Novotel Bali Benoa

Balinese style meets the practical shape of a proper resort at Novotel Bali Benoa, where the beach is not a shuttle ride away but part of the address. The setting works for couples who want a comfortable base between dives, and for families who need pools, food and somewhere to keep younger travellers occupied without turning every hour into a logistics exercise.

Three swimming pools, three restaurants, three bars, a spa and a fitness centre give you plenty of ways to fill the gaps in the day. The design keeps one foot in Bali, with tropical gardens and dark wood fittings rather than a generic box with a lobby. It is a sizeable property, with 187 rooms, beach cabanas and private pool villas, so you are choosing a full resort rather than a small hideaway where everyone knows when you have come back from the boat.

The useful point for a diver is the simple one: you can come back salty, hungry and slightly over-optimistic about your remaining energy, then stay on site for food, a drink or a massage. No heroic evening plans required.

The hotel sits directly on Tanjung Benoa Beach in Nusa Dua, at 70 Jalan Pratama. This is the Tanjung Benoa side of Bali, a coastal area known for water sports, with the shoreline and beach activities immediately around you.

You are close enough to step out for a change of scenery without turning it into an expedition. Sea Doo Bali is around 250 metres away, while several restaurants, including Cocos Beach Restaurant & Bar, Lunar Waroeng and Restoran Kasunaya, are roughly 50 metres from the hotel. The nearby Watermark Dive & Watersport is about 600 metres away, or roughly 0.4 miles.

Nusa Dua's Pasifika Museum is around 2.5 miles away, and Tanjung Tengkulung is about 1.1 miles away. Kuta is around 25 minutes by car. Ngurah Rai International Airport is about 7 miles away by road, with the hotel placing the airport journey at roughly 20 minutes.

Room choice here is less about collecting categories and more about deciding how much of the resort you want to bring into your evening. Couples can keep things straightforward with a king room, choose twin beds if that suits the trip better, or step up to a Beach Cabana when the idea of being close to the shore matters more than having the largest interior. Several rooms have a private balcony or tropical garden views, which gives you somewhere to sit without having to decamp to the lobby every time you want air and a chair.

Pool-access rooms in the Garden Wing make sense if a swim is part of your recovery routine. For a couple who wants more separation between sleeping, sitting and floating, the one-bedroom villa with private pool is the obvious choice. The two-bedroom beachfront villa goes further again, with a private pool and room for a larger family party. Family rooms and family suites are also available, with bunk-bed arrangements in the family room and two bathrooms in the family suite.

Dark wood furnishings, air conditioning, satellite television, a safe and a seating area cover the practical side of the night. The air conditioning matters when the day has involved warm water, wet kit and too much sun; the seating area matters when you have reached the point where putting on proper clothes feels like an unnecessary technical dive. Daily housekeeping and room service add a little more convenience when the sensible plan is an early night.

Breakfast is a buffet at Uluwatu Restaurant, served in the open air. Dinner can return you there for themed buffet evenings, where cultural performances provide the entertainment rather than a television mounted over the bar. It is the sort of arrangement that lets you eat without making the evening complicated, which has its merits when the alarm is set for another dive.

Cocos Restaurant sits on the beach and serves international dishes for lunch and dinner. You can take the casual route with a bite by the shore or make it a more deliberate dinner while keeping the sea in view. Across the road, Crocokiss Restaurant brings Balinese and Indonesian food into a tropical garden setting, with its pool surroundings giving that side of the property a different feel from the beachfront restaurant.

There are three bars, each with its own job. Cocos Bar is the beach bar for cocktails, mocktails and soft drinks; Crocokiss Bar is beside the pool, with cocktails, juices and snacks; Nanas Bar occupies the lobby and covers beers, mocktails and cocktails. Twenty-four-hour room service and a snack bar mean you can still find something to eat when your timetable has been dictated by tides, boats and the universal post-dive hunger.

Three pools and two whirlpools give you a choice between doing a few lengths, sitting in warm water or simply finding a lounger and refusing to move for a while. Sun loungers, beach chairs, umbrellas, pool and beach towels, a sun terrace, a garden and outdoor furniture make the transition from active diver to horizontal human fairly painless.

In Balance Spa by Novotel offers massages using traditional Balinese techniques alongside modern methods, with private treatment rooms and a relaxation area. The fitness centre is available when you want to stretch the legs rather than spend the whole day proving that fins count as exercise. Yoga classes and aerobics are also available.

For a day away from the water, you can hire bicycles, join cycling or bike tours, take part in a cooking class or book a tour or class about local culture. Canoeing, table tennis and on-site water sports add more active options, while live music, evening entertainment and cultural performances during themed dinners give you something to do after sunset. Families have a kids' club, a kids' corner, an indoor play area and board games, with babysitting and child services available.

Ngurah Rai International Airport is around 7 miles away by road, and an airport transfer service is available through the hotel. You can arrange it as part of your arrival plans rather than negotiating the first leg of the trip after landing. Free private parking is available on site, and car hire can be arranged for exploring beyond Tanjung Benoa.

Check-in starts at 14:00 and check-out runs until 12:00. You need photo identification and the card used for the booking at check-in, and the hotel asks you to share your expected arrival time. A 24-hour reception, express check-in and check-out, luggage storage, concierge assistance, a tour desk and currency exchange cover the small practical jobs that otherwise have a habit of eating into a holiday.

Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel. The property welcomes children of all ages, with cots and extra beds available according to the room selected, and guests under 18 must check in with a parent or official guardian. The resort also has two meeting rooms, which is useful if the trip combines diving with a work commitment rather than a complete escape from civilisation.