We recently finished staying at Sanur Resort Watujimbar, one of the largest resorts you’ll find in Sanur Bali. It is a popular hotel resort for many who come to Sanur, with its big pools, facilities and central location. Some might know it as Swissbel Watujimbar Resort.
Address: Jl. Danau Tamblingan No.99A, Sanur, Denpasar Selatan, Kota Denpasar, Bali 80228, Indonesia
While writing this review, we are going to touch on aspects of the resort that people usually do not write about such as Wi-Fi speed, accessibility, Is it noisy? How dark is your room? All the sort of things that you don’t normally hear about in hotel reviews. Let us start with the room we stayed in.
What was our room like at Sanur Resort Watujimbar
We stayed in a Deluxe King Room with a Jacuzzi, the room 8250 was located on the second floor at the back end of the Resort with views looking straight out over the pools towards the resort entrance.
Our first impression upon entering the room was that we’ve got a nice looking room. Big bed, flat screen TV, small fridge, desk area, and a kettle. Let’s go in here and have a look at the bathroom first. The fridge was not great and couldn’t be made any colder.
It would take drinks at least 12 hours to be cold. There is a daybed for lounging on, the room overall is a pretty big size with plenty of space.
Outside on the balcony, we have a table, 2 chairs and a spa bath. The spa was a let down, it had no molding for seating and you ended up slipping around which made it quite uncomfortable. The outlet where the water came out was quite dirty and had mold in it, which was not great visually or health wise.
The bathroom, on the other hand, was not great, to be honest. It’s a strange layout. It’s actually quite hard to maneuver around. The bathroom door opened and closed inwards, which meant if you were standing at the basin, no one else could get into the area.
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Once inside the bathroom, the toilet doesn’t have a door on it. The toilet was small and squashed; if you were tall or wide, if you know what I mean, then it became a problem. For those that use the bum gun in the toilet, it’s really, really, really hard to use it because it hangs nearly behind the toilet, making it hard to access in the small area of the toilet.
The bathroom was well stocked with towels and toiletries, but the shower didn’t drain well and we ended up flooding the bathroom floor at one stage, even though there’s a tiny little lip to keep the water in the shower.
The shower had a handheld shower head and the rain shower head. Inside the shower, you had body wash, shampoo and conditioner. The handheld shower head had barely any water pressure. You’re probably better off using the rain shower head because it seemed to be a lot more consistent in its pressure.
One thing we did find was mold in the shower. It is quite common that you find mold in warm weather locations like Bali. The bathroom had a little bit of a funky smell at some time.
It seemed like maybe it was coming up through the drain, but that’s a common occurrence in Indonesia. We found this before in Bali over the times.
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The aircon was another problem; the room really didn’t cool much at all. The air-conditioning system is one of those old-style central cooling systems that has a large vent to cool the room. At no stage did the room get anywhere near cool enough for what was required to keep the warm Bali weather at bay. I must say we could have complained and maybe changed rooms but it becomes a hassle to pack everything back up and start over in a new room.
The WiFi was okay without being super fast, I ran a few checks and it was coming down at around 43Mbps which is a bit on the slow side. That being said, I had no trouble streaming clips on Facebook and TikTok.
The pools at Watujimbar Resort Sanur
The pool setup here at Resort Watujimbar in Sanur is actually quite stunning, really. There are 2 large pools that dominate the center of the resort. Actually, the whole center of the resort is taken up by the 2 large pools on offer.
The two pools offer a different experience when staying at this resort in Sanur. The bottom pool closest to the breakfast area has a pool bar which serves alcohol and food. There is an extensive menu, we just grabbed a Hawaiian pizza and two cans of Singaraja Beer which was 225,000 Indonesian rupiah. So it’s about $20 Australian, which is not a bad deal considering a can of Singaraja beer itself was $6. So if you got two beers, that would have been $12.
So basically, you’re getting the pizza for $10.This pool is the more family-friendly option with shallow areas and steps to enter the pool, making it easier for small kids to get into the water safely. You will find more families in this pool area of the resort.
The top pool is where you will find people doing exercise, swimming laps and just floating around. Access to this pool is by ladder only and the pool was a constant depth of 6 feet the whole way through.
Around both pools, you will find sun loungers set up with umbrellas to shade you from the sun; the sun sure does pack a punch in Bali. Just be aware this resort, like many others, has an unwritten rule that if you find a towel on a sun lounger, it has already been taken. As I like to call them, the pool towel mafia are out early to secure the sun loungers so be aware you might find it hard to get a lounger later in the day.
