My sister and I spent 10 days in Bali in September 2022, a place we’ve always wanted to visit. Transiting through Singapore, we arrived early morning into Denpasar airport. We had a transfer to the Uluwatu region and stayed in the gorgeous Village Bali resort. This was the exact bliss moment we were hoping for and we enjoyed being in the heat. Our room was perfect, and we were an easy 5 minute walk from the beach. In attempt to fight the jet lag, we spent our first evening at Single Fin, where we watched the sunset and discussed how lucky we felt to be there.
The next day we went to the stunning Melasti beach in the morning and drank from fresh coconuts, before visiting Sundays beach club, which was great for relaxing. That evening we went to Uluwatu temple where we watched the national Kecak dance, which is something I learned about in my music degree!
For our final morning in Uluwatu we went to Padang Padang beach, made famous by the film ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ starring Julia Roberts. Once we topped up our tans it was time for the drive to Ubud. Ubud is in the centre of Bali and has more of a rainforest/jungle feel. We were instantly blown away by the 3-tier infinity pool at our resort, and particularly enjoyed the welcoming nature of the Balinese people.
Of course, you can’t come to Ubud and not visit the monkey forest! We had an amazing experience and even got a selfie with a very cheeky monkey!
It was an early night for us as we had our Mount Batur sunrise hike booked in. We were picked up at 2am (yikes!), and driven to the start point. We began our hike with the guide in the dark, and it was a tough steep hill climb before we made it to the summit for sunrise. Every minute was totally worth it for the gorgeous sunrise that appeared around us through the clouds – definitely a special moment. To reward ourselves, we spent the afternoon relaxing at Cretya Ubud, a series of pools amongst the rice paddies.
The day after the climb we took part in a 9-course Balinese cooking school, which saw us making the classic pastes, mae goreng (noodles), spring rolls, and chicken skewers BFC (Balinese Fried Chicken). It was great to meet and speak with other travellers on this course, and share the food together.
A very cool stop we had was at the waterfall, where you are allowed to pose in the middle of it!
Unfortunately, the next 3 days were a rough patch for us as we caught the dreaded ‘Bali Belly’, which we needed antibiotic treatment for. This happens to nearly half of all travellers in Bali, but it didn’t ruin our trip and we still think fondly of Bali.
Once we recovered we were able to move to our final stop, Seminyak. The vibe here was again a bit different, slightly more built up and sophisticated, and with lots of shops! We spent the afternoon walking along the beach and taking in the sunset, before enjoying the hotel entertainment.
Sadly it rained quite a bit on our last day, but we sat at a beach club eating lovely food in the hope the sun would come out. It didn’t, but we did get some final sunbathing in the next morning before our flight!
We look forward to coming back to Bali and hopefully exploring the Gili Islands or Nusa Dua.