Abian Biu Residence Hotel, Bali

The emerging area tourist area of Canggu, in which Abian Biu sits, does not have much to recommend it. Increasingly beleagured rice terraces are surrounded by crowded ugly middle-class bungalows with high walls or swanky but hidden tourist villas with high walls. Along the narrow, noisy and congested streets there is nothing of the charm of the Balinese village, except the constantly barking of street dogs. Abian Biu is relatively unknown and a little hard to find. Make sure you have a good map and a contact number so the hotel can direct your taxi driver. Once there, Abian Biu feels like someone's extra house that they have turned into a hotel. The much-promoted tropical garden is rather lack-lustre, and the Javanese-Peranakan style decor is disproportionate and unimpressive. The rooms are the best feature. We stayed in a large upstairs room, which had its own kitchenette, narrow 3-sided balcony, high ceilings, large windows, and nicely appointed bathroom. The bathroom sink was inside the room, the toilet, bath and shower in an alcove half covered by the roof, so that you could shower or bathe under the stars. The room featured multi-coloured glass inserts much favoured in Peranakan houses, as well as some nice wooden accents, and it was clean and well kept. The bed was large and the linen very comfortable. It was equipped with a mosquito net, but we had no problem with mosquitoes. There was an issue with the air-conditioning, however -- with only one small air-con unit, it took a while to cool the large room. The room was also situated right on the road, which although in a residential area, was quite busy during the day, and a neighbour's dog barked incessantly. The balcony had tables and chairs for sitting in the shade of a large banyan tree, and the hotel also provided wireless internet. We went down to the pool but decided not to swim -- the surroundings were a little claustrophobic and not very inspiring. The next morning we decided to have breakfast in o

Staff were very friendly. The ambience of the hotel is very nice and relaxing, but the furniture (especially the bed frame) in the room was old & need some renovation. The door of our room can't be closed properly & have a small hole & made us felt uncomfortable to stay in. Phone in the room also out of service. Breakfast was simple, fruit juice was too sweet, guess sugar was added, I miss the one I had in Ubud. Hotel is a bit far from the town area.