Facilities you do not find everywhere
Sanur Resort Watujimbar is fully stocked as far as facilities go. You really never have to leave the resort if you do not want to. There is an onsite medical center for any problems you have. If you need to change money they have a money changing booth, if you want a massage they have a day spa on board.
They’ve even got a common area with couches and books, a quiet place to relax. In the last month they have even added a pool table. The resort also offers a range of activities, such as dance lessons, cooking classes and even scuba diving programs.
Breakfast at the Watujimbar Resort
So what’s the breakfast like at Resort Watujimbar in Sanur? Is the food hot? Is there a good choice? There is a good selection of food for breakfast at this hotel. You will find around 10-12 hot food options plus fruit, breads, pastries, cereal, and breakfast sweets.
Like all good hotels, there is an egg station cooking up eggs anyway you want them, scrambled, hard boiled, fried and of course yummy omelettes. At the egg station you can also get French Toast, Pancakes and sausages.
We went to breakfast at Watujimbar relatively early at around 7:30 and found that the quality of the food was fresh and was still hot. Usually, as the morning gets later, you can sometimes be starved for choice, freshness and heat in the food.
So what did we think of this Sanur breakfast? Really good actually. There’s a really big selection including some Indonesian and Western dishes, if you’re fussy grab some eggs and bacon, toast and cereal. It will not be hard to find something to suit everyone at a buffet of this size.
The breakfast is situated in an open-air area, so it does get warm, but the hotel sets up big fans in the area to keep you cool while you eat.
Is the resort loud at night and are the rooms dark?
A lot of bigger resorts can be loud at night with people getting around, heading out, coming back after a big night etc. Sanur Resort Watujimbar was exactly the opposite.
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To start off, this sanur resort is set back off Jalan Danau Tamblingan. You need to come around 100 meters up the driveway before you get to the hotel reception and the rooms are set back even further. So it’s definitely not loud here. Unless you have neighbors that are loud, possibly in the other rooms, then it might be loud.
The resort bar was located under our room and we still didn’t hear any real noise. We find the thick dark curtains to be great at blocking out any light coming into the room. Just make sure you have them set up right covering the edge and middle of the window.
One thing we could not find was the light switch to turn the balcony light off. It seems it gets turned off automatically at about 10pm. The rooms have really good dark sleeping conditions for anyone coming to stay at Sanur Resort Watujimbar.
Housekeeping at the resort
Housekeeping comes around daily to make your bed, empty your bins and replace your towels.We actually forgot to put our sign out this morning and they skipped our room, but when we came back, we actually found them up the hallway.
So we went and asked them and they came to fix it up. It was no trouble at all and they made up the rooms as requested.
What is the location of Watujimbar Sanur like?
You’ll find Resort Watujimbar on Jalan Danu Tamblingan, which is like the main street in Sanur Bali. It’s where all the shops and restaurants are located in Sanur, Bali. It’s centrally located in the middle of everything.
There’s no direct beach access straight across the road though. You’ll have to walk up a few hundred meters to JI Pantai Karang to get to from Sanur Resort Watujimbar to Sanur Beach. Alternatively you walk through Griya Santrian to the beachfront.
Distance from Sanur Watujimbar
- Sanur Resort Watujimbar to Icon Mall Sanur 550 Meters
- Watujimbar Resort Sanur to Artasendana Supermarket 400 Meters
- Resort Watujimbar to Sanur Night Market 950 Meters
- Watujimbar Sanur Resort to Guardian Pharmacy 140 Meters
What were our overall thoughts?
Look, for the price we paid, $85 Australian a night, it provides good value. Really good location in the middle of Sanur.
There were a few little problems with the room, but nothing major, other than the air conditioning. The pools are fantastic, the staff were awesome and the breakfast was pretty good. Alcohol prices were a little bit pricey, so you can go out on the street to the Indomart or the Pepito a few doors down and certainly get it cheaper.
I think Watujimbar is definitely worth a stay if you can get the room for under $100 Australian a night. This Sanur Hotel has a lot of upsides and just a few downsides.
More from the things to do in Sanur team:
- Sanur to Nusa Lembongan with Rocky Fast Boats
- Should you stay in Sanur or Kuta
- Walk in breakfasts in Sanur Bali
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Things to do in Sanur
Things to do in Sanur and its content is created by two Australians Mark & Bec who have been to Sanur many times. We have enjoyed food and drink on the beach, we have sipped coffee on Jalan Danau Tamblingan. We have stayed in homestays and hotels in Sanur and made day trips to see the best of Bali. Not only that, but we aim to keep the information fresh by continuing to visit Sanur and getting first-hand information off our Balinese friends.