Pin in the Map: Seminyak Beach, Bali

On December 30, 2011, we arrive at the Denpensar Airport eager to explore Bali. Our hotel picked us up from the airport and we quickly learned a few things: 1) driving in Bali is crazy, even when sitting in tons of traffic, and 2) the humidity combined with the heat is intense.

We got a good taste of what Seminyak is like as we drove through the beach town to our hotel. The streets are lined with shops, restaurants, and bars. Most of the bars and restaurants are open to the street, making them great for people watching. We mostly stuck to the places on the beach and on Jl. Dhyana Pura, although there are many more streets in the town (see map below).

Beach Bar in Seminyak

After checking in, Shelley and I wanted to check out the pool area. We never quite made it into the pool because we were so easily distracted by all the fun going on at the beach. Our hotel backed right up onto the beach that is lined with beach bars/restaurants. We were in awe of the beauty and decided a beer was in order. Several of the bars had tons of brightly colored, oversized bean bag chairs right on the beach, which is where we quickly found ourselves taking in the view and drinking our first of many Bintangs! (So bummed I left my camera in the room).

Seminyak Beach

That first night the whole group ventured into town for some dinner and drinks. Not bad after 22 hours of traveling. We ended up at the first restaurant we came across. The food was great, the Bintang was cold, and a good time was had by all.

First Night Out in Seminyak

First Night of Bintangs!

In general we learned that most of the restaurants had a pretty similar, well-versed menu. Most had Indonesian food, pasta, pizza, chicken/steak/fish with some sort of side, and sometimes another asian cuisine. So basically, it was pretty impossible to not find something on the menu that sounded good. It didn't take long to figure out that all the restaurants served two different kinds of beer: Bintang small and Bintang large.

On New Years Eve day, we explored Seminyak a little more and had lunch at one of the open front restaurants. Shortly after lunch, we had to head back to the hotel for our spa treatments. I enjoyed the Balinese Massage. The massage room had one open wall that faced a little river of water and was sooo relaxing. The boys were not so impressed with the Balinese Ball Massage since the balls were heated (a little too hot) in a rice cooker. The girls had much better experiences.

We had an incredible New Years Eve that night, but you'll have to see the "Tahun Baru" post for more on that. On the 1st we explored a few places outside of Seminyak, but that's in another post too.

After our tour on the 1st, we had one last night to enjoy in Seminyak. We all went to the Lucky Day restaurant, which ironically is only open for dinner. Sadly we never made it to the Bestest Cafe, but hopefully it wasn't really the bestest. After dinner we enjoyed what was supposed to be "one last drink" at the restaurant we went to on the first night. At this point, the top entertainment choice in Seminyak was clear: Balinese men playing acoustic versions of American songs. This was happening at every restaurant...some way better than others.

Singer

We had one last morning in Seminyak before getting picked up to head to our villas in Uluwatu. Of course Jen, Shelley, and I decided one more cheapo massage was in order. We tried a small "spa" in town, where Jen and I got a 30-minute foot (and leg) massage for $3 each and Shelley got a 1-hour full-body massage for $5. Then it was off to Uluwatu...

Pelangi Hotel
Overall the Pelangi Hotel was a great hotel. The pros are: clean, incredibly nice staff, pretty grounds/pool, beach access, buffet breakfast (included) with a view, restaurant and bar on-site, spa on-site, 2 blocks to town. The photos of the rooms online are very flattering. The photos are real, but for some reason the rooms are just not quite as nice as they look in the photos. We were all happy with the hotel though, and if you aren't looking for something too fancy, I would recommend it.