Per
Hi,I hope this is the right forum to ask this question. I was about to post it in the "Bali Property and Real Estate" section but figured out that's probably not the right place to post it.Anyway, me and my small family (wife + 2 kids) will be arriving in Bali in the beginning of October and we'll be staying for three months. We're looking to rent a villa in the northern parts of Bali for at least a month, maybe for the whole period we're in Bali. So my question is: Is it better to book a place online, or do you think it will be easy to find a place to rent once in Bali? I'm thinking about booking a hotel in Lovina for the first 10 days and during those days ask around and see if we can find a place to rent, but I'd hate ending up without a place to stay, hehe.Any tips are welcome!Cheers!
ferdie
December is going to be crowded, so you better booked yourself a place for December.But for October and November, you could stay the first week and find which one that suits your criteriaOn the other hand, when you have 3 other people in the group wanting a holiday, you could ruin the holiday by running around and looking for villa while you could have a good time and relax with your familyI assume that you will move around from place to place, but if you stay mostly in one place during your stay in Bali, you could bargain for a better price.PS: I don't know which country you come from, but after a few hour plane ride and helpless in immigration, the kids would be too tired to go straight to the north, I'd advice you stay the first night down south and let them rest first
Per
Thank you for your reply, Ferdie!December, December, always a month of stress. I had totally forgotten about that month being a month of holiday, thanks for the reminder.Yeah, we have a 20h flight ahead of us, but I decided to take a pit-stop in Jakarta for a day before continuing to Bali. Anyway, I'll consider your advice about staying a night down south.
sherm
I would recommend finding a place for a few days to see if you like the general location. That will give you the freedom to consider different villas or home stay. Once you pay you're pretty well stuck, getting refunds are rare, check each place carefully.
spicyayam
October and November are quieter months and December only really gets busy around Christmas (in the north). I would suggest just staying in a hotel for a week or so and look around at a few places and then decide.
Markit
I'm afraid I disagree with the above advise: If I was you I would try and book the whole thing online from where you are. You will get a better price if you go for the whole 3 months and since you will be needing a decent internet connection to view the many, many properties you will be wanting to book, I'm betting that would be better where you are. In my experience people try and book here at online cafes or hotels and run into the connection problem and also the sheer amount of choice you will have will mean you don't have the time to look when you are here and hassled by the kids/wife to "go out and see Bali". I suggest you stay well away from the south of the island and perhaps you can tell us here what you most value in a good place to stay and just stand back and see what the Podders have to offer/recommend. We are all here and know the good and bad places to stay pretty well. Welcome to BaliMarkit
Per
Great advice from all of you, thanks! Markit, so its rare to find a decent internet connection? There goes my plan to work a bit for the first month, hehe. The kids are only 1 and 3 years old, and the wife is - at least for now - on board with the plans of checking for a place to stay (but that can quickly change). The south parts of Bali doesn't intrigue me at all but I don't really know why.We're not looking for something super fancy, but something clean, safe and comfortable (sounds like something everyone is looking for). A pool and/or a small garden would probably make life easier when it comes to entertaining our 3 year old. I've mostly looked at the areas around Lovina but that's mainly because of the amount of places offered there. Somewhere in the Buleleng regency in general is probably where we're hoping to end up. All suggestions are really appreciated.Once again, thanks for your answers!
JohnnyCool
Hi @[B]per[/B] (no pun intended)Look at it this way. You will be arriving in South Bali, because that's where the airport is. North Bali is a long haul (about 3 hours) from the South, especially with a couple of over-tired and bored children. Then what time will your flight from Jakarta arrive in Bali? After arrival, where will you go to first? Surely not straight to Lovina (unless you have already booked somewhere up there and the place has an airport pick-up service).I would suggest heading to Sanur first, spending some time relaxing there and one of you, (probably yourself), going to Lovina to see what's on offer. (A rather biggish project in itself.)...my question is: Is it better to book a place online, or do you think it will be easy to find a place to rent once in Bali?[/QUOTE]It depends. Generally speaking, an online booking will give you a cheaper rate and [I]some[/I] peace of mind, ([I]if nobody stuffs it up[/I]). Saves you hunting around in person, (tiring at best), and maybe finding something "better", possibly even cheaper. But if you're prepared to put in the work, bargains can be had. And you get to see the place in real-time rather than rely on pretty internet pictures....so its rare to find a decent internet connection?[/QUOTE]No, that's not strictly correct, but you have to know where the good ones are. Many places offer FreeWiFi - some are OK, others are dreadful. As an example, in Sanur, (where I live), there is no shortage of places offering free internet. Of course, I haven't tried them all, (my home connection is better than all of them), but a couple I have tried that work well are in [B]Duck's Nuts[/B] (excellent) and [B]Jimmy's Cafe[/B] (quite OK, usually).Using [B]any[/B] public WiFi/internet connection has an element of security risk involved, so you need to be careful if you're doing anything sensitive or very important (that's everywhere, not just in Indonesia). Most places have next to no "security measures" in place, and some even loan laptops to customers. In the end, they are often riddled with virus/malware and all the rest.Still, reasonable free connections are available and quite usable, depending on where you are.Hope this helps.:icon_eek:
Markit
You might want to narrow down your search while you are still at home - most of the internet deals can only be had, well, online - surprise, surprise. If you turn up at the door and try and get the same deal mostly you run into staff that can't or won't give it to you thinking that "a bird in the hand is worth 2 online".
