the text and music were filmed quite cleanly, but still funny. The musicians were given tips, in general, the husband, contrary to requests on the Internet not to corrupt the Balinese with money, gave them tips everywhere, so he was touched by their kindness and cheerful disposition. In general, we ate deliciously, sang, danced, had fun, a lot of positive emotions, we all liked it.
As I understand it, there is also a network of more expensive restaurants (people write that they spent $ 200 for two), it may be more civilized, but not the fact that it is better. Lobster, at what price do not sell it, it is a lobster.
SIM card.
We thought that in a supermarket, as it was in Thailand, we would buy a local SIM card to be honest. In Bali Collection, we bought a SIM card in a store for 305.000 rupees, of which only 105.000 were on the account, and in the morning our tour operator at a meeting at the hotel sold us the same one for 120.000 - on the account the same 105. Kind Balinese!
Tours

Taught by the Internet, they did not buy excursions from a tour operator. Traveled with the local population for $30-40 per day. The stars of excursion business in Bali among the Russian population are Vine (+628.614 55.191 and +6.36. 802.629, you can dial 0 instead of 62) and Takim (t. 08.2463 0566). By the way, Vine is the most common name in Bali. Our Vine is the one on whose car “Ivan Tsarevich” is written. Vine was busy and sent his 18-year-old cousin Julia (Yulia) instead.
At first I tensed up that I was very young, but then they did not regret it. She speaks good Russian, cheerful and sociable. It was the most emotional trip around the island (as far as the guide is concerned). We traveled with Takim, everything is fine, but boring, after Julia. He is our age, but seems older and more serious. So, by the way, a Muslim, we almost offended him by telling that we liked Muslim Java less than Hindu Bali, so be careful about faith. According to the conversations of our compatriots on the beach, many travel with these two “comrades”, but they are very busy, so Vine discussed the trip with me on the phone, agreed on a price, and he gave a replacement for himself, do not be afraid to go with others. Every trip we amused ourselves by teaching the drivers Russian phrases. They have a hard time with sizzling, so everything turns out very funny. Yes, yes OBHSS! Let's go drink moonshine! How are you? - Shut up! Remove the hissing in the last word ....
They themselves did not expect a pure Russian materka from a Balinese.
orchid park
Who was in Nong-Nuche in Thailand can not stop by.
bird park
Adult-21.5$
Child-10.5$ + 10% insurance, all of a sudden you will be pecked by birds.
I really liked it. Cool pictures, the whole family in parrots.
Ubud
Village of craftsmen There wooden products are real, but a little expensive. Be sure to bargain at least 4 times. Those that are sold in the recreation area in the markets and shops are cheaper, but most likely from a different material, because they are much lighter, although they look very similar.
Temples of Tanah Lot and Ulu Watu
Well, very beautiful at sunset! In Tanah Lot, a powerful ocean wave breaks into millions of splashes on the rocks. Fascinating! The market is really cheap if you haggle. Souvenirs, T-shirts can be bought there.

Taxi to Ulu Watu, via Wayna, $20 for two families. Beware of cheeky monkeys. Only with us, three glasses, a felt-tip pen and even an earring were unceremoniously removed from the tourists.
The servants of the complex are trying to exchange points for food from the monkeys, and if they succeed, they shake money from the owners of the stolen items. Circus, only it was a pity for the Japanese with glasses with diopters.
Mount Batur and Lake Batur (Kintomani Province)
Nice, nothing more. With our tourist past, this is hard to surprise. In our mountains, and it will be more beautiful.
Monkey forest.
It will be very interesting if you take a lot of rambutans from the supermarket with you. Buy in advance. The prices at the entrance are cosmic, and it is very cool to feed them. Mangrove trees with hanging roots are affected.
Turtle Island.
Worth a visit if you are with kids. You can take pictures with an iguana, a boa constrictor, a flying dog.
At the end, they ask for money for the development of a turtle nursery. They ask a lot, give, how much is not a pity, and goodbye
The tour was organized through Wayne - cheaper.
Snorkeling.
Never swam with a mask, so this is one of the strongest impressions.
A good slope in the canyon, overgrown with jungle, with a bunch of waterfalls and waterfalls. Without much extreme, but everything is very lively and, well, very beautiful. We advise. There is also the Ayung River, less extreme, and Bakas, with small children. The cost of rafting with transfer and lunch is $35. We combined this trip with Taro Elephant Park.
Elephants.
Taro Park is very beautiful. You can feed the elephants as much as you like (they give you cane) and take nice pictures. Read the booklets of the Taro Park about the history of Sumatran elephants, it's interesting. Entrance ticket to the park $16 (there is a small show). Elephant riding $45 -30 minutes.
Java

Here, for some reason they write in the reviews, the hotel is bad - a lot of Russians? Maybe they, of course, got into unpleasant situations with our fellow citizens and they are ashamed of them. But for me personally, the presence of our compatriots was a very pleasant circumstance. Firstly, we met a nice family from Novosibirsk (Serega, Olga hi!
) and had fun together. Secondly, they scooped up a lot of useful information on the beach: what? where? how much? Believe me, a lot of noisy Chinese or energetic Italians will be worse.
Java is a prime example of such communication! A young woman from a nearby sunbed made a trip to Java on her own, which gave us confidence, and with the help of Takim, on the way to the next excursion, we bought tickets at the airport for $ 85 round-trip for a convenient day for us. At the Jogjakarta airport (you need to know at least a little English, they don’t understand Russian at all) they agreed with the first taxi driver, and he drove us for $ 40 from 7 am to 19 pm. We looked at the thousand-year-old monuments of Hinduism and Buddhism Prambanan and Borobudur. Entrance 11 and 12$ respectively. If you go, then first read about them on the Internet, then it will be more interesting. Trade souvenirs 4 times. We looked at a couple more temples, but we didn’t have time to go to the Sultan’s palace.
It's until 3pm, so plan ahead. We spent the rest of the time at the Kerfurd supermarket, where we had lunch. As agreed, at 18.30 our driver arrived and took us to the airport. I liked the trip very much, we saw another Indonesia. Be sure to take sunscreen, it's very hot. In total, it turned out to be $ 125 per person, which is two times less than the declared cost of the tour. Be careful!! ! If you take tickets on your own, check. You need to fly to the city of Jogjakarta, and not to the capital Jokarta. We have one woman with her son so flew to Jokarta, did not immediately understand why they did not want to take her to Prambanan, etc. For a long time they laughed on the beach when she talked about her incident. He says that there is nothing to do there, no sights. They themselves were an attraction there, everyone asked to be photographed with a white boy, there are no tourists there at all. We spent time at the local Disney Land to the delight of the child.
Besakih Temple

We didn't get in, but we really wanted to. The reviews are very good.

It's time to finish. I hope that my information will help you relax better.
All the time I compared holidays in Bali with Thailand. Probably, if you take Bangkok (temples) + Pattaya (entertainment) + island vacation (swimming), then it can be compared with Bali, where three in one.

Have a good rest!! !
Translated automatically from Russian. View original