Ambengan Private Villa

This was my second time staying here. The place is quiet, set among a local village, so you can hear roosters and pigs. Honestly, that didn’t bother me. It’s a private villa with a king bed, a pool that was clean, and a large bathroom with a bathtub. There’s a fridge and air conditioning too. The staff are lovely and can help with laundry or snorkelling trips, and you can order food to your room. A few pieces of furniture look a little worn, but for the price it’s a great find. It’s about 10 minutes from the harbour and 30-40 minutes from Kelingking beach.

Ellya was a really helpful host and spoke great English. The bed was very comfortable, and the villa itself is stunning, with an incredible pool and a lush, lovely walk up to it. It’s great if you have transport and insect repellent. We hadn’t realised when booking how remote it was, or that there wouldn’t be much nearby. There are some local warungs, but getting to them means walking along a rough path that didn’t feel very safe. Bugs were also a big problem. The doors are warped and don’t shut properly, so fruit flies, flies, mosquitoes, caterpillars, and all sorts of other insects get into the room. I’ve never stayed anywhere with so many mosquitoes. I would have sprayed them all if I’d had bug spray. The menu lists a WA number, but the last two digits are swapped and the number is wrong. We only figured that out after tracking down Ellya, since the guy who checked us in hadn’t mentioned it.

The harsh sun makes the outdoor deck almost unusable. From 8 am until sunset it gets blasted with direct sun, and in that little 3 m X 6 m space there’s nowhere to move the tiny 40 cm square table into shade. You’re stuck in the sun either way. A simple bamboo screen, like the one hanging by the bathroom area for no apparent reason, could provide shade. Hoping for cloudy weather during our holiday didn’t work. Locals don’t sit in the sun all day, quite the opposite. We paid over $100 AUD a night, which felt like top dollar when somewhere at a third of the price might have been better. The owners asked us to pay cash upfront on arrival for all eight (8) nights, and we did. We’re now considering whether to move for the second half of our Nusa Penida stay. There are a lot of other problems too. The toilet flushes, kettle works, there’s hot water, the bed is okay, and the air con works. But the door wouldn’t close, so we used a Gerber to jack it up and make it fit better. The bathtub plug won’t close, we weren’t offered a fresh towel in four days, and there’s no toilet paper, only tissues. Since we’re not flushing paper, it’s been piling up in the bin for four days. At least there’s a squirty next to the toilet. There’s no soap either. The pool is turning a deep green, the two coffee cups and two wine glasses have only been rinsed again, and we had to buy our own coffee. The TV doesn’t work, and my phone charger gets hot so quickly it feels like a fire hazard. Cigarette butts cover the ground outside the bathroom, most power points don’t work, and six lights in the tiny yard stay on all night so it never gets dark.

We really liked how much privacy we had. The host was quick to respond and helpful, and the rooms were comfortable and clean.