Lovina Hotels

Lovina hotels are a great alternative to the package tourism, aggressive street sellers and raucous party scene that one finds in the southern parts of the island of Bali, Indonesia. The black sands of the beaches of Lovina and the tranquil, calm waters that you will find on Bali’s north coast might be a welcome change for you if you have come to Bali for some peace and quiet. It’s just a few hours’ drive, but it’s a world away.

Well there’s nothing wrong with nightlife of course, but sometimes what we really need our holiday is some peace and quiet in a week or two of a slower pace. The fact is that in places like Kuta you will be disappointed if that is what you’re looking for. But don’t think for a second that you can’t escape that scene.

Just hire a driver for the day for roughly 400,000 rupiah (after bargaining) to take you up to the Lovina-Singaraja area. You can also rent a car, although you might be surprised at how little price difference there is if a driver is included in the deal. Either way, it’s a wonderful drive through the mountains and rice terraces, where you can get a glimpse of how the Balinese live, sitting on their porches watching the kids or working in their fields as you pass by. Be sure and stop for some fruit at a roadside stand. If you’d like to break up the four hour drive to the north coast, look for the signs to the Git-Git waterfall and take a hike through some stunning natural scenery. You’ll feel yourself starting to relax even before you reach Lovina.

I would recommend arriving before the sun goes down so that you can take a look at your choices for Lovina hotels before dark. Places like the Adirama Beach Hotel or the Lovina Beach Hotel are excellent options, but I have always made sure to stay at a hotel that is right on the water. There is a lot to be said for not even having a road between your room and the water when you wake up in the morning! (Just try to find tha down in Kuta…) You’ll be struck by how calm the waters are up here on the shores of the Bali Sea, entirely different from the large surf and sometimes dangerous ocean conditions down south. If you’re traveling with small children this will probably result in a less stressful holiday for you, when your children are playing in the water. Unless there are stormy conditions the ocean here is as calm as you’d find on a lake.

You will also be pleased at the lower prices and really superb value for money to be found at many hotels in Lovina. This extends to prices at restaurants as well. Depending on the time of year you might find accommodations in Lovina for as little as half the price of a similar room down south.

Take a chance on Bali’s north coast, and treat yourself to more relaxation at a lower price starting with one of the many Lovina hotels in the area waiting to welcome you.

Head up to the north coast of Bali if you have a little extra energy and if you want something more than just package tourist holiday or nonstop shopping, like you find on the south end of Bali down near the airport. Rent a car and treat yourself to some beautiful scenery through the mountains, jungle and volcanoes of central Bali island. Lovina, just eight km. west of Singaraja, is known as an especially nice place to stay, blessed as it is with a calm waters for swimming and snorkeling. Also, Lovina hotels, often situated right on the ocean as they are, are especially good value for what you’ll spend.

Imagine waking up and instead of having to fight the traffic just to get to the ocean, having it right outside your front door at your Lovina hotel. This area offers you this because unlike other parts of the island, especially in the South, it is not (yet) congested and build up to accommodate the hordes of tourists. Restaurants and hotels take advantage of their proximity to the water and offer what is in my opinion, one of the best-kept secrets of the island of Bali. You will probably catch yourself comparing a relaxed lunch and a cold beverage right on the water in Lovina with the experience of dodging motorcycles, taxis and surfboards just to have a meal on Jalan Pantai Kuta or Poppies 1 or 2 down in Kuta.

It is not to say that there is not plenty of fun to be had in the busier parts of the island-of course there is, and a large part of Bali’s reputation as being built on the nightlife and party scene. But if you’re in the mood for a day trip or several days of deceleration into what Bali must’ve been like two or three decades ago, with prices that are a fraction of what you’ll find down near the airport, Lovina beach might be just what you have in mind.

A final word about the prices. Once you get away from “civilization” you may really be shocked at how prices in restaurants and hotels really drop. Lovina hotels in particular, have all the amenities of their southern counterparts except for the aformentioned better location. So if quiet is what you want, chances are you’ll have a better experience for half or even a third of the price or similar accommodations. And to find the holiday you are dreaming of when you decided to come to Bali, at a great price, will make the memory even better.

A friend recently asked me what I would recommend for a quieter, more relaxing holiday if she wasn’t interested in the party scene or shopping as a primary activity when she visits Bali, Indonesia. I immediately suggested heading up through the mountains and the much quieter area of Bali’s north coast. The area around Lovina is a very underrated tourist destination, but there’s plenty to see and do, albeit at a slower pace. Just find yourself one of manyLovina hotels you can choose from, right on the water, I suggested, and have yourself an entirely different kind of beach holiday. It’s only 3-4 hours away, so one could always come back to the swinging hotspots in the south if the pace is too slow…

The thing about the south of Bali is that so many tourists come for the same thing, i.e. a beach holiday, that it’s difficult and more expensive to find, unless you venture into quieter parts of the island, away from the main entry point to Bali, Ngurah Rai Airport. You can stay close to the beach in areas like Kuta or Sanur, but if staying “right on the beach” was part of what you envisioned for your holiday, a Lovina hotel might be closer to what you had in mind when you made your reservations. And by the way, you can still be right on the water in Lovina, I mean without even a road between you and the beach, for a fraction of what you can pay for a hotel in busier areas of Bali. It’s simple-most of the year there is really no surf at all in the north so it was possible to put homes, hotels and restaurants right next to the Bali Sea, much as you would if you were building on the side of a lake.

