Taman Wana Villas and Spa, Bali  

FORGET ABOUT THIS PLACE. This hotel is very isolated, it is 2 kms from Palasari, village of no interest. There is a big catholic church and we were told the village is Christian, it appears quite well-off and middle-class. As the area is not touristically developed, there are no restaurants, no taxis, no shops. Having stayed at Ubud previously, we had to call the hotel to ask them to come and pick us up ($60) as nobody in Ubud knew where it was or was willing to drive the 2h1/2 - 3 hours to get there. The rooms are beautifully done, the bed is comfortable, look rather like a cabin in a luxury sailboat. Bathrooms could do with a better ventilation as the humidity of the shower stays and it ends up stinking. Don't know how well it will age. Staff can barely understand English (with the notable exception of a lovely, smiling young woman in the restaurant). The biggest failure of this place is the restaurant, the worst we had in Bali. It was pathetic to start with and quickly became depressing. As mentioned previously, there is no restaurant in the area and you have no choice but to eat there. Prices are of course high but the quality is not there, it is completely tasteless. "Indonesian" food has no spices, one dish is vaguely Chinese, another one supposed to be Thai-inspired and there are "European specialties". As an appetizer everyone gets a basket of ... garlic bread, just what one goes to Bali for ....! We told the operations manager the first evening that we had been very disappointed with our meal as it had been tasteless. Next day, we got extra chili powder on all our dishes ! We thought we would catch up on breakfast and even that they could not get right, toasts and eggs they can handle but forget about the rest. On the website, we had seen there were many activites, such as treks in Bali National Park, no prices were indicated. We took the "trek" tour to Bali Barat at $75/head. Expensive but having come this far for the park, we thought it would be silly not to do it. We were driven to pick up a Park Ranger (Yuli)who was very friendly, informative and happy to show his "domain" to tourists because they understand the need for preservation. He had a camera with a very big lens and as we strolled (no trekking!) through the mangrove, evergreen and monsoon forest, he pointed out numerous animals and plants. We crossed several other rangers leading small groups but no one had one of these long lens and frankly they would not have seen anything. We were driven back after about 2 1/2 hours and served a (bad) lunch. The ranger was very nice, but we are talking about a gentle stroll through some woods, not a trek and the outing is nowhere near the $270 it cost for the 3 of us (taxes included). If they charged $100/car (for up to 4-5 people)and did away with the useless lunch, they would still make a very handsome profit. After this, we could not afford to do another outing. Having booked 4 nights, we left after the 3rd as there was absolutely nothing to do and we were dreading mealtimes. The lunch dessert was a banana served with a scoop of pinkish chocolate ice-cream and shredded gruyère-type cheese, looked ugly as well. This hotel is Bali-owned and run and we would have liked to say positive things about it but our experience was not good. If you want to see the National Park, Pemuteran would probably be a better base.