Uluwatu
Venture just 45 minutes west of Nusa Dua (45 minutes south of Denspar) and you will be in Uluwatu. Sooo many heart eyes for this area. Again, super private beaches for a quite and relaxing time. But this area also has some of the best surfing and secret beaches.
After staying a few nights at the Hilton we decided to change the pace quite a bit. I wanted to get the authentic Bali feel so we chose Lacabane Bali for our stay. I had seen several travel bloggers that I follow stay there and after following their stories I knew I had to see it for myself.
Side note, one of the biggest tips on how I plan my trips is all through instagram. I first start by searching the place that I am traveling to. Then as I’m scrolling through the pictures I find hotels, or bloggers with similar style to mine. I then follow their pages and watch their highlights. Or click on hotels and then the pictures being tagged by actual people staying there to get the real unphotoshopped feel for what the hotel will be like.
Lacabane has several different bungalows, most with outdoor bathrooms (which was one of the things I was most excited for), but one bungalow in particular had this dreamy shower, and it had me with all the boho vibes. The name of the bungalow is hotel Mar. At a whopping $122 a night it was a steal!!! Now, I’m not going to lie getting to this hotel was a bit of a challenge. The bottom half of Bali is not as developed as the areas more around Canggu or Ubud. There are cattle running in the roads, and chickens, oh and dogs all over the place. In fact when we first pulled up we were a little shocked. HERE?! But we were greeted with such a smiling face that we quickly forgot what was on the other side of the cinderblock walls.
The staff helped us with our luggage, handed us an adorable welcome drink, and showed us to the pool!! Ill never get over that view. The drinks were heavenly, so extremely fresh and the music being played at the pool was subtle and perfect, ahhh so zen. Our room was not ready yet because we showed up early eager to explore. The staff was great to hold our belongings and rent us a scooter all within 15 min of walking on the property. Now the journey begins!!!
We headed south to check out a secret beach I was dying to see. Suluban beach. A beach inside a cave! On your way to this beach you will pass p’dang p’dang beach, as well as Thomas beach. Both are beautiful and if you are here more days I highly recommend going to. We had to chose one and Suluban was on my bucket list. This area is a surf town on a cliff. So freaking cool!! Shops and restaurants carved into the side of rock. Austraillian inspired surf gear, and beach clubs. We parked the scooter and easily found the exact beach I had pinned on Pinterest. So crazy! I figured we’d be walking around for hours looking for it, but bam, there it was. Just as pictured! We laid out, found some of the coolest shells, and waded in the crystal blue water. Paradise!!!!
After a full beach day we were hungry so we started to make the climb back up. There were several bars and restaurants with incredible views but not many offered cocktails, and we’re on vacation, so that’s a must. I told Brooks I was pretty sure I saw a happy hour sign at the first joint up top and so we kept climbing. Guess what!?! Not only was it happy hour, it was a pool club!! We would later come to find out that these are very common in Bali, but we had never experienced anything like it. Oh, and it was FREE to enter and have towels and chairs!! WHAT?!! #onlyinBali The pool was an infinity pool overlooking the ocean so we sat down, order 2 for ones, French fries (duh) and sighed, because this was truly just the start and we were in Heaven.
Watch this video to get a real glimpse of the view!! It will take your breath away!!
Things to do in Uluwatu
Surf
Explore rocky cave beaches
Hit up a pool club for happy hour
Go check out Rock Bar
To see more videos of our time in Bali, head to my instagram @madeoverbymandy and check out my highlight bubbles.