Located right on Seminyak beach the four-star resort has lush rainforest gardens throughout the secure complex. Bamboo grew right outside our hotel room door and banana trees with early fruit hung over a nearby walkway.
The gardens were home to a croissant-eating lizard. Whilst I enjoyed breakfast, this lizard leaped into the water to devour breakfast rolls from the waitstaff. He seemed friendly enough although I’m not sure that I’d want to meet him if I was walking alone in the evening.
We stayed in a ground floor room with a balcony that overlooked the moat. Ok, so it was more of a man-made waterhole surrounding the ground floor rooms but it did have the appearance of extra security from the balcony.
The hotel boasts two pools, a garden view pool and the more popular and crowded oceanview pool. Guests nabbed prime positions near the latter before breakfast so its recommended to go early although there were still some sun lounges available mid afternoon. The garden pool is a little more peaceful and secluded, plus its jacuzzi was great to relax in.
We were genuinely surprised by the food at the Capris beachside restaurant. There are a lot of negative comments on Tripadvisor about Balinese hotels having inflated prices at their restaurants. Yet I think if you’re hungry and don’t feel like venturing out from your hotel after a shopping expedition – you do get what you pay for. We ordered the mixed satay and gado gado salad with fresh juices. The satay came with an array of sides including white rice, steamed sambal spinach and sauces. The still-sizzling satay had to be turned over a couple of times on the hot rocks – which were not just for decoration!
On my birthday, we went for a hot stone massage at Le Spa. The massage was soothing for me but way too hot for my mum! Hot stone massage involves heating stones which are then used to massage all over your body with pairs of stones placed on your pressure points. It’s my favourite massage but maybe not for everyone.
Back in the room after the massage I was flicking through the TV channels when I noticed out of the corner of my eye a colourful cake on the coffee table. The hotel staff had left it there when we were away – it came with candles so I can only surmise that they wanted to sing to me? Either way it was a genuine surprise adding to a one-of-a-kind birthday. And yes, we did eat most of the cake for morning tea…
What completed our holiday though was the attentiveness of the staff. They were always friendly and assisted us with tour information, organising a taxi to Ubud and of course presenting a birthday cake. It perhaps accounts for the “regulars” that continually choose to stay there.
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