Monday, May 13th, 2019
Our latest trip to Bali was for Dean’s company holiday. We are very lucky in that once a year they pay for accommodation for everyone and their families somewhere not far from Singapore and we just have to pay for the flights.
This year the trip was 3 nights at the Sofitel Nusa Dua. I was particularly excited since this is an area of Bali we haven’t stayed in before and I was keen to try. Nusa Dua is a short drive from the airport and as they have built a new causeway, there is very little traffic, unlike when driving from the airport to Kuta or Seminyak. Nusa Dua is very much a resort place. The Sofitel is just one hotel in a huge row of chains. Although there are some beach bars and restaurants a little further along from the resorts, its nothing like Seminyak with lots of shops, bars and restaurants to go out to. In fact the Nusa Dua hotels are even past a security checkpoint which we found a bit strange.
The Sofitel was a great place to stay with kids. We enquired with the hotel before hand about babysitting services and they suggested we engage one of their recommended agencies. We used Karsini Nanny services and Komang came for a few hours the 3 days that we were there and was great entertaining L in the kids club and put her to bed a couple of times without any problem.
There were a few pools at the hotels and L loved running through the fountains in the kids pool and playing in the sand. For older kids there was also a slide. The main bar had a pool bar and there was also a beach club attached which had two more pools. Plenty of choice and space for relaxing.
On the Saturday morning we took a walk out. I had seen on the map that there was a blow hole nearby so I thought that would be a good place to head for. Unfortunately we weren’t quite there at the right time to see it in action but we got to check out the neighbouring beaches. The sea at Nusa Dua is much calmer than at Seminyak and Kuta and the beaches very picturesque. There is a nice promenade that goes along the length of the beaches and in April the beaches were nice and quiet. It might be a different story in the summer though.
On the walk along the beach, we discovered perhaps our favourite spot in Nusa Dua – Pirates Bay – a pirate themed bar and restaurant. This was a great spot to relax day and night with a juice or a beer and had a great novelty factor for kids.
While I think we prefer Seminyak for the great bars and restaurants, I can see us returning to Nusa Dua in the future for a fly and flop weekend where we don’t mind not leaving the hotel. Especially as the kids facilities were so good. We’d stay at the Sofitel again and would love to try out one of their pool villas.
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