Wana Shanti Villa by Madhava

The staff were good, no complaints about them, but the location is really far from Ubud and the main Canggu area. The air conditioning didn’t work properly, and the hens were far too noisy. It was also very difficult to order food or get a Grab.

The bathroom light is so dim I could barely see the floor. The room lighting overall is weak, and the bathroom pipes are rusty and dirty. The shower head was dirty too, and the water pressure kept changing between fast and slow. The room doesn’t block sound well, and the toilet wobbles.

The place looks just like the photos, and the staff are friendly and do their best. Some things listed on the website, like yoga classes, aren’t actually available. Also, if you’re not a morning person, the noisy roosters and nearby temple could be a problem.

The photos on the booking site made this look romantic and lovely, so the stay was honestly disappointing. The bedroom is nicely done with simple wooden Bali-style decorations, and the bathroom was okay. But at the end of the day it’s a wooden cabin without proper insulation, and that was the main problem for me. I understand staying in a tropical place means small animals outside, and a lizard on the wall wouldn’t bother me. What bothered me was finding lizard droppings in the bathtub on the first day, then rat droppings nearby. The next day there were even more rat droppings all over the bathroom, and one of my things had ended up on the floor overnight, clearly because some small animal was running around. Staff cleaned the droppings when I told them, but that didn’t solve anything; they were back the next day. Rats running around feels like a health concern to me. Some pool tiles were broken, and our doors were also a bit broken, making them harder to close and lock. There was a five-millimeter gap between the floor and the door, which made it easy for small animals to get inside. The hotel food was below average, and the only coffee was little packets of sweet Nescafe. It’s very far from everything, including central Ubud, with attractions, restaurants, and local shops about an hour away by car or scooter. The hygiene issues left us really disappointed. It was a bitter experience.