Bali is at the top of many people's bucket-lists and for good reason. It's one of the most beautiful and fascinating islands on the planet. Bali is famous for good food, surfing, adventure biking and yoga - but how can you make sure that you get the best of all of these? The answer is easy: The Chillhouse Bali. It is a yoga, surf and bike retreat in Canggu, Bali and it has everything you need and more. The Chillhouse isn't just accommodation, it's an entire experience. We stayed for the week, and this is what we thought:
1. The Chillhouse Itself: Our Review
We stayed in a large double bungalow (they also do single rooms for solo travellers). Everything about our bungalow was perfect - from the spacious outdoor 'front porch' seating area with awesome nap couch and hammock chair:
to the gigantic four poster king sized bed inside the room. When we turned the lights out at night I couldn't believe how dark it was. Admittedly we'd just spent two months in cities (Bangkok and then Kuala Lumpur), but still - omg! I didn't realise how much easier it is to sleep in pitch darkness. We were also surprised (but super grateful) to find air-con in our room too. Bali gets hotttt.
The Chillhouse has wifi in the communal areas - the pool, the dining table and the co-working spaces. There isn't wifi in your room and this is perfect if you want a semi-digital detox: you can enjoy the freedom of waking up in the morning and not grabbing your phone immediately, butttt you also have the freedom to run to the communal area any time you need to have an emergency humble-brag on Instagram... but, but, buttt because our bungalow was the closest to these communal areas, the wifi still worked in our room - so if you're a true Insta-addict (like me), request that bungalow! (It's called Manis)
Our room also came with an outside bathroom! There is something so Balinese about showering outside, trust us you will love it: at night you can look up and see the moon and stars twinkling down on you, and in the daytime the sun shines down and makes a rainbow with the water stream. Our bungalow was the perfect place to chill, but it certainly wasn't the only perfect place to chill at the Chillhouse: above the dining hall is a beautiful chill-out and co-working space. It's the thoughtful details that make this place a haven - from the cute artwork on the floor to the well placed jug of water and glasses:
At the Chillhouse are not one, but two pools! They are both perfect for chilling - not just inside the pool (perfect for refreshing chilling) but outside of the pool too - where there are plenty of sun-loungers (perfect for sunbathing chilling).
Lots of people love to chill out by the pool, read a book, sip a smoothie. The Chillhouse is the perfect place to 'Chill, Eat and Sleep". But if you are looking for a more invigorating vacation as well, the Chillhouse can cater to you to:
2. The Chillhouse Surf Retreat
The Chillhouse is the perfect place to go surfing in Bali. There are morning and afternoon classes every day (weather permitting) and board hire is included. The Chillhouse is also exclusively affiliated with Bali Local Surf School in Canggu - the #1 choice in Bali! The surf dudes pick you up from the Chillhouse with your new friends who are also guests at the Chillhouse - it's kind of like a fun school trip. You go down to the beach in a cool Jurassic Park type orange jeep.
What we liked the most about our lesson was the fact that we had one teacher between the two of us - they have a one coach for two guests policy. I'm a notoriously abysmal surfer, but with the attention and guidance from basically a one-on-one teacher, I managed not only to catch a couple of waves, but, perhaps more impressively, actually enjoy surfing for the first time in my life! [You can learn more about surfing in Bali here]
3. Biking in Bali
Alongside being a surf retreat, the Chillhouse is also a mountain, adventure biking retreat. They have tours and tracks for every level of crazy. They also have push bikes that you can borrow free of charge, these are a great way to explore the surrounding area - the rice paddies and the beach!
4. The Chillhouse Yoga Retreat
The Chillhouse Bali is without a doubt the perfect place to practice yoga. First of all they have a beautiful open-sided yoga studio complete with mats, blocks, water and cushions. You can wander over and use the yoga studio for your own practice anytime you want (apart from when the classes are on). As for the classes themselves. INCREDIBLE. We tried a Yin class for the first time ever and it was so rejuvenating. They offer many different types of classes: Yin, Vinyasa, Kundalini, Hatha, with classes everyday and even twice a day Tuesday through Thursday. All in all, I ranked the Chillhouse in my list of the top three yoga retreats in Bali.
Let me start off by telling you that my mouth is watering just thinking about the food at the Chillhouse. OMG. At the Chillhouse Bali, breakfast and dinner is included in your stay, and everything is ORGANIC.
Now, we've stayed at many places in South East Asia that include breakfast - it's generally a buffet type affair: toast, cereals, cooked breakfast, fruit, coffee, rice. Most of the time we enjoy it, but it's nothing to write home about (unless they have marmite). So our expectations were medium - we expected to be full-up after breakfast but not a lot more than that... OMG. I swear every morning was the best breakfast I've ever had in my life. They do indeed still do toast, cereals, fruit and coffee, but the fruit is fresh and exotic the toasts are spectacular - sourdough, potato bread, banana bread; and the spreads (jam, peanut butter, marmalade) are all home-made.
And that's not even the best part, there is also a list of 5-6 additional options that you can choose from and every morning it's a little bit different: sweet banana pancakes one day; spicy fajitas the next; mason jars filled with fresh fruit, granola, coconut cream, nuts and seeds. And, again, breakfast is included in your stay! We highly recommend grabbing lunch at the Chillhouse too, we tried their hummus wrap with chips and it was absolutely incredible - of course!
