Bali Vacations & Tours

We spent two plus weeks in Indonesia, visiting Bali, Kalimantan, and Java (Yogyakarta).  This was a great experience for us as we enjoyed music, dance, rice fields, snorkeling, rafting, volcano climbing, art, local villages, and temples in Bali; a houseboat trip in Kalimantan where we experienced orangutans, monkeys, birds, and other wildlife, as well as amazing flowers and trees; and time in and near Yogyakarta in Java to experience Borobodur, Prambanan, and some sites in Yogyakarta.  

The travel agent gets great marks for selecting amazing places for us to stay, each with fantastic service, amazing amenities (private pool or beach in each place!), and beautiful settings.  I would recommend these to any visitor-- whether a couple, a family or a group.  Even our houseboat in Kalimantan was special, with a great crew and an incredible cook on board. 

Our travel agent spent quite a bit of time interviewing us to help plan a trip to meet our interests and I feel that she did a good job probing, listening and planning.  She was also able to help us get a reservation at a restaurant in Ubud just a week or two before our trip-- not such an easy task as there was no table available at all when I tried.   And, I have to add that all of our in-Indonesia travel via plane from island to island, went very smoothly and easily.  Our guides had the in-Indonesia tickets for us when we arrived-- very simple and easy! 

Indonesia is a complicated place and this travel experienced allowed us to enjoy its present and past. We were grateful to our guides for sharing their perspectives and lives with us throughout our stay and to the hospitality everywhere we went. 

We had an amazing trip to Bali. The Zicasso tour company provided a remarkable level of service, from the initial communications to plan the trip to the individual attention and flexibility to overcome challenges we encountered during the trip. Our planner really listened to what we wanted to experience and the types of things we enjoy, and put together a fantastic itinerary.

Bali is amazing and trying to sift through the myriad options available for a trip was made manageable and practically easy by our friends at the travel company. We split our time between Ubud and Sanur, which is a less-touristy, more laidback beach town than Seminyak. The plan the company put together helped us balance downtime and active time to make an overall fantastic experience.

Our guide for the trip was incredible and provided us with multiple, unexpected bonuses, like having the MC at the fire dance at Uluwatu welcome us personally in front of everyone before the performance. He was incredibly friendly and helpful, and an absolute joy to travel with.

The team at the company quickly responded when we ran into issues that prevented us from executing the original itinerary as planned and made sure we were able to experience everything we had signed up for and more. We are very satisfied customers.

Zicasso's travel agent did a wonderful job of arranging seamless, complex transfers from Java to Gili Air to Ubud, Bali, and provided great guides, drivers, and advice, as well as a Wi-Fi hotspot and local currency on arrival. We did have an issue with hotels not reserved until a couple of days ahead and he promptly resolved the problem.

Our agent was a very responsive and prompt communicator. We would recommend!

The hotel in Sanur was absolutely special! We highly recommend it. The resort in Ubud was also wonderful. The staff were great. We had no idea this town was such a vibrant place and would have loved more time to explore it, possibly from a walkable hotel.

Our guide and driver were wonderful and flexible when we needed to stop for a Diet Coke and iced cappuccino. We also felt that Zicasso's travel company was flexible with our changes as we went.

We did the Bali safari on our transfer day and it was a stop we really enjoyed.

Nice job, all involved!

For anyone considering a trip to Bali, I very strongly suggest that you work with Dharsana at the travel agency. We had also worked with a second travel agency, but they just did not reach out as much as this one in coming up with a suitable trip and just did not seem as interested.

The trip to Bali, Indonesia was fantastic!!! It was a pleasure working with Dharsana at agency in arranging our vacation. He listened to what I had to say and planned the trip accordingly. His team met us even before going through customs and helped us through the process. I have never experienced that type of assistance with any other travel agency. Dharsana met with us after going through customs and drove with us and a driver to our hotel providing all sorts of information. He also had arranged to convert U.S. dollars into the Indonesia Rupiah when I arrived rather than having to go to a currency exchange. And when our trip was finished, his team helped us through the check in at the airport and took us to a lounge in the airport where we could relax and have free food and drink. I was so surprised by that. Once again, I had never had that kind of assistance before. I was planning on buying a SIM card for my phone, but Dharsana arranged for us to have a device that provided us with WIFI services wherever we went, so a SIM card was not necessary. Again, just another unexpected surprise.

