We have just returned from a week at the Grand Bali (no longer called Swiss Grand ), which was a timeshare exchange through RCI. As I usually stay at Legian or Seminyak, I was a bit worried about being so far out, but we ended up loving it!
We had a deluxe suite on the top floor at the end of the building, overlooking the pool and golf course. It was the biggest hotel room I have ever seen, beautifully furnished with a four poster canopied bed, timber desk, lounge, TV, DVD player and mini-bar. The marble bathroom was about 3 or 4 metres, with separate bath, shower and toilet. (Why were there no hooks or towel rails in such a huge room?). Outside we had a large terrace, with views on 3 sides with a full lounge suite. (It felt a bit like being in Ubud, so relaxing). The air-con was not very cold, so if we came in from the heat, we would have to sit on the lounge in front of the vent to cool down, but it was fine at night.
Breakfast was not included, so it cost us about $AUD10 for buffet breakfast, which had a reasonable selection, but not as good as other hotels I have stayed at . We had to serve our own coffee, even though there were always staff members standing around. Nobody walked around with the coffee pot.
It was very quiet, with not many of the 60 or so rooms occupied. I did not see an Aussie for 2 days as most of the guests were Russians. At least there was plenty of room at the 2 pools, which are separated down the centre by sun lounges, shaded by frangipani trees as the sun moves around.
There is a very nice spa by the pool, although we only went in for our free 15 minute massage.
The bar off the lobby has a pool table and seating overlooking the entrance to the hotel.
As the hotel is not on the beach, they have a free shuttle every 2 hours to their Nusa Dua Beach Club. There are plenty of sunlounges, umbrella, chairs and tables, as well as a beach bar to provide food and drinks. It was very nice, although in the morning the tide is way out.
On the way back from the Beach Club we were dropped off at the Bali Collection, which has lots and lots of shops, including a Sogo department store, and restaurants. We had a delicious light lunch at Aromas, and were then given free transport back to the hotel.
The hotel has a once a day shuttle to Kuta and you have to find your own way back. We found a taxi cost 80,000 to 100,000 and took about 40 minutes. We went in twice, bought a coffee at Gloria Jeans to use the internet in airconditioned comfort, went to Discovery, Matahari to stock up on snacks, fruit etc. the tailor for some clothes, and found we could not wait to get out of all that traffic back to our peaceful life at the Grand Bali
It is a 5 minute walk down the road to the corner to a street of shops and restaurants (Bualu village), where I had very inexpensive massages - one was 100, 000 and one was 70,000 rupiah for an hour ($8.50 to $12). The shopping was not bad and I did not have to bargain as hard as in Legian. We found some great little restaurants, and they all drive you home - Mai Mai has barbecued seafood sold by weight and then grilled, as well as a variety of other dishes. We ate there twice and the food was delicious. Laguna was another great little restaurant offering free welcome drinks, garlic bread and salad bar. They also had live entertainment several nights a week.
We also did the Safari Under the Stars tour at the Elephant Safari Park and thoroughly enjoyed it.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
