We have had two wonderful weeks at Villa Nirwana, and enjoyed the 24x7 sea-view, and the relaxed feeling we will return home with.
While you can sit at the patio and watch the ocean, the pool and house has a large garden in front, giving you a very private feeling. There are other holiday houses at either side, but plantation has already grown to make sure you feel some privacy.
The pool is large and has given us many hours of fun, and it fulfilled all our expectations. We did not use the beach as there is a lot of garbage there and it is simply not clean enough to bring a child to bath and play there. The beach is cleaned daily indeed but the amount of litter is simply too large. We did however see other people snorkelling further out in front of the house.
The staff did good food (better Indonesian than international), and was always ready to cook dishes not in the menu (their nasi campur with chicken was very nice).
While we would suggest a few general improvements to the house (one or two small stools to enable children to reach the sink in the bathroom, and a somewhere to leave watersports gear, toys, etc to the next family), we were generally satisfied with the house.
Close by the house is a small shop, where you can buy icecream, and it’s a fine little stroll.
Also close (like 5 min in car) is Zen divecentre, they were good to dive with. It’s also very nice not having to drive to Lovina (did that last time we stayed in this area).
If you feel like a change of scenery for dinner the Mayo Resort has a nice beach restaurant (you can walk there on the beach or they happily pick you up).
However, even if we really enjoyed our stay there are a few issues you should be aware of:
• Bats. Under the roof of the house a number of bats are staying. The issue is not with them being there, but rather the bat-poo left on the balcony, pillow and furniture and the contamination risk this poses. We mentioned this to the owner, and she is already aware of this but for now nothing has been done.
• Cats. The house has a number of stray cats running around, these are feed by the staff, and will run both in and outdoors. As one of us is highly allergic to cats this has been a bit distressful. While stray cats might not be possible to entirely avoid, there is no reason to make them feel welcome (We also assume that other guests have feed them at the table again something that should be avoided).
• Noise. While we might be more sensitive to noise than others, it has been quite annoying to wake up as early as 3:30 for the first mosque calling (they last for app. 5 minutes and then starts again non-stop from 5:00-6:00 – every day of the week). Even with the aircon on and bathroom windows closed it was possible to hear. We tested most of the bedrooms and found that only in the single bed bedroom the noise from the mosque is not heard. So bring a good pair of earplugs if you are sensitive to noise.
• Transport. While its possible to walk to a nearby small shop to buy ice cream, mosquito repellent and the like, you might feel a bit in the middle of nowhere. As we where travelling with a small child renting scooters was not an option. It’s possible to book driving through the villa (to go shopping/ trips etc), but we found the price not to be very transparent. We suggest introducing an hourly rate for smaller trips or a clear fixed fee.
As previously mentioned, this is not our first visit in a villa similar to this in the area. What we found most noticeable when compared to our previous visit was that the vibe was different: It could be because the house was managed through a firm, or it could simply be because Balinese maids are different. But we did not have quite the same homely feel we did on our last visit. An of this was that we on our first day there pointed out that in one bathroom the mirror light did not work, but in our two weeks there no new light bulb appeared.
The big question is, would we come again? The vote is still out, and for us actually having to pay a lot to do a small shopping trip, as well as the issues with the bats is the biggest concerns.