During our trip, we had one problem with one of the hotels we stayed at. Dharsana drove at least one hour both ways to ensure the problem was resolved. In fact, he made two round trips to make sure everything was well taken care of. Further, during our trip he arranged for an anniversary dinner and a birthday dinner. They were great. At the 100 candlelit anniversary dinner, our table was in an excluded area by a river. It was incredibly romantic. They had rose petals spelling out "happy anniversary". The food was fantastic and the entire experience was beyond words. And the restaurant where the birthday dinner was held also provided wonderful food. And Dharsana drove to both restaurants to wish us well on those dinners.

Our trip of 15 nights included 9 nights in Ubud and 6 nights in Seminyak. At both places, we arranged different tours through Dharsana using their own staff. The tours were great. We traveled on these tours with a guide and a driver. He is an excellent driver. We had an excellent guide. Not only did they take us to some wonderful temples, but we got to participate in the prayer services rather than just watch the services. Our guide explained what to do during the services and provided all the prayer boxes that were needed. At one of the temples, whose name is Lempuyang Temple (The Heaven's Gate), there are 1700 steps to climb. My wife and I are in our sixties and found doing the steps a fun challenge. At one point, some of the monkeys on the way up seemed to be getting a little aggressive. Our guide took care of it and I got to learn what to do if monkeys become aggressive. He took pictures with his own phone in addition to using our own phones. He then created some excellent videos using different pictures that he had taken and set them to music.

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the people of Bali. They were very friendly and patient. For example, after climbing the 1700 steps, our guide took pictures of my wife and I in front of a sign as proof of our success. Since we were the only Westerners who were successful in climbing the stairs at the time, the Bali residents who made the climb asked us if we would mind them taking pictures with us using their own phone cameras. They asked where we were from. As the photos were taking place, more of the Bali residents asked if they too could have their pictures taken with us. It was a great experience. All of our experiences with the residents of Bali were very pleasant.

In total we did about 7 or 8 tours. Visiting the temples was great. We took a trip to a place where we saw three waterfalls. It was excellent. My wife swam at one or two of the waterfalls, whereas I just walked around. Our trips to the rice terraces were excellent. They were beautiful to see and walk through.  And a must do activity is the sunrise trekking.  This involves climbing a volcano at around 4:00 am to arrive in time to see the sunrise.  It is a difficult walk.  Many young people would have problems.  My wife and I are in good shape, so we managed to climb it in 1 hour 45 minutes.  I only saw two others who were our age or older.

Our hotels were excellent and were suggested by Dharsana. In fact, he gave us a few choices to consider. I then did some research on the hotels to decide which ones to stay at. During my research Dharsana provided some very useful information about the hotels that I used in making a final decision.

The food during our stay was great. My wife is more adventurous than I am when it comes to food and made sure to sample as many Bali dishes as possible. I never heard one complaint from her. At both hotels that we stayed at, breakfast was included. They were superb! You could basically ask for as much food as you wanted and there was a great amount of choices in the foods. Of course it was not just the quantity of food, but the quality was great. We often skipped lunches because the breakfasts were so filling.

In Ubud we stayed at a resort. The rooms there are huge. The rooms also included an outdoor deep soak tub that we took advantage of. There was also a private plunge pool for each room. My only complaint about the pool would be that the temperature of the plunge pool is too cold. As a result, I did not use it as often as I otherwise would have. The main swimming pool was a little too cold as well. In Seminyak we stayed at another resort. I have never been to a hotel that provided such great service. The rooms may not have been as large, but they were easily large enough. The food was fantastic. There was a complimentary tea each afternoon and the swimming pool was wonderful.