We stayed at the Lotus Residence for 10 nights in Jan 2012 and had a wonderful time. We were a large group of 4 families (8 adults and 10 children aged between 5 months and 9 years). The villa staff kindly accommodated all of us by providing 5 extra beds (mattresses on the floor but were large and comfy and fine for the kids) – for $80 a night per extra bed and a cot (free of charge).

The 4 main bedrooms were huge and had beautiful outdoor bathrooms and the other 2 bedrooms were just large enough to fit 3 single beds. The main beds were huge and incredibly comfortable. The living area was also very spacious and had a couple of separate sitting areas and 2 dining spaces.

However, the highlight of this property is the gardens. The gardens seem to go on forever and there are lots of wonderful places for kids to explore. They are immaculately maintained and include a large main pool, a separate open air “yoga” studio, a rice barn style cubby house and a separate “spa” area with massage tables, sauna, large spa and cold plunge pool. Although it looked lovely, no-one spent much time in the spa as the water wasn’t warm enough.

The staff at the villa were fantastic. We had delicious meals, some of which were prepared (for 17 people) with only a couple of hours notice. The chef was very accommodating and happy to feed the children first (and most of the time with separate dishes to tempt fussy eaters). The staff were all very helpful with the kids – they even set up a slip n slide for them to play on which was a great hit.

The car and driver (Whisky) provided by the villa were very good and available at about 1/2 an hour’s notice. The car seats 7 people but the villa manager could order extra cars and drivers for us (if we asked him the night before) for $50 a day – if you do this make sure you request English speaking drivers though. You could easily stay in the villa and not leave at all (they can provide all food, drinks, massages, yoga classes etc) but if you want to explore (which we did), you need to be aware that the villa is quite remote and the traffic in Bali is appalling. It took us anywhere between 45 mins and 1.5 hours to drive from the villa to Seminyak. However, once we returned to the villa we all appreciated being back in the quiet surrounds which seemed like walking into an oasis after the craziness of Seminyak / Legian / Kuta.

Overall, a great holiday and thank you to all the staff at Lotus Residence. I would definitely recommend this villa to large groups with children who are happy to spend most of their time relaxing at the villa.