TRAVEL GUIDE TO BALI, INDONESIA

So guys, as you know I jetted off to Bali this Summer on a group tour with Intro Travel on the 12 day 'Bali Intro' package. Starting off in Kuta, we travelled the whole country from surfing in Lovina, to beach parties in Seminyak to sunset villa views up in Lovina and of course hitting up Gili T. I can't even explain how amazing this whole experience was! I was so nervous travelling on my own but I had the time of my life. So I'm here to tell you all about my experience and some travel do's and don't I learnt along the way.

KUTA

Probably the only place I would never be in a hurry to go back too and I'm glad it was my first stop in Bali as it was nothing compared to the rest of the island. Our tour guide told us straight away to watch for 'Pick Pockets' to the point of saying 'if you see a group of young lads, they'll most probably be Pick Picketers so shout 'Pick Pockets' and they'll run away... Here we stayed for two nights whilst the group got to know each other, Kuta is more a starting point really as you fly in to this area. The streets were narrow and you pretty much had to walk in single file due to the motorbikes. This I can only imagine is the Magaluf of Spain - having never been there either. On the plus side, we had a weird and wonderful night out which included a club with an all you can eat buffet on the roof - no joke. The weather was beaut, we'd just met the 24 people we were staying with for the next 12 days so not all was loss.

CANGUU

Now the trip started to feel real! Canguu is a beautiful costal location, here we learnt to surf on Seminyak beach, had the most amazing beach party and watched the sun set - true BLISS! If you're travelling to Bali, I'd massively suggest Canguu as a destination along your travels! We visited our first temple near Canguu as well, which was a very spiritual experience. It was amazing to learn all about Balinese culture and how three different religions live on one island and they all just respect each others beliefs - crazy to think such a small place has this right but the rest of the world doesn't!

LOVINA

Heading up to Lovina, we stopped at Git Git Waterfall which was a great experience  then we stayed in an UNREAL villa - it was like something of Love Island honestly. Here we went to a local Balinese family who farmed fruit and coffee beans for the local community. During the visit they made the full team a huge meal, which was probably one of the nicest meals we eat on the island - and that's saying something as the food is INSANEE!! Setting out alarms for 5:00am (even on holiday) was well worth it when we saw the sun come up from behind the mountains.

GILI T 

This was probably the location I was most excited for and it truly lived up to everything I could ever imagine. Easy to navigate as everything you could want to do is literally in a line on the beach front, this was were we had serious R&R from our travels. Some of the team decided to go snorkelling but most of us just chilled on the beach and swam in the crystal clear water - I've never seen anything like it. Here is where you'll find the famous sunset swings, incredible beach bars and even better night life!

UBUD

On the last leg of our tour, we went to Ubud which was a completely different experience to the rest of the island. Here you'll find the famous Monkey Forest, cute markets and of course, incredible food! Ubud is more of a 'city' than a beach side resort. Here we treked up a Volcano to watch the sunrise, visited the Monkey Forest and had some much needed R&R in one of the many spas. Ubud was the perfect area to end our trip and again shouldn't be missed!