Natasha
I would have to disagree with renting a home online. Yes you will get a much better rate booking a [U]hotel[/U] online than doing it in person, but renting a self-contained private house or villa is a different story. I've known too many people who have booked a private house/villa only to arrive and it being nothing like what they saw in photos and couldn't get a refund (plus being royally riped off). You are much better off going in person, having a look around and negotiating with the owner for a good price.
Markit
Natasha have you hear of TripAdvisor? Just check out the reviews. In my experience they are generally correct. I know you hear horror stories of Chinese/Vietnamese/Russian review mills but frankly your normal villa owner hasn't got the money or the inclination to bother inflating his reviews - it's simpler and better to just offer excellent service and accommodations.
ronb
Interesting discussion about whether you get better rates on-line. My experience in western countries is that you probably do get better rates on-line. But my observation is that in Bali, locations that are savvy enough to get themselves on-line tend to ask higher prices. Many more properties exist that have no on-line presence, and they can be cheaper. So, Per you saidSo my question is: Is it better to book a place online, or do you think it will be easy to find a place to rent once in Bali? I'm thinking about booking a hotel in Lovina for the first 10 days and during those days ask around and see if we can find a place to rent, but I'd hate ending up without a place to stay, hehe.[/quote]I think think is an excellent approach - there is no way you will miss out, Bali has a very good supply of accommodation and it never (or at least, almost never) all books out.
Per
JohnnyCool - We arrive in Bali at 1600. My initial thought was to go directly to Lovina (or wherever we end up) if we book in advance and are able to arrange transport. Thanks a lot for the information about the WiFi, I create websites for a living, so it's kind of crucial for me to have a decent connection to be able to get work done. We'll see how it ends. Markit - Hehe I wasn't thinking about going to the same places I've seen online and ask if I . My intention was just to ask around / walk around to see if anything is available and hopefully find something thats both affordable and fits our "needs".Natasha & Ronb - That was my initial thought, that it would be quite easy to find a place once in Bali. One thing that I've been thinking about is that it must be a lot of places that's not occupied by it's owner all year long, but those places might only be "found" online when they're not around.Tricky... I'll have to think a bit more before I make a decision. I guess I'll have to bring a tent as a backup plan since I'm shilly-shallying, hehe.Thanks again to all of you!
ferdie
1600, Per if your flight is on a work day, you'll find some traffic when you exit the airport because its about the same time the worker gets off from work. Just make sure you stop by for a decent dinner on the way to Lovina or get some to go.I still think that you could just go and search places to stay in early October in the first week, my advise to you is just ask around diligently, especially to the waitress and waiter, a promise of a decent tip would get them energized instantly:icon_wink:Soon the whole network of locals will help you and provide you what you want, just be clear about your criteria
Per
Ferdie, traffic. Ha, something I totally forgot about. And I thought I was smart with the stop in Jakarta and ... Well well. Withouth all of you the arrival on Bali would probably have ended with 2 crying kids, one crying wife and one husband on the verge of breakdown.From the tips/suggestions in this thread we'll most likely end up with one night in the south before heading up to the northern parts. Then we'll stay at a hotel for the first 7-10 days and see if we can find a place to rent.If you, between October 9th - January 1st, happen to see a light skinned (and probably sunburnt) family of four (I have a large beard) that lives on streets of Bali, come say hi and remind me that I should have booked housing in advance.Thanks again!
