INDONESIA | SereS Springs Resort & Spa in Ubud, a Balinese Staycation
Wednesday, January 09, 2019
The pool opened up from our room, sky blue and gurgling, with stone frog sculptures pouring water onto its placid surface. Dropping two stories below, the infinity pool overlooks handsome Balinese villas, and further away, a terraced landscape of verdant rice paddies being lorded over by Mount Agung—one of Bali’s prominent volcanoes. Everything was just saying, hello there, welcome back to Bali.
 |
| TRAVELING TO BALI WITH OUR MOMS |
It was our third time in Bali. The first one was several years back, on our first ever two-month backpacking trip, the epic ASEAN Summer Loop. We went back the second time as part of Indonesia’s Trip of Wonders, albeit very briefly. Now, we’re here for a much longer time—as if our first trip which lasted eight days wasn’t long enough—we’re staying for eleven days, and we’ve even got our moms in tow!
 |
| SERES SPRINGS RESORT, OUR HOME FOR THREE DAYS IN UBUD |
 |
| VERY BALINESE LOBBY |
From the airport, we were fetched by Putu from Bali Golden Tour, our go to guys when it comes to tours on the island. We went straight to Ubud, Bali’s so-called cultural heart. But we weren’t gonna hit the ground running, we planned to take everything slow. In fact, we’re gonna do nothing but stay and relax on our chosen hotel for our first three days here. And SereS Springs Resort was just the perfect place for our Balinese staycation.
 |
| THE VIEW FROM OUR ROOM, BALI’S RICE TERRACES AND MOUNT AGUNG |
SereS Springs Resort & Spa, a five-star accommodation, is nestled in Singakerta—a quieter part of Ubud—away from the busy happenings of its main arteries. Going to the busy part of town isn’t a problem though since the resort offers free transfers twice daily to their sister resort, Sens Hotel Ubud, which is located downtown.
 |
| SERES RESORT’S PREMIUM ROOM |
SereS Resort is a fairly new resort in Bali, having opened only in October of 2017. The name derives from the Latin word silk and also denotes Xinjiang, an area located on the northwestern part of China where silk is produced. Billeted at the resort’s Premium Rooms—one for our moms and another for us—we’re staying here for a total of three days.
 |
| OUR BALCONY HAS A TUB |
Our room is located on the second floor, with a balcony overlooking the pool below. The view, which you can enjoy while soaking up on their outdoor ofuro soaking tubs, extends towards a terraced rice fields similar to the Banaue Rice Terraces, in the Philippines, albeit on a lesser scale. The décor is modern with touches of Balinese art here and there.
 |
| COMFORTABLE WORKSTATION |
The bed, beautifully framed by glass etching along the headboard, is super comfortable. Off its foot is a divan, which we decided to move on the left side of the bed since we found it to be a bit of a hindrance when moving about. A loveseat sits on one corner of the room and opposite it is a workstation.
 |
| BALI ROBUSTA COFFEE |
The usual flatscreen cable television, mini-fridge, electronic safe, and tea and coffee-making facility is present. What’s different about it though is the coffee that they supply to guests, it’s not just any other coffee, but local Bali robusta. I like local touches like that.
 |
| BALINESE INTERIORS |
Another thing I like is the number of well-designed closets and drawers in the room. It just makes everything much tidier. I don’t like bags and clothes strewn about all over the room, I’m OC like that.
 |
| VERY COMFORTABLE BED |
The toilet and bath is set near the entrance with walls made of glass. These types of baths are made for couples, but if you’re not sharing a room with your paramour, it has a curtain you can draw for privacy.
 |
| CAFE DAR SINI AND LOUNGE |
Since we decided to coop up at SereS Resort for the duration of our stay, we were able to try most of the dishes on their menu. The resort has two dining halls, Mulberry Place, which is the main one, and Cafe Dar Sini & Lounge, which is more for drinks. We exclusively ate on the former.
 |
| MULBERRY PLACE IN-HOUSE RESTAURANT |
The restaurant offers both Indonesian and Western cuisine. While we dined mostly on local food for our first few meals—sate platters, nasi goreng mawut (fried rice with chicken, satay, and shrimp), mie goreng campur (mixed fried noodles with chicken and shrimp), soto ayam (chicken noodles soup), we eventually tried their salads, pizzas and burgers later on.
 |
| COMPLIMENTARY BUFFET BREAKFAST |
 |
| NASI GORENG MAWUT |
 |
| HAWAIIAN PIZZA |
 |
| MIE GORENG CAMPUR |
My favorite is, of course, their mie goreng, even though it’s not as spicy as the Malaysian version of this dish. The fact that it comes with a serving huge shrimps and kropuk is a bonus. We weren’t that impressed with their burger but their pizza is quite good.
 |
| THE SPRING POOL BESIDE WOS RIVER |
 |
| WELL-EQUIPED GYM |
Don’t think of us as sloths, we didn’t really just laze around during our whole stay in SereS. When we’re not swimming on the two infinity pools or eating, we’re exploring the property. The resort sits right beside the Wos River, and right by its edges, about six meters above the water is a sacred natural pool. It’s just one of the twenty three pools in the properties—though most of which are on the private villas. Besides these, SereS also has a gym, kids playroom, yoga halls, and conference rooms.
 |
| EARLY EVENING AT SERES |
Indeed, our stay in SereS Spring Resort was three full days of nothing but relaxation. Now it’s time to actually work our muscles, move, and explore Bali!
~ OUR GRATITUE TO SERES SPRINGS RESORT FOR HOSTING OUR STAY IN UBUD. VIEWS AND OPINIONS ALL MINE.
SereS Springs Resort & Spa ►RATES
Address: No.9 Jalan Taman Ganesha, Banjar Jukut Paku, Singakerta, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Contact Number: (+62) 361 301-2222
GPS Coordinates Map: -8.5387887,115.2509613
0 comments