The short answer
The easiest are The Laguna and The St. Regis in Nusa Dua, The Oberoi in Seminyak, Tanah Gajah in Ubud and the Andaz in Sanur. Flat, compact and green. The hardest are the valley hotels of Ubud and the east, built on slopes with stairs everywhere. And watch the big resorts of Nusa Dua: they’re flat, but so large that the walk becomes the problem. Whichever you choose, tell us beforehand if walking is difficult. In most hotels, the right room makes more difference than the right hotel.
The walk from reception to my room at the Conrad took long enough that I began to wonder whether I’d missed a turning. The path was perfectly flat. It just didn’t end.
That’s the part most lists get wrong. They ask whether a hotel has stairs. For anyone who finds walking hard, the better question is how far everything is from everything else. In Bali, a hotel can fail on either.
Tell us first
The most important advice in this piece isn’t a hotel. It’s this: if walking is difficult for anyone in your party, tell us before we book. Then we choose the room together with the hotel: near the lobby, near the restaurant, on the ground floor, with a buggy on call. In some hotels that turns a tiring stay into an easy one. Even at the Conrad or the Grand Hyatt, a room close to the restaurants and the pool changes a great deal. It’s rarely something you can choose on a website. It’s exactly what an advisor is for.
The five easiest
- 1
The Laguna · Nusa Dua
My favourite by some distance, because it’s compact. Flat paths, short distances between room, pool, restaurant and beach, and a buggy whenever you’d rather not walk at all.
- 2
The St. Regis · Nusa Dua
Next door, just as flat, a little larger, and the buggies are never far away.
- 3
The Oberoi · Seminyak
Fifteen acres of level garden by the sea, low buildings, and very few steps between you and breakfast.
- 4
Tanah Gajah · Ubud
The exception in Ubud. A flat park among old trees, art and rice fields, and for anyone who finds stairs hard, by far the best place to stay in the valley.
- 5
Andaz · Sanur
Very flat, beautiful gardens, and the calmest water in the south. The one caveat: you’ll share it with more children than at the others. The same goes for its neighbour, the Hyatt Regency.
Which hotels are easy, and which aren’t?
Most hotels in Seminyak, Sanur, Canggu and Jimbaran are easy. The big resorts of Nusa Dua depend on the room. Ubud and the east are hard. Here is every hotel I’ve stayed in, and how it walks.
Every hotel, and how it walks
| Hotel | Area | Ground | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Laguna | Nusa Dua | Easy | Compact and flat, buggies on call |
| The St. Regis | Nusa Dua | Easy | Flat, a little larger, buggies on call |
| The Oberoi | Seminyak | Easy | Level gardens, low buildings |
| Tanah Gajah | Ubud | Easy | A flat park, the exception in Ubud |
| Andaz | Sanur | Easy | Flat gardens, calm sea, more children |
| Hyatt Regency | Sanur | Easy | Flat gardens, more children |
| The Samaya | Seminyak | Easy | Flat and compact |
| The Legian | Seminyak | Easy | Flat and compact |
| Alila Seminyak | Seminyak | Easy | Ramps throughout |
| Jimbaran Puri | Jimbaran | Easy | Flat |
| Kayumanis | Jimbaran | Easy | Flat |
| Soori | West coast | Easy | Flat |
| Regent | Canggu | Easy | Flat |
| COMO Uma Canggu | Canggu | Easy | Flat |
| Shore Amora | Canggu | Easy | Easy to get around |
| Alila Villas Uluwatu | Uluwatu | Easy | Flat clifftop, wide paths |
| InterContinental Bali | Jimbaran | Depends on the room | The wrong room means a long walk |
| Grand Hyatt | Nusa Dua | Depends on the room | Flat, but very large |
| The Apurva | Nusa Dua | Depends on the room | Very large grounds |
| The Ritz-Carlton | Nusa Dua | Depends on the room | Very large grounds |
| Conrad | Nusa Dua | Depends on the room | Flat, but a long way to the rooms |
| The Mulia | Nusa Dua | Depends on the room | Flat, but very large |
| Mandapa | Ubud | With help | Ramp and lift to the suites, butler buggies |
| Viceroy | Ubud | With help | Buggies and lifts |