As I explained to my friend, Lovina Beach is a little bit like stepping back in time to what Bali might have been like for a visitor before the airport. The pace of life is noticeably slower; to me it feels like other parts of Indonesia, except with enough infrastructure to make a tourist feel comfortable. Bali tourism must have changed over time, and now people come for different reasons than they would’ve in the 1970s, for example. And that’s fine, but I assured my friend that package tourism and going out till three o’clock in the morning every night was by no means the only options for her vacation. As it turned out, there was a hammock waiting for her at her hotel in Lovina, and I’ll bet there’s one for you too.

When you come to Bali on vacation you will be struck by how busy the southern part of the island is. A lot of tourists seem not to venture more than five or 10 miles away from the airport. It’s too bad because there’s a lot more to Bali than just the hectic nightlife and shopping in places like Kuta.

If you would like to try something a little different, a holiday with a slower pace, a lot closer to what you might call the “real” Indonesia, why not venture up to the northern end of the island? As an expatriate resident of Bali I can recommend a place like Lovina to experience something different from the standard Bali tourist experience. As an added bonus, prices in restaurants and Lovina hotels are much cheaper than elsewhere in Bali, and excellent value for money.

The northern coast is very different from the southern part of the island in many ways. Along with lower prices, there simply are not as many tourists up here, or locals for that matter. You will feel it as you descend from the mountains to Lovina, on the road down from quiet Bedugul: you no longer feel like every business establishment exists only to support the tourist industry. It’s a good feeling, and I always think “this must be like what Indonesia and Bali was like 30 years ago.”

Not that you’ll be out in the cold as a tourist! Along with restaurants near the water where you will enjoy lounging during extended lunches and dinners, you’re sure to find a Lovina hotel suited perfectly to your budget and needs. Whether you’re looking for a quiet spot for a honeymoon or need a place to accommodate a backpacker’s budget, it’s really all here in Lovina.

I won’t attempt to give you a comprehensive list of Lovina hotel options in this short article, but here are a few that I’ve heard good things about: the Bali Paradise Hotel which is surrounded by rice fields, the beachfront Adirama Beach Hotel, the friendly Rambutan hotel run by a nice family, and the rather famous Lovina Beach Hotel, which is probably the first hotel in the entire area.

I always recommend that visitors take at least a daytrip up to Bali’s underrated north coast, and more often than not, friends who do make the trip stay for at least a few days. It’ is slower and quieter, but sometimes there’s a lot more fun in than you would expect.

So you have made the trip up from the southern region of Bali to Lovina, and decided to stay a while. Lucky for you there is a wide selection of Lovina hotels where you’re sure to find accommodation in your price range.

Most people come here to Lovina with the idea of being close to the ocean, which is normally quite tranquil here when compared to the rough waters and big waves of other parts of the island. For this reason proximity to the sea is a major consideration when choosing a hotel. The closer you are to the beach, the closer the famous Lovina dolphins are to you, and you’ll certainly want to go see them!

One thing that you’ll want to be aware of when booking hotels in Lovina is that some establishments have not been upgraded or remodeled in some time. Be sure and ask when you make your reservation how old the hotel is, and when was the last time it was given a makeover.

Having said that, Lovina hotels like the family-run Rambutan Boutique Hotel or the Lovina Beach Hotel are to be recommended, both featuring room rates and value for money that easily rival and most likely surpass your hotel options down in Kuta. In fact this would be generally true of hotels in the Singaraja-Lovina area: this is a quieter area of Bali and for tourists, prices are refreshingly low. Another hotel that is right on the beach in Lovina is the Adirama Beach Hotel. Higher-end options include the beachfront Puri Bagus Lovina, or the intimate Bali Paradise Hotel boutique Resort and Spa, set in the middle of the rice fields.

When booking online it is probably a good idea to go directly to the website of the hotel in which you’d like to reserve, rather than an online hotel room aggregator. Another option is to wait until you arrive in Lovina to book a room. If you are flexible and especially if you prefer budget options, you should have no trouble finding good deals at quite reasonable prices.

The thing to really keep in mind is that if you find the heavily touristed southern part of Bali a little too busy for the sort of relaxed beachfront holiday you had in mind, the north coast of Bali has other options for you. Rent a car or get a driver and get just a little bit off the beaten path. Find one of the many good-value Lovina hotels that suits you and your family, wake up really early one morning, and go see some dolphins. I’ll bet you won’t miss Kuta a bit.