Legian Beach Hotel

We stayed at the LBH during the July holidays in the Superior Family Room with our three kids (14, 10 & 8). The parents bed is king size on a mezzanine floor and the kids had generous single beds downstairs. There is a TV which alternates in house movies in English, German and Indo with various combos of sub titles. At the end of a long day it can be fun to sit back and watch a bit of James Bond in German. The bathroom was very small and only room for one at a time and there was nowhere really to put all your bathroom stuff. The rooms were clean and the linen was changed daily and the bottled water supply was kept up. We arrived in the early hours of the morning so we treated ourselves to the hotel breakfast when we got up. There was heaps to choose from from fruits, indo food, eggs and cripsy bacon ect but for a family of 5 it would be expensive to do regularly and even with their 50% discount it came close to $50. There are two pools and you have to be early to get a sun lounge! WE had a couple of lazy days and just ordered lunch by the pool at very reasonalbe prices, eg chips 18 000 pizza 25 000 etc. The hotel is just about on the beach with only a limestone road to cross. The road was being upgraded and looks like it will sealed soon, so this may make it busier and a bit of a hassle to cross for the kids. All the family rooms are at the front of the hotel and it can be a bit noisy with the traffic when you sit out on the balcony, but after afew G & T's it fades into the background! We emptied our bar fridge and got water mixers and beer etc from a shop directly accross the road very cheap. We found a great place for breakfast less than 50 metres from the hotel on Jl Melasti called Uncle Norms Bistro. We were paying about 60 000 Rp for all of us. We had dinner there a few times and it was just as cheap and they have western food as well as indo food, including beers ect, dinner usually cost no more than 100 000. The staff there are very friendly and they entertain the kids with tricks and jokes. Highly recommend it. We arranged transport with a guy who parked outside the hotel. The van was airconditioned and ended up paying 120 000 Rp for about 6 hours each time. We went to the Bali Bird Park and Reptile Park one day and had a ball. It costs about US$7.50 for adults and US$4 for kids with a discount fif you visit both. Three of us went to both and two only to the bird park for about Aussie $80. Inside you see every exotic bird you can think of and there are two stations where you can handle the birds and have your picture taken, for no extra cost. The reptile park also has an enclosure where you can handle all kinds of lizards, including a 1.5M crocodile monitor. As everyone posts, Waterbom Park is a must and we got there about 11 am and were just about thrown out at 6 pm closing! Mind you, you feel it in your thighs the next day after climbing the steps so many times. We had lunch inside Waterbomb Park and it was very reasonable (about 20 000 Rp a meal) and good food.

We found a place down a lane opposite our hotel to have hair braided and nails done a very reasonable prices called Douglas House of Leather. Its is opposite the LBH behind Bali Intan Cottages. Our daughters hair is fairly thick and long and she paid 80 000 Rp for braiding which took close to 4 hours (take a book!). We had heard of people getting nits after getting their hair braided on the beach. It pays to to be clear on the price before you start and stick to it as sometimes they want more money when they are half way through the braiding!. We bought most of out stuff in Legian. There are markets next to the hotel and a place called Ketut's off Jl Shadewa was very reasonable, with kids items (shorts T's etc)costing about 15 000 and adults 20 -25 000Rp. We also went to the go karts near Waterbom Park. Kids over 12 can have a kart themselves for 45 000 for 5 mins or 60 000 for 10 mins and a double is 5 000 more. Its good fun but the kids have to hang on in the double kart mainly because Dad forgets he has a passenger! One night we had dinner at the New Bounty and had a grwat time. The food was good and about 9pm they have kareoke.

Next time we will take more muchies for the kids such as biscuts, chips etc as there were times when they wanted something small and generally they didn't like the local munchies.

All in all we had a ball and everyone can't wait to save up and go back.