ash owens - Bali Diaries

New Zealand’s up and coming it girl - Ash Owens talks about her latest Bali adventures #unedited 

SEMINYAK
Where do I even begin with Seminyak... it really is the hustle and bustle of Bali, and in my opinion, completely overrated. It’s definitely the most popular spot, but I personally feel like that’s only because people don’t do their research and think that this is the place to go in Bali. It’s NOT. In fact, I don’t recommend staying in Seminyak whatsoever!

Sure, it’s got the shops and restaurants, but to be honest, Canggu does as well, and if you spend the majority of your time there (20 mins up the coast from Seminyak) you won’t be missing out on anything at all. Oh, and while we’re discussing places that are overrated, let’s put Potato Head at the top of that list too. Uluwatu and Canggu have WAY cooler beach/day clubs than Potato Head, but we’ll get into those later.

Anyway, we were warned while planning this trip not to bother with Seminyak, however, we did feel like we needed to figure this out for ourselves, so we booked our first two nights there, and thank GOD it was only two.

The reason we didn’t like Seminyak was mainly because of how overcrowded, loud, busy and STRESSFUL the place is. The narrow main roads are crazy with taxis and scooters flying in every direction and even narrower footpaths. Liam and I had to walk around in single file the entire time we were here! Not our idea of a relaxing, romantic trip away.

Yes it’s Bali, it’s a developing country but Seminyak stinks, it’s dirty and all of the buildings are basically crumbling away while being held up by bamboo scaffolding. Thankfully we spent our time in a 90 minute Spring Spa couples massage and in some fab cafes! We’re glad that we realised Seminyak wasn’t for us first hand, however we certainly won’t be returning during our next Bali trip.

NUSA LEMBONGAN
Nusa Lembongan is around a 45 minute Ferry from Sanur on mainland Bali, we really wanted to go out to an island at some point on our trip for a bit of quiet and to go snorkelling! We’d heard that the Gili Islands were overrated for how far away they are and that the Nusa Islands are just as good, just a lot closer to mainland Bali (which is fab cause that ferry ride made me SICK). If you don’t have time for the Gili Islands then definitely do Nusa Lembongan!

It’s such a beautiful spot to stay if you’re after some peace and quiet away from the hustle and bustle of mainland Bali and I would highly, highly, HIGHLY, recommend you make some time for it in your Bali travel schedule.

UBUD
If I am going to be completely honest, which of course I always am, our favourite part of Ubud was our accommodation. Personally, I feel like Ubud is a ‘just has to be done once’ location in Bali as we felt the town was very similar to Seminyak in terms of busyness. It’s cool to see the rice paddy fields and the monkeys once, but we expected it to be a lot more tranquil and relaxing (which it is when you’re inside your resort). Other than the resort we really didn’t enjoy our time there! I especially did not enjoy getting attacked and bitten by a monkey!!! YUP. I DID.

ULUWATU
Ohh, the dreamy paradise that is Uluwatu. We absolutely adored staying here, and came to the conclusion that our next Bali trip would be 5 nights in Canggu, 3 nights in Lembongan and 5 nights in Uluwatu!

It’s definitely the surfing go-to of mainland Bali with the most stunning, tropical surf beaches. The cliff top views all around the region are amazing and the accommodation, food & day/beach clubs are by far the most impressive out of everywhere else in Bali. We adored staying here and already cannot wait to go back!

For tips on where to eat, shop and stay check out Ash’s blog via her website.