Novotel Nusa Dua: Wonderful time at Novotel Nusa Dua
by Emile72
First things first, don't confuse this hotel with Novotel Benoa. Also located in Nusa Dua and when you go search for Novotal Nusa Dua on the internet, 9 out of 10 times you end up with the Benoa Novotel. Reason for that might be that Novotel Nusa Dua is brand new, opened in March 2007.
We stayed in this hotel in July 2007, July 2008 and July 2009, a total of 34 nights. All in all, we had a GREAT time.
Service: The personnel is extermely friendly and nice. Our compliments. In the 3 times we have been here, the level stayed the same.
The rooms are very nice, we had the delux room, which is the smallest room, about 55sqm. Half of it is taken by the bathroom :) But everything is reasonable clean and the balcony is spacious. I mentioned, reasonable clean. You can see, even after 2.5 yrs the stains and "muffiness" appearing. Furthermore, it is not always being kept clean well (hairs from other guests and most annoying bugs in bed and ants around the fridge). Cleaning service is inconsistent, sometimes handtowels, sometimes not, sometimes toiletpaper, sometimes not.
The bed is hard and the pillows way too soft. There are NO curtains, just these wooden "vitrages", which for sure makes you wake up around 6-7am as the light shines in and there is nothing you can do about it. I know other rooms at Novotel do have curtains, why not place curtains everywhere???
Breakfast is good, for all cultures sufficient choice. Be aware if you stay for alonger period of time, the variation gets repetitive, but isn't that everywhere the case. Here we noticed an increase in tourists. The first yr we came, it was a walk in, now from time to time we had to wait to be seated.
Restaurant is good as well, though obviously a lot cheaper to eat in one of the local restaurants.
The pool is fairly quiet, though there is not much wind and it gets hot.
The spa is good and quite a difference with the beach massages. And you get a good deal for so much exclusivity. Check the happy hours with 25% discount.
The fitness is nice with fragranced airco!!!
The resort is quite small areawise, but it is cosy. More than half of the time we were there all the rooms were booked. Main guests are from Asia, followed by Australians and Russians (see comment under restaurants) and a few Europeans here and there.
The beach is about 7 minute walk. And the staff will drive you there with car, which is about a 3 min. drive (very irregular times!). The beach is a private beach and very nice (!), there are a few hawkers, keeping a respectful distance. There are at least 1-2 guards and one lifeguard. Even the beach is quite small, there are about 20 units to lay. Not all have parasols! Here one more aspect, the first year we were here, it was so quiet and peaceful, it was like heaven. This year, you can notice it gets crowded. More loud, more people and from time to time, there are just not enough units (beach chairs) available and people have to wait. The beach is way to small for the hotel!!! When it was crowded, people put their chairs in front of you (thanks, I tried to be here in time to have a nice spot!) or even took our parasol without asking!
There is a beach bar, the food is overpriced and nothing special. Drinks are overpriced too.
All in all, we like this place, we paid about 65Euros incl. BF and that is a good deal. Woul we go here, if it was e.g. 100E? I dont think so.
Some Tips:
Restaurants: There are restaurants close to Novotel in the "sidestreet". We used to go there a lot the previous year, however, this year being at NYOMAN, we noticed a BIG rat climbing from the roof into the kitchen and no one cared, it seems to be normal. It is the result of the open air kitchens. We have not been there again and recommend to go and walk to Bali collection. All closed kitchens.
Bali Collection: Here are a lot of restaurants, good food, nice atmosphere! We particularly like Aroma, very friendly staff and good food albeit a bit salty. Also the woodfire pizza at the Italian Restaurant is superb. You can pick out the good restaurants, it is busy. Please beware of the overflow of Russians. Some restaurants have Russian signs and no English signs. They approach you in Russian. As being from Finland, neighbouring Russia, we do not really enjoy this.
Grocery: Nine Mart, just around the block in the "sidestreet". Water is e.g. half the price as in Bali Collections.
Spa: Available everywhere, but recommend to use the Novotel Spa, lets say about 10Euros more, but for sure worth it!
Shopping: Kuta it is! Taxi is 50.000-70.000Rp. Dont take a metered one, just stop a van.
Daytrips, same, take a van, I would say baround 300.000-35.000 for a day trip through one of the most beautiful places in the world.
And last but not least, SECURITY! Security in Nusa Dua is a farce, ridiculous and just put there for tourist. The guards, in case they are not asleep, just check cars a bit at random and are more interest in talking with the tourists. Really, dont go to Nusa Dua because you think it is secured, it is not, it is just there to employ some locals and make you feel and think it is secured.
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