Chilling at The Chillhouse in Canggu, Bali!
My 10 days in Bali were without a doubt one of the best trips I have ever been on. We surfed, explored temples, wandered through markets, watched the rice paddies grow, practiced yoga, ate fresh and healthy foods, rode bikes around the Gili islands, snorkeled with fish and SO much more.
Our trip started in the best way imaginable: by chilling at The Chillhouse in Canggu.
WOW.
You guys, THIS PLACE IS AMAZING.
100% the coolest place I have EVER stayed.
I had read and seen so much about The Chillhouse that when we finally booked our trip I knew we HAD to set aside a few nights to stay here.
It was everything and more that I hoped it would be!
The Chillhouse is so much more than a hotel… its a full on lifestyle retreat with a focus on yoga, biking, surfing and healthy, organic foods. Sounds amazing, right? When I heard about this place I was like SIGN ME UP. As if that wasn’t enough, it’s in a lush tropical setting and the rooms are THE CUTEST.
Photo courtesy of The Chillhouse
There are a couple of different choices for rooms: the 3-story Gerry Lopez Treetop Loft, five luxurious double bungalows with private gardens, one family bungalow with a kids room, single and double rooms, and two 3 bedroom villas with pools. There are also two spacious pools, relaxed hangouts, a pool bar, and unlimited wi-fi in the co-workspace and dining area.
We stayed in the ‘Mimpi’ room which was a double bungalow close to the pool and dining area. The room itself had a gigantic canopy bed, air conditioning and all sorts of cool little decorations that made it so homey.
Outdoor bathrooms are something you definitely have to experience in Bali and the bathroom attached to our suite was no exception. The shower was built around a tree and that sink! I’ll let the photos do the talking…
Photo courtesy of The Chillhouse
Our room even had it’s own private sun deck with a cool swingy egg chair, a little table and chairs you could do some work at and a super comfy outdoor couch.
The little details around the property and in the communal spaces gave it so much cool character and I couldn’t stop taking photos.
The upstairs workspaces and meditation room were so comfy as well. I know a lot of bloggers stay at The Chillhouse for extended periods of time to catch up on their work and I can totally see why…
OK and here comes my favorite part about The Chillhouse… THE FOOD.
The Chillhouse is full board meaning breakfast AND dinner are included and OMG is it delicious. Literally, I’d come back to The Chillhouse just for the ridiculously amazing food they had there. And since we were only there for a short period, I went all in on the food… for the sake of blogging, of course!
We woke up early on our first morning eager to soak in as much of this place as we could in our short time here. Obviously, we headed straight for the dining area. Fluffy made to order banana pancakes drizzled with honey, with coffee and fresh fruit. We had it all. The chilled out Bob Marley and reggae tunes playing all day long make you start really feeling those vacation vibes.
I am still having dreams about how good these pancakes were. If anyone from The Chillhouse is reading this or if anyone has a good Bali-style banana pancakes recipe please send it to me! I’m having withdrawals from these delicious things!!
After breakfast, we booked in for a Hatha style yoga class.
Naturally, the yoga caused us to build up more of an appetite so we headed back for breakfast round 2… fresh fruity green smoothie bowls by the pool followed by some home-made baked sweet potato fries.
In the spirit of packing it all in we went for a swim before embarking on our private surf lesson. The Chillhouse organizes everything for you and what really appealed to me about taking a surf lesson with them is that they keep it strictly a 2 to 1 surfer to instructor ratio. Lewis and I have done one surfing lesson before, in the Gold Coast, and were with a much bigger group. While I had fun that day I didn’t feel like I had gotten a good grasp on actually learning how to surf so I was looking forward to a more private instruction while in Bali.
Our surf instructor picked us up at The Chillhouse and we rode (via motorbike!!) to nearby Echo Beach. He hooked us up with some boards and we were off. We stayed on the sand for a little as he explained to us how the waves break and what angles we should paddle out at before we hit the surf. It was great! I stood up 3 times and had nice long rides back to shore. I wasn’t able to stand up on the surf lesson I had in Gold Coast so I was super excited about this!! I didn’t take my GoPro with me into the waves (I figured I had enough to concentrate on out there) but take my word for it, it was awesome!
After surfing we treated ourselves to in-house Balinese massages. Massages are IDR $170,000 (about AUD $17) for an hour long session. I’m so glad we had them booked for after the surfing, my arms were noodles! But the massage felt extra good after an afternoon in the waves. What a day!!
Another one of my favorite parts of The Chillhouse was how it feels like a little community. Like I said, a stay at The Chillhouse includes breakfast and dinner. For the breakfasts, everyone kind of eats at separate times, but for the dinner, the hosts set up the big long tables and everyone dines together at the same time. Our dinner was buffet style fish tacos with all fresh ingredients: chopped tomato salsa, mango salsa, fresh tortillas, rice, tuna… the list goes on. It felt like being at a cool traveling themed dinner party. Everyone got to talking about all the interesting things they had gotten up to that day and where they were planning on going next. We had a German girl, a couple from Singapore, a Scot, an Australian all at our table. I loved it.
The social yet chilled atmosphere at the Chillhouse was my idea of perfection. I don’t think you’ll find raging parties there anytime soon but the guests here love to sit around the table listening to music, sipping Bintang and talking about travel. I think The Chillhouse would be an exceptionally good spot for a solo traveler because of the friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Love it.
Seriously though, WHAT A DAY we had at The Chillhouse. We fell into bed that night thinking we’d already done enough activities for an entire vacation and yet it was only just the first day! Such a good start. We woke up early the next morning ready and refreshed for our next stop on our Bali tour: the Gili Islands.
If it wasn’t already obvious: I LOVED LOVED LOVED The Chillhouse and will definitely be staying here again. Feel free to leave me a comment if you have any questions about staying at The Chillhouse 🙂
Thank you to The Chillhouse for an unforgettable stay! As always, my opinions are my own!
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