Matahari Terbit Hotel, Bali

My husband and I booked to stay at the Matahari after reading good reviews from other Agoda travellers. We arrived in the late afternoon and were shown to our room within 5 minutes, being greeted with a welcome cocktail and a basket of local fruit. The rooms are spacious with high ceilings, double beds with crisp linen, local Balinese furniture and art. Each bungalow has a small veranda with a sunbed, table and chairs overlooking the gorgeous gardens. Our room was air- conditioned and had a bar fridge at reasonable prices. The bathroom is a little dated but cleaned daily with care and pride.The grounds of the hotel are lovely and well maintained. Pool area immaculate as was beach front, sunbeds and umbrellas. The hotels restaurant is open air with a view across the waterfront which was both spectacular at sunrise and sunset. We ate breakfast here each morning - a nice change from rehashed buffets at some larger hotels- was the freshly cooked choices each day. Lovely juices and fruit, eggs any style, toast tea or coffee or a choice of a Balinese breakfast.By our second morning the staff new our names and were a great source of local information. Most of the other guests were European and the average age is 40 plus, which we loved as the hotel retained a quiet, peaceful atmosphere. For all of you smokers - you can go crazy here - ashtrays in the restaurant! I almost regret giving it up! When we were returning to Bali we were looking for a hotel that was relaxed with a local flavour. We recommend this hotel highly, however, if you are after 24 hour room service, marble foyers and theme nights this is not the place for you! Restaurants in this area are fantastic! Bumbu Bali is worth a visit - which is next door to the Martahari - we enjoyed lunch and dinner here. Very reasonable prices, cultural performances and welcoming staff - (ask for Audi and CD, 2 friendly waiters) Across the street is another little local where we would drop in for a light dinner or lunch

I really enjoyed Matahari. The staff was helpful, the breakfast good for Bali standars, the resort was extremely quiet and a perfect place for relaxation. There are many restaurants around to choose from- I would recommend Bumbu Bali.

We stayed at the Matahari Terbit in late July 09. We booked in for our first seven nights of our two week stay on the island of Bali. This hotel is probably the smallest hotel along this "strip" of hotels. The strip of hotels which fronts the beach along the Nusa Dua and Tanjung Benoa penninsula has a paved pathway along most of its length and takes approximately 2.5 hours to walk from one end to the other and the Matahari Terbit is based nearer the Tanjung Benoa village. There are several 5 star top quality hotels in the vicinity but I would always prefer to stop at a small and quiet hotel compared to the big large complexes - but its worth walking pass them just for a "nosy", particularly in the early evening when thay are all setting up for their "gala dinners" or "wedding dinners". The hotel itself is superbly set out with beautiful gardens ( they employ at least 4 gardners each day ) The rooms are all at ground level with thatched roofs and are very spacious with a good size veranda with good seats and a table to sit out on, in the evenings. The veranda's are reasonably private and you are not over-looked on by other rooms - that is how they have cleverly planned the layout. The staff were all friendly and always helpfull and for the size of property they employ a lot of staff !! The restaurant holds a fantastic position overlooking the beach area, I found it fantastic to sit down at breakfast or lunchtime under the cover of the thatched roof of the dining area with a fresh sea breeze blowing just keeping you pleasantly refreshed from the heat of the day so that you could enjoy the quality food. The provided breakfast was nothing special but very adequate. A choice of any 2 egg variation ( omlette, fried egg, poached egg, boiled egg etc ) with a choice addition of either bacon, ham or sausage followed by toast and jam and as much coffee or tea as you require. The hotel has a pleasant beach front area with a section of sunbeds on its own private sand area and