Its not often that Debbie gets a location/hotel choice wrong, but the White Palm Hotel didn’t live up to our expectations – or maybe we didn’t live up to theirs! To be fair, we were only staying there for one night in order to be closer to the airport as we were flying home the next day and on that basis it was much better than a Premier Inn at Heathrow Airport.

White Palm advertise themselves as “the perfect Balinese getaway … the top-rated Eco-Boutique Hotel and Resort in Uluwatu Bali…the ultimate eco-friendly and exclusive escape“. Their web site is beautiful, and one thing that jumped out at us was that they offered the option to enjoy a bespoke dinner with a menu personalised by their talented Spanish Chef Asier Arroyo “...ensuring a unique dining experience that you won’t soon forget.” We thought this would be a fabulous way to end our honeymoon

Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived but we were happy to relax by the pool until it was. When we did get into the room the bed and towel art was even more spectacular than usual although we were amused that we had “Mrs & Mrs” pillows – so needed to strategically position a cushion to get “Mr & Mrs”.

We enjoyed a his and hers massage, then a flower bath in our room before dinner.

Unfortunately when we arrived we discovered that Chef Arroyo was away at a conference so wouldn’t be cooking for us. Our personalised banquet was just a selection of dishes from the normal menu, most of which came at the same time and we wouldn’t normally consider a bread roll to be a course in its own right. Still, at least we got a table outside by the pool and some candles!

Our transfer to the airport the next day wasn’t until late afternoon so we had all day to explore Balangan Beach and have a Bintang beer watching the surfers. Then it was time to head back to the hotel and await the car to the airport.