The Green Room Canggu

My son had the time of his life at Kima Surf. He is a very good surfer and they took him to breaks all over the island. He loved the guides, food and other guest. And I felt he was safe. They took out on a boat to reef breaks. They video taped him and gave him pointers. Awesome experience

Let's start with the hotel itself: Beautiful, very well kept, cannot fault the building Excellent, friendly, helpful staff Great food, quality, well made, timely Fantastic choice of activities and daily social gatherings Superb selection of restaurants and boutique shops in the Canggu area Didn't have hot water for first 3 days. When notifying staff was told needed to wait 10 minutes each time for the water to heat up after the other suite using it. On day 3 after losing the plot slightly, the water was miraculously fixed and hot throughout the remaining trip Hairdryer useless, swapped for a second, only marginally less useless Yoga is only available once per day at 1pm. Big fail in my opinion. Yoga should be available morning and evening. I was very disappointed not to be able to participate Very loud music from the beach occurred twice (until 4am on both occasions) Now to the key purpose of this trip - surfing: Surf guides are excellent, give great advice, and always put safety first The surf beaches in the East are far superior to anywhere else - clean water and white (ish) sand The surf survival course was spot on and a must for any nervous surfer Beaches around Seminyak and Canggu are to be avoided - the trash was utterly horrendous and the water was (I quote from the surfguides) "the colour of coffee". I got very sick after my first day surfing at Seminyak and was ill for the remainder of the holiday. Do yourself a favour - don't risk it To get to a beach where you're not going to contract gastro or worse (as I did) you must travel to Nusa Dua area - an hour drive if you're lucky, 2 hours mid afternoon is standard, 4 hours if you're unlucky!! NOBODY wants to spend 4-6 hours a day on holiday in the back of a surf van!! This is the main (only) reason I will not be returning to Kima Canggu and why this review has a poor rating. The camp is in completely the wrong location and this is the entire purpose Private surf lessons which were booked 6 months in advance were not able to be co-ordinated due to lack of instructors Other: Bali weather in December is to be avoided at all costs - it was horrendous - particularly if the purpose of your trip is to surf The mosquitoes are the worst I've encountered (potentially also related to rainy season) The traffic problem is worse than I recall from my last visit 10 years ago The Eat, Pray, Love atmosphere of old Bali seems to have been replaced by Drink, Drug, Dance

I spent a week at Kima Canggu, having left just yesterday. Overall, the camp is extremely well run and their surf program, especially for beginners, is as good as you could hope for. It’s a very social place - you will meet a lot of people from all over the world - the food is good and it is well-situated in the urban jungle of Canggu. That being said, there are a couple of aspects of the operation that were problematic. First and most importantly, beware that if you book a shared room, you have a good chance of being matched with someone not of your gender. This happened to me and despite both my (female) roommate’s and my own strenuous objections, they would not or could remedy the situation. I heard numerous other tales from fellow surf campers and this seems fantastically inappropriate to me. I don’t think there is a way to specify on their booking form that you would only accept a same-gender roommate. This leads to my second criticism, shared by many at the camp. Their business model is transparently set up to wring money from you (hence, as one example, the cramming of cross-gender guests into the same room). One female guest I befriended had a strange man walk into her room well after dark, announcing he was her new roommate. She was disconcerted, to say the least ant they refused to correct the situation. In the end she was a delightful roommate but it was uncomfortable at first.

The hotel itself is made nicely, big pool and loads of chill areas. Food and drinks are available all day. Staff is very friendly and tries to help whenever they can. The beach is super close to go surfing. People complaining about water quality: yes, within one week probably 50% of people got sick (Bali belly) but this is the risk you are taking when surfing on Bali’s west coast. It’s not the hotels fault. I recommend staying in the newer building if possible, the rooms are much nicer. My first room (old building, ground floor) was horrible, smelled like a wet basement, they gave me a new room and a free night. Surf guides are very friendly and super well trained. They will assist you catching waves if needed. Usually 1-2 persons per guide. Prices for rooms are rather high compared to other surf camps.