~ Seminyak ~
When most people think of Bali, you think of third world by the beach, right? Well I am here to tell you Seminyak is an exception, think gourmet restaurants, little cafes serving the best coffee and acai bowls you’ve ever tasted, beautiful villas by the ocean. Honestly I had the most amazing experience. We stayed in the Le Jardin villas which were something out of a dream, never did I think we would be able to afford a place like this! We went with another couple and got a two bedroom villa which ended up being 3! The villa was about $200AUD a night so really $50each was nothing!
You must check out these restaurants – Motel Mexicola, sister fields, La plancha (on the beach) and la favela. Obviously Potato head and Mrs Sippy are the favourite pool bars to go to and they do not disappoint, delicious cocktails and an all round great vibe! Mrs Sippy cost $10 to get in and potato head is free.
The Breeze at Samaya in Seminyak is awesome for a sunset dinner, I took James for his birthday. They look after you so well and make you feel like royalty. It is more expensive than other restaurants but you are literally right by the water watching the sun going down eating delicious food and feeling like a queen. (mind you when I say more expensive my meal was £8.50 ($16AUD haha)
These were a few of my favourites in Seminyak, they are definite must dos!
~ Uluwatu ~
We went on a day trip to Uluwatu, it was either this or go up to Ubud so we had to make a tough call. I couldn’t go past Sundays beach club and the Uluwatu temple so we decided to go to Uluwatu. The cliffside Uluwatu temple was seriously picturesque, you know all those photos you see on social media, they are completely legit. James got to see the monkeys he had been dyeing to see and after seeing a sign which said “do not go past this point if you are menstruating as it is not safe” (and I was menstruating) my boyfriend grabbed my hand and dragged me into the forest with not a care in the world. To be honest nothing happened but those signs must be up for a reason right.. haha!
To get to Sundays beach club you have to go to the Ungasan clifftop Resort which is breath taking! The staff will direct you to the little gondola that takes you down to Sundays, you have to pay $30AUD which includes towel rental, access to the beach club and $15AUD which you can redeem on food or drink. The food is bloody fantastic so definitely worth it! You are also allowed to use the infinity pool over looking the ocean and it is so beautiful.
~ Gili Tarwangan ~
After a few days in Seminyak we decided to head over to the Gili islands. Ok so first things first… DO NOT bargain your boat trip to the Gili islands, I am telling you now, after our boat almost capsized in the middle of the ocean, I advise you to ONLY take the Ekajaya boat there and back. When you get to the island it’s all quite hectic, you’ve just been on a boat for 3 hours and now everyone wants to get off, everyone wants their bag first, so it’s a little bit of a frenzy. We stayed at the Pearl of Tarwangan which was something out of a dream, another world! The hotels restaurant was on the sand and you could have dinner on the beach! Free breakfast every morning, you could have anything and as much of everything as you wanted.
You need to hire bikes to get around the island, literally everywhere hires them, your hotel will definitely have them. You do feel like a complete island girl, hairs all salty, riding your bike in your bikinis down to the local fish restaurant. To be honest we didn’t really eat anywhere else other than our hotel because you just couldn’t get much better. We did go down to the local fish restaurant which was delicious, we also got to sit on the beach was which super chill.
There is a bar around the other side of the island from where we stayed which is called “the sunset bar”. This is one of the most awesome bars I have ever been to, the cocktails are like £3 each and they are delicious!
We ended up meeting a guy called Eddie who worked at the bar and ended up taking us out on his boat for a tour around the islands. We got to see the under water museum, swim with the turtles and feed the fish. One of the best experiences of my life to date.