I turned 40 this year. Interestingly, this milestone didn’t worry me as much as turning 30. When I was thinking about how to celebrate, I thought how fun it would be to spend some time away, somewhere (anywhere!) with a few close friends.
As I was investigating where to go, I came across Villa Finder, who manage the bookings for thousands of private villas in the Asia Pacific and were happy to do a collaboration with me (for a discount). I ended up having so much to share that I had to break this down into two posts (you can read the second one here). I was thrilled with the service and would highly recommend. Villa Finder manages the bookings for a lot of different private villas, depending on budget and how many rooms. We stayed at Casa Daha in Seminyak.
Booking
Booking the Villa online at Viller Finder was straight forward. It’s easy to search for prices/number of rooms etc. It was great for this girly-getaway, but it would also be fab for families as these villas are huge!
We loved Casa Daha because of the central location in Seminyak (which I will go into further below). None of us had travelled to Bali before, and it was reassuring to have the services available to us if we needed. Arranging the transfer from the airport to the villa is included in the price, so we landed and our driver met us at the airport and drove us directly there. I’ll just run down some of the services that are available, and I’ll explain what opted for.
Before the stay
- Airport transfers
- Grocery shopping
- Prep for baby chairs, cots, strollers, etc.
- Baby/Children friendly proofing
During the stay
- Day trip & chauffeur
- Personal chef & BBQ
- In-villa massage
- Spa and salon services
- Tourist activities bookings
- Restaurant reservations
- Business support services
- Childcare services
Special Requests
- Parties & Events
- Romantic dinner
- Surprise occasions
- Yoga sessions
What I loved most about the villa experience, it was really private, yet we had all the conveniences like room service/cleaning (included in the price). We could choose when and how often they came to do our rooms. Staff can come daily, but we found that every second day was good for us (because — no kids — we really didn’t make a lot of mess!).
I highly recommend the daily breakfast. You pick a time, and someone will come and make you breakfast onsite. It’s such a good way to start the day. We pretty much rolled out of bed (when we felt like it) into the pool for a swim, then had a lazy breakfast before discussing what we would do that day. Such a treat!
Villa Casa Daha
You know sometimes the pictures on the Internet look amazing and then the accommodation in real life is a bit disappointing? Well, Casa Daha didn’t disappoint. Below are some snaps from my phone to give you an idea of the villa. It has 4 bedrooms (all with bathrooms and air conditioning), an indoor lounge (also with a bathroom), balconies, outdoor shower, pool (with small slide), undercover outdoor entertaining area and kitchen, rooftop living area. You can find more details here.
Pool
We loved the pool area! It has spots to lounge around, the outdoor kitchen area with a water cooler and fridge. So relaxing! A typical day was us waking up (whenever), and jumping in the pool before breakfast. Then going for a walk and getting back into the pool, then lazing around and getting in the pool, then going out for dinner and getting into the pool. Ha! The pool also has a little slide so it would be fun for kids.
Bedrooms
The bedrooms are HUGE! I did a video tour of the villa which you can find further below. Below is a picture of my bedroom, which is one of the downstairs bedrooms. Each bedroom has its own bathroom and little outdoor living space (the upstairs rooms have a balcony).
Indoor Living Area
This is a lovely spot to sit inside out of the heat. We didn’t use this room much because we found it so pleasant outside, even when it was hot.
Rooftop Living Space
This is the rooftop space. It has sunbeds and a table tennis table. It does get really hot up here during the day, but it’s a lovely spot in the evenings, although a bit of a hike up a ladder to get here.
Kitchen/Dining Area
We used this area the most. Even during the heat of the day, it was cool in this space beside the pool.
Have a look at some of the lush gardens!
Video tour around the villa
Location
We didn’t realise how central the villa was to many vibrant spots in Seminyak. It is a really busy area, however, you can see at the start of the video above, you walk down a lane to get to the villa from the road. We often commented on how quiet it was. About 50 metres away from the lane entrance is a Mini Mart. In the image below, you can see (marked in red) where I am at the entrance of the laneway compared to the 24 Mini Mart. The Mini Marts in Bali are great! There is an ATM, and all kinds of food and necessities, from sunscreen and shampoo to drinks, ice and snacks. Our list of items included:
- Ice for drinks
- Lemonade & Juice (to make cocktails by the pool)
- Snacks
- 1 water bottle each (to refill at the villa)
Because we had breakfast provided to us at the villa, we didn’t need much food.
I have marked some key places on the map around our villa because it was just so lovely to have our quiet spot, but then if we felt like it, we could duck out with ease. For example for a massage! Just up the road, there is a place called Suku Spa, which did great massages. They could accommodate all three of us together and it was clean and affordable (a 90-minute massage for around $20 AUD). We could just decide spontaneously to get a massage and walk up the road. You can also contact them via Whatsapp. the other place I have marked there is Latif Cafe, which does coffee and western-type food if you want that option. We found the food (for example pizza, nachos and chips) was quite average compared to some of the amazing restaurants we visited, but it was good if we wanted a little snack to take back to the villa.
Restaurants
The villa is also walking distance (about 10-15 minutes) to many incredible restaurants. I’m serious, some of the best meals I’ve eaten in my life! I have marked some of the amazing restaurants we ate at, and if you want more details and images of some of the food, I have more information in this post.
If you want to access my customised map (where I have marked key places we visited), you can access it here.
Services/Facilities
I’ve listed some of the services, however, I wanted to make mention of some of the key the things I appreciated in the villa. There was a water cooler with suitable water for us to drink. Often in hotels, you have to rely on small bottles to drink/wash teeth etc. This way, we just kept refilling our bottle from the cooler as necessary (which is better for the environment too).
The fridge was plenty big enough for what we needed (mostly cold drinks).
The kitchen is self-contained so it has cups/plates and basic cooking equipment (if you want to cook — which we didn’t!). It also has a blender, which we used to make refreshing ice-y cocktails.
The villa, the pool, rooms, living areas, are all behind this lockable entrance and we felt safe — it really is like your own little oasis.
Tips
Coffee
My friend brought with her an AeroPress coffee maker and ground beans. This way, we didn’t need to leave the villa to enjoy our morning cup. I enjoyed the coffee so much, that I purchased one myself when I got back to Oz. It’s great for travel.
If you like cocktails, you can bring 1 litre per person of alcohol into Bali. So we just grabbed a few items duty-free and took them (carry-on) with us. When you get to Bali, just grab some ice, lemonade and juice and you can make up your own drinks by the pool.
Frozen Mango Daiquiri
Based loosely on this recipe.
Raspberry Martini
Based loosely on this recipe and this recipe.
Games – Monopoly Deal
My friend brought Monopoly Deal with her, and it was really fun! It’s WAY quicker than regular Monopoly.
It’s helpful to get a SIM card, mainly to use Google Maps and to contact local businesses via Whatsapp. It’s also a good way to keep in contact with the villa concierge if you need/want anything. They can organise all kinds of things! There is wifi in the villa, so you can contact the concierge without a SIM too.
Thanks, Casa Daha for helping me celebrate my 40th — one of the most relaxing holidays I’ve had!
More Posts
- Packing for Bali
- Private Bali Villa – Casa Daha
- Bali Holiday Highlights
- Big Travel Hat for Bali
- Travel Makeup
No Comments