Be prepared to be completely convinced to go, and thats just from the pictures.

I’ve just arrived home from the most amazing trip to South East Asia. We flew out from Heathrow at the beginning of August straight out to Denpasar Airport, Bali. After bartering for a cheap taxi and sitting through some slightly ridiculous driving, we had arrived in Ubud. Our first two nights we stayed in Ubud, in two separate hotels which I’ll write about in a different blog.

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The first day was time to explore Ubud market and see how good our bartering skills actually were. After buying lots of stuff we didn’t need, such as tops with the Bintang logo on, it was time to leave, and to our surprise, find a Starbucks 100m down the road from the traditional market and grab a quick ice coffee before headed back to our hotel where we discovered the drink of the holiday, Bintang Radler, lemon beer (dreamy). The next day in Ubud was time to go to the Monkey sanctuary, all to see sunglasses, hand sanitiser and different object get stolen from tourists bags. These monkeys genuinely know how to steal from closed bags and how to rule humans, by seeing monkey’s jump into babies pushchairs acting like a baby itself.

After all our antics in Ubud, it was time to travel down south and get to the beaches. Another mental taxi ride down to the Kuta area of Bali, where we stayed in an Airbnb in Canggu, a small walk from the beach front. We arrived in the afternoon, changed into our swimwear and headed right to the Lawn, a beach club which definitely severed us well during our stay in Canggu. With stunning sunsets and day beds which saw us play at least 20 card games a day, this place was hard to leave until dark.

The next day, we headed out to brunch at the Beach Garden which had incredible smashed avo and iced coffee (not starbucks this time), and then it was time to head to the beach, this time thinking we would spend our day somewhere else but the Lawn dragged us back and again saw us through another 20 card games, along with a few hours of surfing (but I’m not sure I can call it that). After a big lunch including truffle pizza, chilli edamame and with a few bottles of wine later, it was time to see what all the fuss was about at Old Man’s Canggu, and after a heavy night of sambucca shots with tabasco in (don’t ask) we headed to grab some late night food at ‘Burgerz’, which I honestly cannot recommend more, especially as drunk food.

After spending two days in the Lawn, Canggu, we thought we better explore some more of the Kuta area, including Seminyak, which included a 15 minute (reality 45 minute) moped ride where we were actually lucky to be alive on arrival. Here we found ourselves headed to Ku De Ta for the day with lots of yummy food and chill vibes (if you aren’t going for the party scene – this is the place for you). On our way home, we stopped by at the famous Fat Mermaid in Canggu, for dinner where we devoured a delicious Spaghetti Bolognese whilst watching some live music.

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Our next destination was the Gili Islands, up at 5am for our transfer to the port, and after our boat ride, arriving in Gili Trawangan at about 1pm, with the day ahead of us we went to explore the island, which took about an hour to walk half way around, where we found a sweet looking beach bar called Malibu. For dinner we went for a lovely meal at the Pearl, which is also a top rated hotel, afterwards we walked back to our hotel and we soon realised we hadn’t done enough research and found ourselves upon a party island which wasn’t originally in our plan. The next day we took bikes out to explore the other side of the island hoping to find a bit more peace and quiet and untouched beach areas, but disappointingly after dragging our bikes through sand, we realised we’d ended up on the Magaluf of Bali, not quite the romantic getaway we were hoping for. Trying to make the most of our time, we booked a private snorkelling trip for the next day around the Gili Islands (Trawangan, Air & Meno), costing us £25 for 4 hours! We saw 7 turtles and so many different fish, along with statues under the sea. To our surprise they dropped us off at Gili Air for an hour where we could explore this island, seeing the gorgeous untouched white sand beaches which looked like the Caribbean, we realised we’d made a slight mistake in booking Gili T for 5 nights. As we got there we went for a drink on some sun loungers of a hotel, and within 30 minutes we’d made a reservation at the hotel for the following evening. Best decision we made on that trip, following with a few days in paradise on stunning beaches and paddle boarding through the glistening clear seas. On our departure we went via Lombok (just because thats where we got the boat from), but I still count it as another place!

Next up was our last destination in Bali, Uluwatu, and by far our favourite place. We stayed in a small place just down the road from Padang Padang beach, surfers paradise. Therefore, we thought we’d maybe be better at surfing this time round, but I wont lie, I enjoyed sitting on the surfboard and watching everyone else ride the waves from a distance. The beach was a vibrant area where people lay all day – but keep your bags safe as monkey’s roam around freely looking for anything they can get there hands on.

Uluwatu Temple was the next place to visit, the temple is placed on top of a cliff with beautiful views of the sea, we entered and got wrapped in sarongs to cover ourselves and we walked through the temple, watching the locals proceed through their religious ceremonies.

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We wanted some chill time before we headed to Vietnam and spent the last few days unwinding among a few beach/day clubs. OMNIA, being one of the incredible places we visited, on top of a cliff with mind blowing views of the ocean from the infinity pool, although more expensive the views and architecture of this amazing day club is a must. If you’re looking for a more chilled beach club, Sunday’s beach club is for you, we visited here on our second to last day, where a funicular takes you down the side of a cliff, where you end up at a white sand beach, with a restaurant, vip areas and water-sports. The Sunday’s club is very family friendly, and ends the evening with bonfires on the beach where you can roast marshmallows while the sun goes down.

On our last day we stayed close to the hostel and spent the day at Ulu Cliffhouse, with steps leading down to a small untouched coved beach with beautiful shells. Spending our last evening in the beautiful Suarga Hotel, in the Dugong restaurant, looking over Padang Padang beach as the sunset closed down the end of a beautiful and unforgettable trip to Bali. We will be back.