Nusa Dua - Bali
Bali is a travel friendly Island and it has fantastic weather, great food and drink ranging from local cuisine to foods from around the world, great shopping and amazing massages. Here are just a few of my tips on where to shop, what to eat and what to do while in Nusa Dua, Bali.
1. Shopping:
We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Nusa Dua and just across the road was a shopping complex called Bali Collection. The Bali Collection has a department store called Soho which has everything from clothes, shoes, jewellery, handbags, housewares, sports clothes, make up, perfume and much more. You can't barter at this shop but they do have sales throughout the year. They just recently had up to 75% off some items. Prices are just slightly cheaper than home but you know they are the real thing. They also have a supermarket just like a smaller version of Coles and they have a Balinese handicrafts and arts store. If you're looking for a great bargain then this is definitely the place to go!
Nusa Dua also has great markets which are just at the entrance to the Nusa Dua area. They have everything from t-shirts, dresses, jewellery, handbags, watches, DVDs and much more. You can barter here and whatever price they start at I would at least half it, if not more. You can always work your way back up. DVDs are usually IDR10,000 ($1AUD) and the newly released movies just out at the cinemas are not the best quality but older movies are much better. I was also paying around IDR60,000 ($6.50AUD) for t-shirts.
2. Restaurants:
There are many restaurants to choose from to traditional Balinese food including Italian, Western and Japanese. Prices vary at each restaurant but you are looking at main meals anywhere from $6 to $30 Australian. Our favourite was the Aroma which was opposite Starbucks. The lady's that worked there remembered our girls from the previous trip we did which was over 8 months ago. They are just beautiful. The service is fantastic and the food is absolutely amazing. My husband and I would have a drink each, have an entrée to share and have 4 main meals for our family and it wouldn't be no more than $AU45. A great place to eat and excellent value for money.
3. Massages:
Massages are great at Bali Collection. You could get a foot or Back massage for IDR80,000 ($8.60AUD) for 30 minutes but you can get massages at most places where you just walk in with no need to book.
4. Travelling:
Being in Nusa Dua most people like to do a trip into Kuta. You can go by Taxi, just make sure you ask them to put the meter on before you leave or negotiate a price. We used a gentleman called Jhoni who sits outside the Entry to Bali Collection and he has set rates into Kuta, Legian, Jimbaran Bay etc. He charges IDR90,000 ($9.50) one way into Kuta. He has a mini bus which fits about 7 people. Just a handy tip if you are wanting to adventure out to other areas of Bali, due to lots of road works happening you need to travel between 9am – 12pm as any time before or after these times can be crazy. We left at 3pm and for a 20min trip normally into Kuta took us 2hrs. Coming back to Kuta is normally fine any time of the day.