The Sungu Resort & Spa — Hotel in Pulau Bali

We arrived and were immediately underwhelmed. Not much of an entrance, dark, and didn’t appear to be near anything. ||||||Got into reception area and it was nice enough, looked quite cultural and staff were lovely. ||||We were then shown to our room…||||At first glance it seemed okay, staff showed us around and first hiccup was a lizard (the first one) running around the walls. This was blamed on the tropical climate we were in, to an extent I can understand this. ||||We were shown the outdoor area which had a bath, shower, sink, storage and toilet. ||||Ants all over the bath and toilet area, the shower had no cover or roof as such, so flies, birds and mosquitos were buzzing around whilst showering. Made me feel as though I needed another wash after coming out a shower. (We had just come from a hotel, Pearl of Trawangan in Gili T, which also had an outdoor bathroom area, but had a canopy and was kept immaculately clean) so no excuses.||||The shower area was overgrown with plants and the “shower tray”, which was essentially a slab, was covered in moss. I showered with flip flops on as it didn’t seem clean at all. ||||After my shower after a long day travelling, my partner informed me of another 3 lizards that were seen inside the room, as well as sizeable spiders. There was an inch gap at the bottom of the door which likely let everything in - not great. ||||Because each room was its own little chalet, and the roofs weren’t concrete tiles or anything, it made it very loud. We heard birds squawking and cats meowing. We were scared of the thought of going for a pee in the middle of the night as we weren’t sure what we’d find, given it was a completely Open space above the shower. ||||We came to the decision of leaving after not even staying a night. We didn’t feel clean, we were on edge with all the noise and bugs, scared to leave our cases open as they probably would have been full of flies and bugs, and in all honesty we were blinded by a discount (£1500 to £180 for 5 nights). ||||IWe booked the hotel “Swahita Ubud” which was brilliant and immediately got a taxi there.||||It was during our taxi to Swahita that we found the Sungu to be a 10-15 minute taxi from bars and restaurants. They did offer a shuttle, but we personally would’ve found this a real inconvenience every night. ||||If you love bugs or want to have a glamping experience in Bali, then this might be for you. If you want a bit of cleanliness or...

We stayed for 4 nights and found the staff at sungu very polite and friendly on arrival. After a long journey we ate in the restaurant on our first night and shared a bottle of white wine and were pleasantly surprised by the delicious food and fabulous price. We had also eaten breakfast in the hotel every morning and found plenty of Balinese and western options with complimentary tea/ coffee.|The room itself was clean, air conditioned and had everything we would have needed. Our bathroom although covered was open to the outside elements however we found this charming and not a problem at all, you expect the odd lizard and mosquitoes when visiting Bali.|We also opted for the Balinese borah massages on our first morning after breakfast and were not disappointed, this is a must when visiting as we left feeling exfoliated and relaxed!|The only part of this hotel and all they have to offer that let down the experience was the free shuttle bus into ubud town centre, the man running the bus was pleasant enough but when organising pick from the town was either late or failed to pick us up which either left us looking for a paid taxi or stranded and having to walk back, which is only a 10 minute walk but a lot is up hill and in extreme heat. On our last day we had ventured into town for lunch and last minute presents but had been let down by the shuttle which then made us late for our other taxi to the airport, queue the mad last minute rush.|Other than this, the hotel is quaint, private and a perfect little...

The Sungu is a fabulous 'contemporary-artsy' boutique resort. The property has an attached art gallery that is expected to re-open soon (since the issues caused by the pandemic). There are scores of art pieces at the resort and all the walls across common areas have art on display.

The Stay

We stayed in the G+1 family villa with a private pool and a small garden. The rooms are comfortable and the bathrooms are huge. Just for two people it felt kind of an overkill, but we loved the privacy :)

Food

Like most properties on the island, The Sungu is just finding ground after the pandemic hence food options are limited. The breakfast is an option between eggs and toast or traditional nasi/mei goreng along with a platter of fruits and the standard tea/coffee/juice option.

Service

The service is absolutely top-notch. All front desk assistants were happy to share their personal number for any requests. The biggest USP is the complimentary shuttle to Ubud centre, which is about a kilometre odd downhill. You can use it for drops and pick ups as you wish. Just WhatsApp the front desk help and they will arrange the transport.

The Sungu was a great stay....