Club Med Bali a ‘little unique’

“I just got here too,” says Tonky. I only arrived at Club Med Bali a couple of hours ago and Tonky, a.k.a. Supriyanto Dermawan, beat me here by just a week. Originally from Jakarta, he’s the new the new Club Med Business manager here, but has been with the company since 2008, previously working elsewhere in the Indonesian archipelago at the company’s Bintan Island property.

“Club Med is a little bit unique,” Tonky tells me as we set off on a tour around the resort’s 14-hectare site, on the beachfront at Nusa Dua. He’s referring to the fact this is an all-inclusive resort: very nearly everything is included in the price, from meals and most drinks to the kids’ and teens’ clubs, sporting activities and airport transfers. (Extras like spa treatments, excursions and the Baby and Petit Club Med, for very small children, are not.)

I’m staying in a plush suite that’s as big as a decent-sized one-bedroom apartment, but Tonky also shows me a few of the more affordable room options. Some have balconies or terraces, and some interconnect for families with younger children. The resort has about 300 guest rooms, and renovations are currently taking place that will include a refresh to all of these rooms. Other new facilities include the new Baby Club Med and new children’s facilities including a music academy and art studio.

The main attraction here is really what’s on offer outside the rooms, and the facilities are extensive.

Bathroom in suite at Club Med Nusa Dua

Club Med is known for its sporting facilities, and includes instruction in various sports in the package price. Guests can take part in water sports such as kayaking, windsurfing and snorkelling at the public beach, and swim in the big family pool or new adults-only Zen Pool. There are five tennis courts, a soccer pitch and squash courts, plus archery targets and a nine-hole golf course. In the undercover sporting area, we find a father and son playing an energetic game of badminton, although this space can also be used for basketball, volleyball and futsal. There are also yoga and other fitness classes, a weights room, and a flying trapeze academy.

For something a little more sedate, the spa offers various treatments including its signature, the four-hands massage with two therapists. Tonky shows me the couples’ treatment rooms, which are housed in traditional-style thatched lumbungs and look out over the gardens. The spa also has a Quiet Pool with a jacuzzi and shower room, all of which guests can use for free when they come for treatments.

There are also various cultural activities on offer. Tonky shows me the Balinese amphitheatre, used for folklore dance performances, and my visit coincides with the weekly Balinese evening, which means that various local cuisine is on offer in the Agung restaurant, along with a Bahasa Indonesia language class. There’s also a boutique on site, live entertainment every evening, and a nightclub, and staff can organise day trips and outings.

With everything on offer, something about the resort reminds me just a little of a very spacious, very leafy cruise ship. There’s so much to do that you could quite happily spend your whole holiday within the resort’s walls. And indeed many guests do just this – Australians in particular, apparently.

The resort has a nine-hole golf course.

Most of the resort’s guests are families, and the mix of nationalities varies according to the season. The food on offer reflects this diversity. For lunch, in the main Agung restaurant, I can choose from buffet options so extensive they’re a little overwhelming: everything from Korean, Chinese and Indonesian food to sushi, burgers, roasts, pizza and pasta, seafood, and a good selection of cheese and bread. Today’s daily specials include scallops with pea puree and tuna tartar, and there’s a dessert buffet with various sweet treats and fresh fruit.

There’s also a la carte dining at the Deck restaurant, which is only a few months old, and a few different drinking options including the rather glamorous Kintamani poolside bar, a beach bar with a petanque pitch (Club Med is French, after all), and a “gourmet lounge” bar next to the Deck.

Staff, like the guests, come from all around the world. Known as G.O.s – short for “Gentil Organisateur” – they live on site, eat and socialise with guests, and strike me as terrifically friendly and impressively multilingual.

Treatment rooms modelled after traditional lumbungs at the Club Med Nusa Dua spa.

After my tour with Tonky, I take a solo wander through the immaculate grounds, admiring the offerings at the small temple and altars scattered around, and watching the water monitors and other aquatic creatures in the large pond. Later, I retire to a lounger beside the Zen Pool. It’s quiet and serene, a welcome change from my room, which has been overtaken by music blaring from a children’s activity taking place on the adjacent lawn. (That evening, the music, presumably from the bar or evening’s entertainment, is also fairly loud in my room, although quiet is restored by 11pm.)

After my swim, I watch the sunset from the public beach, which is empty but for a couple of families and some local kids fishing. From a distance, I watch as a Balinese member of the resort staff places an offering filled with flowers and morsels of food on the beach, lighting a few sticks of incense and nestling them in the sand. He crouches, still and silent for a few moments, and then he’s gone.

Gemma Nisbet was a guest of Club Med and Garuda Indonesia.

FACT FILE

A seven-night premium all-inclusive package at Club Med Bali costs from $1125 per person for adults and $425 for children. Price is based a stay beginning on September 7, booked before February 26, in a non-connecting superior room. clubmed.com.au or 1300 855 052.

Garuda Indonesia has daily flights from Perth to Denpasar, operated with a wide-bodied A330 aircraft. garuda-indonesia.com or 9214 5100.