W Hotel Bali. Inside and out.

The W Retreat and Spa in Bali- Seminyak; wow, where to begin?! Let me start with pointing out, that we were there only five days and that we chose not to do a whole lot;-).

We did not go to the gym nor to the Spa.

Instead we went from our room, to one of the breakfast areas, where we treated ourselves to all sorts of brekkies and numerous cafe lattes while reading some newspapers.

I love it that there is so much space everywhere and that there were so many seating choices. This time we sat in a giant rattan birdcage, another time we chose for ‘normal’ table and chairs. And everything is semi-al-fresco. Me likes!

Oh wow, all these pastries, breads and sweets….so seductive! And what a coincidence that the day after I learned how to make pandan pancakes, they had them for breakfast at the hotel every day! Yummie!

These two local sweets looked intriguing, so I decided to check them out and to unwrap them. Both turned out to contain sweet sticky rice. The way they are wrapped is really an art, especially the ‘blonde’ pyramid. Unbelievable! Two tiny sticks are hidden and when you pull them out, you can unwrap the package, showing one really long leaf. What a lot of work!

No worries; we also had ‘normal’ brekkies, like omelets with bacon and yoghurt with muesli.

After that, we went back to the room to change in our bathing suits and of to the pool. Ly on a sunbed, have a drink, cool of in the pool, climb back on the sunbed, move to a cabana, have another drink. Get some delicious lunch served on your cabana. Read a bit, play on your iPad. Well, you get the idea….

Ample space and lots of choices to ly, sunbath, hang or sit.

Floating in the pool on a bean bag anyone?

The double bed cabanas looking out on the beach and sea are divine! Parasols can be added along the sides for extra shade. Which we did all the time. Except for the first hours on the first day. We did not think about it then. Man, did we get sun burnt!!! 🙁

That’s the result: almost purple legs. Ouch! Not funny!

When you have enough from the sun, take a break from the hotel and walk through Seminyak for some hours. Look around, do some shopping, have a drink.

It is quite a long walk from the street entrance to the hotel building, but it is a beautiful one!

Nevertheless we took the hotel buggy every time to get from the hotel to the street. Why not; it was hot!

Go back to the hotel, sit in comfy chairs here, in bright colored bean bags there or take up a gigantic couch with just the two of you, while having some snacks and a cocktail.

You can choose for a pink cocktail, a turquoise one or an electric blue one from the ice bar.

You can ly on the felt eggs in this giant metal bowl in the lobby. It looks fun, but I don’t think it’s really a good spot for longer then 20 seconds;-).

One of our fav hangouts; sitting with the two of us in a 6 person couch, surrounded by pillows and coffee table books.

At night they bring on the water pipes.

And not just any water pipes, but very fancy ones. Nice effect!

Yellow round sofas on top of the WOO Bar….

Black -with hot pink- round sofas at the WOO Bar…

Lounging at the beach without the nuisances (pushy vendors, wild dogs, sand in places where you don’t want it)… Do I sound spoiled? Decadent? I don’t agree. We are not blasé and we appreciate and enjoy all these pleasures enormously. Luxurious, sure. But nothing crazy, I believe.

And this is what it looks like at night when there is a party going on.

You can also opt to relax semi-al fresco in these comfy chairs….some of which are rocking chairs.

Then you have dinner at the hotel in one of their restaurants or snack yourself a dinner while lounging.

One of the restaurants in the hotel. Look at that enormous and spectacular Chihuly glass chandelier. The restaurant is named Fire. Appropriate chandelier, right? Looking like a giant ball of fire!

Frits had crab one evening….

…while I went for DIY wagyu beef. With my own little hot stove and a strawberry daiquiri.

Well, I’m sure you get the picture by now. Although poor Frits did have to work some hours every day. But all in all, just a lazy, relaxing mini-vacation. Exactly what we needed!

Here are some more pictures to complete your tour around this hotel:

The W’s are famous for their high teas, which are served in silver birdcages that are hung on a stand. Here you see a selection of high tea sweets that they have at the W Bali. Unbelievable; it looks soooo pretty and tempting!

You saw the pink cake in the previous picture? Well, next to that they also had this marbled or flamed one….

…and this bright green one…

One day I decided to go for a sampler and asked for a latte and a thin, thin slice from each of the cakes. Oh my god, I received a pound of cake!!! Unfortunately very messy stacked up one another, which was not very good for picture-taking. But well, it still looked like a small cake-party-on-a-plate, doesn’t it?!

On the two pictures on the left you see the cakes as I received them, the picture on the right shows my plate after I finished.
Not much difference, is there? You’re right. I took some bites from all of the three cakes, ate the half macaroon and the sliver of chocolate and that was it. If you decide to sin, you don’t have to go all the way in order to enjoy, do you?

The green one turned out to be a chocolate cake and that was my favorite. The rainbow cake was ok too. Did not care too much for the sponge cake with the white flamed outside.

Another day I went for a latte and a cronut, or, as they call it at the W Bali, a zonut. I wrote about them here, here and here. It turned out to be stuffed with a sort of cream. I think strawberry cream, which was nice. The bright red frosting looked very pretty and festive, but I did not like the taste of it. Too sweet and artificial.

Still great to enjoy a cronut, zonut or whatever you name it…mmmmm!

What a stunning Whatever Wherever reception area. Love it! See the girl sitting behind her desk?

The lobby looks spectacular as well. The dividing wall is beautiful, with it’s open character, it’s curves and the light scheme. Also the blown glass is gorgeous.

Blown glass is used a lot in the W Bali.

The bar. In the middle of the picture we see W Insider Rika in her brown dress. She’s a doll!

The funky bar in the evening.

The elevators with changing colors in the evenings.

Selfie in the elevator mirror. Do I look a little sunburnt?

Another area where you can lounge and relax.

Can you imagine that you feel no desire to leave the premises of this beautiful, relaxing beach resort? It is so pampering, luxurious and nice!

But if you decide you wanna explore, just step on the beach and walk to the next hang out…and the next…or the next…

Or rent one of the W’s funky purple scooters and drive into town…

We walked along the beach and strolled into town. I’ll tell you what we did, saw and discovered in another post, ok? Stay tuned for more. Bali rocks!