I’d been wanting to get away with the kids for a couple of days FOREVER and we were planning on going away as a birthday treat – I’d already started scouting out kid-friendly hotels but then I got sick. So I was thrilled when the Grand Aston Bali Beach Resort in Tanjung Benoa, Nusa Dua invited us to come and stay at their newly refurbished resort.

The last time we went away was nearly a year ago when my mum was here and we had a few days in Seminyak. I had high hopes from that trip but I learned a lot about going away with small children – namely, don’t plan to leave the hotel! So this time I scaled back my expectations and I was just looking for a nice hotel by the beach with a pool that we could chill out at for a couple of days.

It’s funny, when I was travelling I nearly always stayed in the cheapest possible accommodation, but when you have kids it changes all your priorities. I’d much rather stay somewhere comfortable now, even if it costs a bit more, as I know we’re probably not going to be leaving the hotel!

Anyway, the Aston lived up to all my expectations and was truly a family-friendly resort. The staff were lovely and obviously very used to kids and Maya and Kiran loved the attention! There is also a brand new kids club right next to the swimming pool which Maya was most excited about – both kids were actually banging on the doors and crying to get in when they closed for the night, haha!

The resort is gorgeous, right on the beach, and I can see why it’s a popular location for weddings. I have to say the star of the show is definitely the swimming pool, which is also great for kids as you can walk right into it – there’s an artificial beach complete with sand which is perfect for toddlers splashing around. I felt perfectly at ease alone with both of them in the pool whereas normally I’ll only take one at a time for fear of Maya diving in the deep end when I look away for a second.

Our room was also lovely and the kids were entertained for a full half hour just by watching themselves dance in the mirror (ah to be 2 again!) My particular highlight of the stay was when Made took Maya out for a walk and Kiran was napping and I got to have a bubble bath in peace in the huge marble corner tub and read my book – heaven!

We loved just being able to wander onto the beach and sit and let the kids run around. Kiran was fascinated with the jet skis and they would have been happy entertaining themselves there for hours. There’s something about sitting by the sea that just lets go of all your stress and lets you really relax – sometimes I really wish we lived closer to the coast so we could go there every day.

Also I have to give a shout-out to the buffet breakfast which was the most amazing hotel breakfast I’ve ever had! There was everything you could possibly ever want to eat from pastries to sushi and everything was fresh and yummy – you could have pancakes and eggs cooked to order any way you liked. unfortunately I didn’t get any photos as Kiran was running a fever and wanted to go back to the room (also maya was being a little beast and refusing to eat anything and flinging yogurt on the floor) but trust me, it was fabulous!

I really didn’t want to leave when it was time to head home and it was definitely the break we needed to feel refreshed and pampered! Thanks Grand Aston Bali Beach Resort for having us 🙂