We wanted to be relatively close to the airport for our final night, and since I had a free night with Hyatt, we decided to stay at the Grand Hyatt in Nusa Dua. I’d seen the Nusa Dua area described as a grouping of sterile large resorts, and those descriptions are fairly accurate. For example, the area has three guarded entrances, where guards open the car door, see tourists, and then let the taxi pass. A second ‘safety’ check was performed at the Hyatt driveway entrance, and to get into the open air lobby we had to pass through a metal detector. It was the most absurd security theater, as no one seemed to actually be looking for anything, beeps were pretty much ignored, and it was easy to get around. A similar detector was staged at the mall across the street. Basically it felt like the Cancun strip crossed with the TSA.
The Hyatt property itself was certainly lovely, with lush landscaped grounds that felt like a botanical garden.
Check-in was a bit confusing as there are about 10 desks and it was not clear which one was available – some where for Chinese speakers, other for English, etc. Our check-in agent disappeared for a while, then invited us to sit on the couch while they worked something out. After about 15 minutes she came back and we were escorted to our room. Thank goodness, as the resort was absolutely massive… it was at least a 15 minute winding walk.
Our room was quite nice, with a large indoor day bed section, a nice TV with international channels, and a very comfortable bed.
indoor day bed and access to the small patio
The bathroom was also quite impressive with a nice shower, separate tub, and plenty of room. It was especially appreciated after our outdoor adventure in Candidasa.
About 10 minutes after we got to our room the front desk called and asked if we had any questions or needed anything. This was nice, as we made our reservation for airport transfer, arranged for a late checkout and made dinner reservations for that evening.
Given the grounds we had already passed getting to the room we grabbed a map (!) and headed out to explore the rest of the property. The beach is expansive with lots of chairs in shade or sun, massive pool with slides, koi ponds… really, the entire resort was beautiful.
Along the way we checked out a few of the restaurant menus and quickly surmised that they were not charging Bali prices here… breakfast was easily $20-$30 a person, and dinner even more. Ouch! Instead, we went across the street to the Bali Collection Centre where there was a Coco Supermarket for snacks. Still not as cheap as the rest of island, but significantly more affordable.
Overall, we enjoyed our room and the beautiful grounds at the Hyatt for one night, but it is not the kind of place we would personally want to spend a vacation due to the size, number of people, and unnecessarily expensive food and drink.
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