It has been some time since we stay at Echo Beach, Canggu. Probably more than 5 years. Back then, we stayed at a hotel around 10 mins walking from the beach. After 5 years and so many development, we picked Eastin Astha Canggu. Located between our previous hotel and the beach, so shorter walk to catch the ocean sunset.
The area around the hotel is very much well developed. Five years ago, the hotel and nearby area was an open area filled by vegetation. Now, the establishment is dominated by swimwear, surf apparel and food. There are few shops worth mentioning, which I will cover at the end. For now, lets hop into the hotel.
The Room
One reason why we picked Eastin Astha Canggu, rather than other hotel that is closer to the beach, is the the size of the room. We need bigger room, where we can comfortably spend whole day holed in. I was traveling with some work that need to be done during holiday. And with COVID Pandemic, we don’t really plan to be outside the hotel anyway.
Talking about COVID Pandemic, we were provided hygiene set in our room. The hygiene contains 2 hygiene wipes, 2 mask and one hand sanitizer. Although we are prepared, the hygiene set nevertheless a nice gesture. In fact, there are also sufficient hand sanitizer in front and inside of the lift, in front of the restaurant, and other public area. There are also 2 wash basin to wash hand in front of the hotel.
OK, enough about COVID. Lets go back to our room.
We picked the king size bedroom, with 1 big bed enough for 3 of us. There are oval-shaped sofa next to the bed enough for 2 person. Ethan slept on that sofa on the first night, making the bed even more spacious for us.
Our room also has a balcony, facing the ocean. Some development unfortunately blocked the view to the ocean, except for small view on the left. Still, the balcony provided fresh air and space to get away from the aircon without leaving the room, and enough space to dry up our beach wear.
What is unusual is that, the bathroom sink is placed in front of the bathroom, instead of in it. So, our room come with separate room for the toilet and the shower room. Right in front of it is the bathroom sink.
It was almost a perfect room, except for one thing. The lighting in the room was rather poor. There are 1 standing light that is barely sufficient to light up the room. There are another light on the table for reading, but not really serving any other purpose. The bedside lamp also cant be directed to be useful for any reading before sleeping.
Hotel Amenities
The most impressive part of the hotel’s amenities is the swimming pool. It is a 20 meter long pool, long enough for serious swim. With not so much people, I did few loops almost every day of our stay. The depth of the pool is 1.2 meter, just enough for Ethan to stand on his toe.
Next to the pool is the pool bar. During the pandemic, the pool bar offered 50% discount for all cocktail and Bintang Beer. At 100k++ for 2 cocktail, it was a bargain. I did enjoy few cocktail each time I swam. Life has to be a balance, right?
Next to the pool bar is the Hotel’s restaurant called SALT. It serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as room service. Breakfast, during the COVID pandemic was served ala carte. But don’t worry though, the serving is very much sufficient. There are selection of granolas, koko crunch, corn flakes, fried rice, fried noodle, american breakfast with bacon and choice of eggs, fruits, coffee and tea.
Other facilities that is available, but we didn’t try, were kids club (a room with toys for kids) and gym. About the gym, there are few weight machines, static cycle and treadmill. The few from the gym was pretty boring though.
Around the Hotel
These are the places that we visited and tried around the hotel.
- Cappadocia Turkish Restaurant [CLOSED]. Serve pretty authentic Turkish food like Kebab and Doner. They don’t serve Turkish coffee unfortunately. And the Turkish tea is just a regular local tea.
- Kunti III Sushi and Gallery. Serving only sushi. Stock is quite complete. Favorite is salmon and butterfish.
- Pizza Fabrica. We enjoyed the Italian food like pizza, ravioli, and burrata. If you are looking for Italian food around Canggu, look no further.
- Vinyard. It sell wine, beer and other liquor at reasonable price. Collection is quire complete, with stock from Balinese Wine, Australian Wine and from other part of the world.
- Penny Lane. Probably the most happening place within walking distance. Expect waiting list during lunch and dinner time. Come early to avoid the queue