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As soon as we arrived at the Grand Mirage Resort & Thalasso Bali we knew that some special days were ahead of us. Located in Tanjung Benoa, in Nusa Dua, this is one of the best family resorts in Bali; a place where you wish that time would just stand still.
Unfortunately that was not the case for us. On the contrary, time seemed to be rushing by. As soon as we arrived it felt like it was already time to go. As the saying goes: “Carpe Diem”. That’s what we tried to do every minute.
Upon arrival we were welcomed with a very interesting drink: ginger with lime. The first impression on the palate was a short burning sensation, but once you’ve had one sip you can’t stop drinking it. Noah didn’t like it so much (usually the first time he tastes any kind of food or drink is like that) – great for me as I got to have his glass too.
Like all the places we’ve been to since we set foot in Bali, the staff at the Grand Mirage Resort & Thalasso Bali were extremely receptive with warm, natural smiles. Gosh, we were falling in love with Bali already…
Then we had a nice surprise once we got to our room. We were expecting a basic one, but we were upgraded to a large room with a great view of the sea. It was nice to wake up early, go to the terrace and behold nice ocean views.
The bedroom was perfect for a couple with one child, since we had one large bed and one single available. It was great to know that Noah would not be able to kick us during the night or simply push us out of the bed. He had his own bed, but I had a feeling that he’d get all dramatic so that he could sleep in our big one. Unfortunately, he was able to do just that (not for the first time this trip…), so I slept in the single bed.
The room had everything we needed: space, TV, great connection to the Wi-Fi router, a bathroom with a shower and a bath, and not forgetting all the amenities a high-end family resort should provide (toiletries, mini fridge, safe, etc.).
We didn’t wait long to go downstairs and started exploring everything that the Grand Mirage Resort & Thalasso Bali had to offer. As soon as you enter the communal areas you realize that this is a perfect place for families. We will go into detail on that shortly, because the first stop was the Bamboo Kids’ Club. I don’t know if it was a mistake to go there first or not, because Noah was extremely entertained for more than 2 hours.
We actually had to convince him to leave the place to have his lunch so we could go to the pool later. The kids’ room had many games and toys for children and a TV showing cartoons. Since there’s always a member of staff there, we didn’t mind leaving Noah there for about an hour while we took a walk through the grounds.
The nicest part of our stay at the Grand Mirage Resort & Thalasso Bali was that we could go to the beach at any time. The beach was just there, a 1 minute walk away. Warm waters, very calm and in a safe area surrounded by coral. There was even some time for Noah to play in the fine white sand.
The Grand Mirage Resort has 5 on-property restaurants, and 1 restaurant located in the upcoming family wing, called Chopstick and 2 bars, so there are plenty of options for lunch and dinner. Breakfast was included in the price, so every morning we enjoyed a wide variety of fruit, bread, warm and cold dishes, Indian and Chinese food, etc.
In fact, the breakfast was so good that at lunch time we weren’t very hungry, so we only had a lighter meal, just to tide us over till dinner.
One of the nights we went to the restaurant La Cascata by the Sea, which served Italian dishes. Again we weren’t disappointed. There were great options on the menu and we chose spaghetti with meatballs, linguini arrabiata and polenta with Italian ham.
The Grand Cafe has a more international menu and it was our choice during the day, for club sandwiches, calamari and fish and chips.
We didn’t have the opportunity to dine at the Bumbu Delhi restaurant. There we could have had Indian food, which we’ve loved ever since the days when we both worked in a hotel in London and there were often Indian parties with amazing buffets. Well, we’ll save it for next time.
Then, there’s the Jukung Grill on the Beach serving grilled seafood or meat.
And finally, 4 times a week, there’s an outdoor setting for theme dinner at Rama Stage, for an al-fresco dinner with live entertainment.
For cocktails, guests can enjoy the Panorama Bar, overlooking the pool and the beach, and the Coconut Pool Bar.
As we mentioned before, we were assigned to a Family room, with plenty of space and an extra bed for Noah. In this type of room the hotel can fit one extra bed upon request, as well as the king size one that comes in all of them.
We also had the chance to see some of the other rooms, like the marvelous 2-Bedroom Family Ocean View Suite. This is an ideal room for families with grown-up kids. It has two separate bedrooms, each with their own big bed and their own bathroom with a shower and bath (like every room in the hotel). The rooms are then separated by a very large dining/living area, TV, DVD player, video games console and some games to play as a family. Not bad…
The suite rooms have views towards the pool and the ocean, and accommodate a family with a small child (so an extra bed can be included upon request).
Standard rooms have the minimum facilities and amenities provided in all rooms, including a bathroom with a bath and shower.
And then there’s the villa: 3 bedrooms with kitchenette, … Wow! Nice and spacious, with beautiful garden views.
Family Paradise will surely be another excuse for us to come back to wonderful Bali (if there weren’t already enough reasons to do so…).
The Grand Mirage Resort& Thalasso Bali Spa also offers plenty of activities for guests to be fully entertained throughout their whole stay. These activities include motorized and non-motorized water sports, cinema under the stars for kids, chess (life size 🙂 ), spa, games lounge, business centre etc…
The cinema (with popcorn!) was the one that Noah particularly enjoyed.
But since there’s a lot of information in this post already we’ve decided to split it and will go into more detail about the other activities, and especially the Spa for families, in a separate post. Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, thanks a lot to the team at the Grand Mirage for treating us so pleasantly – rest assured we will be coming back in the future.
Grand Mirage Resort & Thalasso Bali
Jl. Pratama No. 74, Tanjung Benoa, Nusa Dua
+(62) 361 771 888
Family Travel Secrets stayed at Grand Mirage Resort & Thalasso Bali as guests. All opinions and the oodles of pictures remain our own.