Like breakfast, dinner was something new and exciting every day. It was a great mixture of traditional Balinese dishes and more international dishes.
Some nights we had a buffet type meal - salads, roast potatoes, rice, samosas, steamed vegetables, corn-on-the-cob, fajitas, beans, tofu wrapped in banana leaves and so much more!
Other nights we had set meals with two options - vegan or meat/fish.
And two nights we had an amazing bbq under the stars. All in all, every night the food was incredibly tasty - but also very healthy. There were always plenty of vegan and vegetarian options and everything is organic.
After dinner every night there was also dessert. I'm not much of a sweet tooth but even I go weak at the knees thinking about these desserts.
Fresh fruit, deep-fried bananas, roast pineapple, cute chocolate cupcakes, everything was incredible.
Last but certainly not least, the smoothies and juices. Hot. Damn.
These were served all day and came in every bright colour possible: hot pink, lush green, sunshine yellow, chocolate.
My favourite was the glowing green juice and Tanbay's was the peanut-butter cup smoothie.
But it's not just your taste buds that will be delighted at the Chillhouse Bali, another thing we really loved about dinner was the fact that it was a communal affair. Every night at seven, the gong would be rung and the Chillhouse's guests would meet at the dining area.
This was the perfect environment to meet your fellow travellers. We met a cool Canadian who makes mountain bike trails and wowed us with his grizzly bear tales; a lovely Australian mother and daughter - and it turned out that the daughter is an actual Olympian an American who had one week's holiday and had flown all the way from Miami; Germans who were taking a break from their working visa in Australia and so many more nice people. Lots of them were solo travellers and said it was one of the easiest places they'd ever been to make friends.
6. The People at the Chillhouse Bali
But whilst we loved meeting the other guests, it was the staff that truly made the Chillhouse a home. They were super lovely, knew our names and just did everything they could to make sure we had a great stay.
7. The Chillhouse Bali: Location
The Chillhouse is in a great location, you can have the best of both worlds here: close enough to the airport and beach to be able to get to them when you want, but far away enough from them so that you can get peace and quiet. To get to the airport it takes 1 hour in the day time and just 20 minutes in the early morning/late evening (all because of traffic). We took an airport taxi from the airport to the Chillhouse which cost us 350,000 IDR. But on the way back to the airport from the Chillhouse we took a Chillhouse taxi and it cost us just 200,000 IDR.
Also whilst I'm talking about the airport, there is a cash machine there, which only let us take out 1,000,000 IDR (about £60/$75/€70). You can also by sim cards with data there, but they are crazily expensive - it's better to buy them anywhere else. Now, once you've made it to the Chillhouse there is plenty to see in the surrounding area, especially if you utilise their free bikes:
It's just a 30 minute walk to the beach from the Chillhouse - and on a bicycle it's less than 15 minutes.
It's a great place to surf, swim, chill on the beach or to buy an over-priced cocktail. There are also lots of cute boutique shops here.
Best of all though are the sunsets on the beach.
Even closer than the beaches are the iconic Bali rice-paddies, ten minutes cycle away from the Chillhouse, take the turn on the left. Here are many beautiful rice-paddies. The roads are kind of narrow though and there are lots of people on mopeds/motorbikes, which makes it hard to relax. Take any of the tiny side roads on the left and right and find an undiscovered rice-paddy!
Alternatively (or even additionally) take a tour with the Chillhouse to the spectacular rice fields that are a bit further out.
This is another one that we found down a random road - there are workers sat in that little hut :)
There are lots and lots of gorgeous temples near to the Chillhouse, you can see a few if you walk down the beach and even more if you take the bikes out and go exploring.
I love the Balinese temples, I think they look like gateways to another world.
Plus this tree is just awesome... all in all, exploring temples is a must-do when you go to Bali!
8. Wrap Up: the Chillhouse Yoga Retreat Bali
The Chillhouse is without a doubt the perfect place to stay. They've got everything you need and more to relax and enjoy Bali. We were impressed by the detail and care that goes into everything at the Chillhouse, this is the reason why they're able to shine not just with hospitality, but with catering and activities too. We highly recommend that you stay here, we were invited as guests but we will definitely go back there in the future - we hope to see you there too! You can find the cheapest prices per night on hotels.com - the Chillhouse Bali Let us know if you have any questions about the Chillhouse or Bali.
We have also made a YouTube video about our time at the Chillhouse - there are a couple of Hungarian words in there (we're learning Hungarian), but 99% of this video is in English anddd you get to see more of the Chillhouse and Bali - check it out!
We have also made a YouTube video about our time at the Chillhouse - there are a couple of Hungarian words in there (we're learning Hungarian), but 99% of this video is in English anddd you get to see more of the Chillhouse and Bali - check it out!
Travelling Weasels were invited as guests of the Chillhouse, but as always all opinions are our own. I'd never recommend something I haven't personally tried and loved, because that wouldn't be cool and I want to be cool.
ABOUTME
We overland. We eat plants and fungi. We live outside as much as possible. We are all connected. A female travel blogger overlanding and writing about ecotourism, ethical and sustainable travel, socially conscious travel and housesitting. An online travel magazine since 2015.
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