A Week in Candidasa

The place is beautiful: the pool, the restaurant, the grounds, the SPA. It’s just outstanding. The rooms are large and there is plenty of room: fridge, teapot, bottled water every day. The best thing was the service, the cleaning people were great, turned your bed down at night, and if you needed anything they fulfilled it. I must admit, the area is very quiet. You need to find things to do. There is scuba and snorkeling in the area. There are some great places to visit: the Water Park, the King’s Temple, the Water Palace, and the Bat Cave at the Temple. The town of Candidasa is a little depressed, some hotels and restaurants have closed. Candidasa is about 2km away and there is a free shuttle every morning, but the best part is the restaurants. First, the hotel restaurant is excellent and the ribs are the best. The prices for breakfast and other meals are more than reasonable. The SPA is excellent and is both a hotel and a timeshare. They have some rooms set aside for timeshare, but the majority is regular hotel rooms. The best part about this hotel is the staff. We have been traveling for 7 years since we retired and I can honestly say the staff, (grounds, restaurant, rooms, SPA) is one of the top we have ever stayed with. They were friendly, courteous, professional, and just great overall. They made the stay one we will always remember.

This is a great place to eat in the town of Candidasa. They will come and pick you up and bring you back to your hotel. They have a happy hour. The food is excellent and the prices are unbelievable. Mahi Mahi, catch of the day, $5, I had King Prong and it was $7. Steak was around $5-$6. We ate there twice. We came in for the happy hour and stayed for dinner. Service is great, the ambience is super. Piped in Jazz music. A great place.

This Lotus belongs to a chain of Lotus Restaurants all through Bali. They are great places. This one also has bungalows and you can stay there. It's about a 10 minute walk from the Rama, but they will also come and get you. The restaurant faces the pool and the ocean, a great view. The meal was fantastic, the prices excellent, and the service was outstanding. We ate here only one night. That becomes a problem in Candidasa, Ubud, and Sanur, too many good restaurants and not enough time to eat in all of them. The Rama Candidasa restaurant was very good, but we just wanted to go out. This was an excellent choice.

When people heard that we were going to spend seven nights in Candidasa, the first thing they said - quiet, nothing to do. We went there thinking that we probably would only stay three or four nights and then go back to Ubud. But after the first couple of days in Candidasa, you could not help but notice how the staff treated you, they really went out of their way to make your vacation a good one. The town, the shops, the restaurants, the Internet places, all just were glad to see you.

Most of the restaurants in town, will come to the hotel to get you and take you back. There is lots to do, you just need to make it happen if you go on your own. Usually on a tour, it's all set up for you, so no problem but when you go buy yourself, you make it happen. Snorkeling, trips, temples, parks, shopping, beaches, Spas, restaurants, it's all there. We were really glad we stayed and did not leave early.