| Bvlgari | Uluwatu | With help | Hilly; buggies, inclinator to the beach only |
| Jumeirah | Uluwatu | With help | Hilly, many lifts, rough beach |
| Komaneka at Keramas | Keramas | With help | A moderate number of steps |
| Bisma Eight | Ubud | With help | A moderate number of steps |
| Amandari | Ubud | With help | Compact, but narrow stone paths and small steps |
| Four Seasons Sayan | Ubud | Difficult | Spiral stairs down to the villas |
| COMO Shambhala | Ubud | Difficult | Slopes and many steps |
| Alila Ubud | Ubud | Difficult | Slopes and many steps |
| COMO Uma Ubud | Ubud | Difficult | Slopes and many steps |
| Capella | Ubud | Difficult | Slopes and many steps |
| Buahan | Ubud | Difficult | Slopes and many steps |
| Anantara Ubud | Payangan | Difficult | Two funiculars and a network of stairs |
| Amankila | East Bali | Difficult | A great many steps |
| Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay | Jimbaran | Difficult | Hilly, with buggies |
| Raffles | Jimbaran | Difficult | Hilly, with buggies |
| InterContinental Sanur | Sanur | Difficult | Many stairs |
| Samabe | Nusa Dua | Difficult | Thresholds, steep ramps, uneven steps at the beach |
The W and Desa Potato Head are flat enough, but they aren’t restful. That’s not what they’re for.
Which cases need explaining?
Mandapa is on a slope above the river, but it solves most of it. The suite buildings have a ramp and a lift, there are a few rooms adapted for guests with limited mobility, and your butler drives you by buggy wherever you want to go. Amandari is relatively flat and compact, but its paths are narrow, winding stone with small steps everywhere, and after rain they’re slippery. Bvlgari’s inclinator only runs down to the beach; within the resort, the buggies do the work.
At the InterContinental in Jimbaran, the wrong room means a long walk to everything; the right one, near the centre of the resort, makes it perfectly manageable. The same goes, on a larger scale, for the Grand Hyatt, The Apurva, the Ritz-Carlton, the Conrad and The Mulia. The Grand Hyatt has one of the loveliest gardens on the island. I still wouldn’t send someone there who finds walking difficult without first making sure of the room.
And Samabe sits on a beautiful plateau, but it has thresholds and steep ramps, and even if you take the funicular to the beach, what waits at the bottom is a stretch of irregular stone steps.
Why is Ubud so hard?
Ubud is hilly, humid and loud. The jungle doesn’t go quiet at night, and for someone who needs rest it can be overwhelming. Most of its best hotels are built into the side of a valley, which is what makes them beautiful and what makes them hard: at Four Seasons Sayan you reach each villa down a spiral staircase, and Anantara tackles its slope with two funiculars and an intricate network of stairs. If one breaks down, you walk. Tanah Gajah, in its flat park, is the one real exception.
Quiet has a price
It’s no coincidence that the two easiest hotels in Nusa Dua are two of the most expensive in Bali for a family of four. Hotels that price families out also tend to be the quietest. That’s bad news for parents, and good news for anyone who came for the calm.
The man by the pool
On my last stay at The Oberoi, there was an American on the lounger next to mine. He was in his late eighties. He had come here for decades with his wife, who had since died, and an illness had taken his sight. He came anyway.
He knew the resort by heart. He knew the staff by name, and they looked after him as if he were royalty. He wanted for nothing. He told me he intended to come back for at least another ten years.
I asked him what he still found here, now that he couldn’t see it. The gamelan, he said. The sea. The life around him. The smell of the place. That was enough.
Flat paths matter, and so do short distances. But the easiest hotel, in the end, is the one that knows you.
Is walking difficult for someone in your party? Tell us before you book, and we’ll choose the room with the hotel.
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