About Balisama
Balisama is an independent guide to luxury resorts and private villas in Bali and its neighbouring islands. You can filter the resorts by area, price and features, compare them side by side, read about each area of Bali, and plan around the island's festivals with the events calendar.
How the resort facts are checked
The facts on each resort page, such as its features, its number of rooms, restaurants and pools, and whether it has opened yet, are checked against sources like the resort's official website and booking sites. Every change to them is recorded with the reason, the sources and who made it.
Changes suggested by automated checks go live on their own only when they are simple facts confirmed by a source. Everything else, from descriptions to prices, is reviewed by a person first.
What guests say
The "What guests say" notes on a resort page summarise guest reviews collected from booking and review sites. A note on what guests like or dislike is shown only when at least three reviews, and at least 2% of all the resort's reviews, say the same thing (so more for resorts with many reviews), and it says how many do. A dislike must also have been repeated in the year before the summary, when that year has enough reviews to tell. "What's changed recently" lists complaints that met the same bar among the earlier reviews, when at least two reviews from the year before the summary say it is fixed and complaints in that year are at most half as frequent as before. Each note is the gist of what its reviews have in common, in a few words, and is checked against two to five of them that say it most clearly. The date of each summary is shown with it.
Prices
Prices are approximate starting rates per night, in US dollars or converted to your currency. They are there to compare resorts; the price for your dates and room is on the booking site.
Areas of Bali
The ratings on the area pages and in the area comparisons (beaches, nightlife, surf, prices and more) are our own judgement of how the areas compare with each other for a visitor. Airport times are usual drives; rush hour in the south can add half an hour.
Events
The events calendar lists festivals and ceremonies in Bali by month. Many Balinese ceremonies follow local calendars, and some dates are only fixed closer to the time, so check with the organisers before you travel.
Booking links
Book Now takes you to a booking site or to the resort's own website. Some of these links may be affiliate links: if you book through one, Balisama may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Photos
Photos of the resorts belong to their owners and illustrate the listings. Photos of the sights come from Wikimedia Commons and Flickr under free licences, and each is credited to its photographer where it is shown. If a photo on this site is yours and you would like it credited or removed, email d4nex7@pm.me and we will do so promptly.
Contact
Found something out of date, or run one of the resorts and want to tell us about a change? Write to d4nex7@pm.me.