Ayana Resort and Spa Bali

The breakfast is great and the staff are lovely - they were happy to change my room for me. If you are looking for a wedding venue, the hotel has beautiful pavilions and superb landscaping to create a dream setting. If you want a resort hotel in the sun that happens to be in Bali and where you'll be pampered, this is the place, but be aware that extras cost extra. If you want to actually experience Bali, think twice.

It is an isolated, self-contained resort. Saying it is in Jimbaran Bay is deceptive - Jimbaran is 7 or 8 km away - if you want the famous "eating on the beach" experience, you'll need a taxi. There is a shuttle service, but it is to Kuta - the very place I wanted to avoid on my trip round Bali. Fortunately this was my last stop so I'd seen the real Bali already. You have to take their shuttle to their private beach - it is in the next bay and there are 160 steps down to the beach itself. Internet access is expensive. The standard rooms are generic American hotel style - nothing "Balinese" about them. Some have connecting doors which are not soundproof - mine was so bad I asked to be moved. The marble hallways create more noise.