Highlights in Bali — Natasha Luise

Gotta love instagram stories!

I was able to capture some of our highlights in Bali and save them from instagram (see below).

Here’s some of my thoughts about the highlights!

Starting with the Villa we stayed in! We stayed at the Bali Dream Villas in Canggu. These Villas were outside of all of the all of the hustle and bustle which was nice, but also was a bit of a pain when it came to transportation.

The Villa was secluded and I absolutely loved the layout. We had a private pool, outdoor kitchen and living room (with resident lizards lol). The walls of the villa were so high that you could not see out and no one could see in! The bedroom area was inside, with air conditioning, and the bathroom was partially inside and partially outside which was so magical because when you looked up in the shower, you could literally see the beautiful blue sky! Showering outside is quite freeing!

The first stop on this highlights tour was the Rise and Shine Cafe!

I wanted to order everything. We had mimosas, a coconut and coffee to drink! As for food so many great choices!! I had the Avo Toast (obvi) and hubby had the Brekkie sandwich! The prices next to the options are in Indonesian rupiah where 1USD is 13623.55 Rupiah so our total was close to 375,000 Rupiah, so less than 30USD (AWESOME)!

Full tummies and wallets, we made our way down to Echo Beach. Black sands and surfers galore, we walked around and took in the views for a bit before we decided on a place to hangout.

There are so many nice beach clubs and restaurants to choose from. All beautifully decorated and instagrammable (can’t believe that is a real word). We decided to stay at La Brisa. I could write a whole post about this place, and will save the details for the best of Bali blog, but let me just say, that this was probably my favorite place!

Back to the highlights… next stop, coffee tasting. There are tons of places in Bali with coffee and tea tastings and a lot of them will advertise Lewak coffee, which is made from coffee beans that have been digested by animals called Lewaks and literally pooped out. The beans are cleaned and then used to brew coffee. I did not try the Lewak coffee, but I did try a tray of other flavored coffees and teas and had a gorgeous view of the rice terraces as well!

We stopped off to pick some strawberries and have a very strawberry tasty drink. This was cute and fun, but ultimately may have been what led us to get the dreaded BALI BELLY! More about that in another post! …. YIKES

On with the highlights- Waterfalllllllllllls oh my! There are many different places to find gorgeous waterfalls. We found Sekumpul waterfalls which was quite a drive away from Canggu and took a bit of a hike to get there, but was so worth it. When we got to the falls we headed to jump in and the views were so gorgeous and the water was so powerful that getting into the water literally took our breath away! It was amazing and one of those moments when you stop to reflect on your life…. Haha sounds corny, but we sat staring at the waterfall and taking a moment to think about how grateful we were to be there and to get to experience that in real life!

Lunch in a tree house with a gorgeous view! The nature, and the rice terraces are unreal!

Next up on the highlight reel: Mrs Sippy Beach Club… (cue techno beats) This place had a cover charge, and they charge more if you are looking to get a daybed. We opted for no daybed, and just decided to check it out and have some lunch here! This place was slightly pricier than some of the other places we went to and if it were up to my husband we would not have stayed there. He says it has a Vegas, pool party vibe, which he does not like. I think that it is fun, and if we would have planned to spend the day there, it could have been a ton of fun! DJ, pool, platform to jump off of, food, drinks, sun… What is not to love!

We took off and went over to another beach club, with a little bit different vibe. There was a cover to get in as well and the views were amazing! This was a great place to watch the sunset and eat some tasty seafood. There were a few options here to eat and we decided on the seafood spot! We sat up at the bar and had fabulous service. We were in the ideal spot to see the sunset over the ocean. There was also a pool here and a lawn area to lay out and enjoy the Bali life!

Motel Mexicola- tasty little Mexican spot! Tequila, tacos, empanadas, music, dancing and even cigars… This place was super cute with the decorations, the food was great, and there were some serious party vibe! I am pretty sure there was a bachelorette party going on and that upped the partay!

We took a day trip to Nusa Penida Island. This took a shuttle ride to a boat, a boat trip to the island, as well as a car ride around some of the most bumpy, winding roads, but was it worth it… uh YAS! We got a tour around the island and saw different, beautiful sights that the island had to offer! More to come about Nusa Penida and our island tours.

Another day another beach club… The Lawn… oh yes please! This place was amazing we scored a daybed on the beach and literally ate and drank and soaked up the sun all day! Stayed until sunset and it’s days like this where I am so envious of people who live by the beach! Any time, just sitting and listening to the waves… doing nothing never felt so good!

Doing it for the gram! Waiting in line for Bali Handara Gate to take a photo! The gates to this golf course are so super fancy! Every person/couple got 5 minutes in front of the gate to pose and get the shot! I swear we saw an influencer (not sure who she was) but she looked great and had a crew of people flying drones and taking videos of her walking back and forth around the gates and the twirling… so much twirling! There was a girl in line in front of us who had on a form fitting, hot pink dress and was dragging a suitcase… curious. When it was her turn she opened the suitcase to reveal an amazing puffy, fluffy, larger than life skirt! It was absolutely awesome and she worked her five minutes!! Our turn!

Almost there folks… the next highlight takes us on another day trip. Another shuttle, to another, boat, to an island, to a bike! Gili T is an amazing getaway and the next time we visit Indonesia, I would love to spend more than a day here! There are no cars on this island, only bikes and horse buggies! Though we only spent a few hours here, we did a ton of stuff! Rented bikes, got on a clear bottom boat, went snorkeling and saw the underwater statues! We had lunch at a beautiful restaurant, and spent time chilling on the beach. Gorgeous peaceful, and apparently pretty poppin at night!

Avocado Factory was an amazing lunch spot that we went to before we left Canggu for Kuta Beach, and the Sea Turtle Society. They have a wonderful program where for a donation, they will teach you a bit about the sea turtles and you actually get to release one on the beach to be free into the ocean! Sea turtles are my spirit animal, and I was so thrilled to be able to release one into the wild! This was a wonderful way to end our highlights! They were so so stinking cute.

Check out the highlights below, and be on the lookout for more Bali Gems! What a trip!