Disclaimer: Apologies if I offend you or your favourite places in this post. If you want bars, shopping, nightlife and to be surrounded by Australians, Kuta may well be the place for you... but it is not my idea of paradise! Try to avoid Tuban, Kuta, Legian and Seminyak. I have previously stayed in all these places, which are filled with enticing resorts at cheap prices. But, as a result are filled to capacity and travelling through these spots is generally traffic madness. If you need to spend a night or 2 near Denpasar airport for flight connections, consider Sanur, Jimbaran, and Bingin, but otherwise head away from the crazy as soon as you can and either head for the hills or the islands. Even Ubud has changed so much from the artsy village I first visited in 1996 and is overrun now with western vegan cafe's, European shops and far too many people! Yes, it takes a little more time and money to travel an hour or two further, but you will not regret it when you sit on your quiet beach or walk through the paddyfields with not a tourist in sight and get to experience real Indonesia. So although Kuta is quite possibly my least favourite place in Bali, here is some information if your heart is set on going.... It is great for shopping and you can find some amazing resorts at bargain prices! It's not just the kids that will love Bali Bom water park! The sunsets are super lush, I'll have to admit. We had accommodation at the Hard Rock Hotel included in our flight price a few years ago and decided to go and 'experience' it for the last few days in Bali. The pools were outstanding and the kids were in total heaven. It was close to many cafe's and the beach in front of the resort was ok, albeit covered in tourists and hawkers. JULY 2022 UPDATE: Well, I never... Kuta is so quiet at the moment. Enjoy it while it lasts! We stayed the last couple of nights in Tuban, South Kuta a short 15 minutes walk from Ngurah Rai Airport. Our accommodation (Rama Beach Villa's) was very pleasant but there were so few tourists around that it saddened me. Many of the shops were bordered up and there was only one shopping mall open. We could walk around the streets for 20 minutes without seeing another tourist. On a brighter note, sunsets at the beach were full of local families enjoying their evenings together. We were only approached by one women wanting us to buy jewellery, which we gladly did as we were trying to invest back into the local economy and felt incredibly sorry for the poor families trying to scrape by over the last few years.
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