The Bungalows Hotel is a very cute quaint hotel situated about 1/4 mile or 10-15 minute walk to the…read moredowntown area that has a bunch of souvenir stores, restaurants, and large hotels along the water. The hostess, Ally, greeted us in the office with a hug and a refreshing juice, "welcome home." There are parking spaces just outside the hotel. The hotel is on a circular street with an island in the center. The door to the hotel is locked at night. You need a code to enter. Otherwise, the door is unlocked during the day.
We had an apartment on the 2nd level with a set of stairs leading up to the gated door and a balcony. The decor was lovely and stylish. The balcony had seats at the outdoor bar which was attached to the indoor kitchen with windows separating them. There were cups, utensils, plates, refrigerator, microwave, and sink in the kitchen. The bathroom sink and shower worked fine, however the toilet had a low flush and took forever to fill up. There was an AC unit on the wall in both bedrooms, but we couldn't get them to work. Not sure if we just didn't know how to turn it on or if they weren't working.
One of the bedrooms was just off the balcony. The other bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom was separate off the balcony. If you have young children, I would not recommend this upper apartment because of the one bedroom being a bit separated from the other area. The common area is only the balcony (as opposed to a living room or family room). Also, since there's a balcony, you need to be careful of young children climbing the low wall.
I would have preferred the apartment that had a main shared living room instead of the balcony so that we could have all sat together more easily. (The balcony did have the bar with seats and 2 chairs, but it was just awkward.)
This apartment had a gate for the door. There isn't a wood or metal door. The gate requires a key to operate from both the inside and outside of the door. To lock the door at night time while you are inside, you need to use the key. While this provides security by eliminating easy entry for intruders, it also means if there's an emergency, you need to have that key ready in order to exit the apartment, so keep it in a place where everyone knows where it is.
We put the "Please make up room" sign out for one of the days but no one came to refresh the room. We had to go ask that someone clean out the trash baskets. We had been there for a few days by then.
In the mornings, you could hear the occasional motorcycles or cars going by, the rooster crowing, and a couple dogs barking and birds chirping. In the evenings, there was a restaurant somewhere near that played music that I enjoyed listening to. While the various noises didn't bother us one bit, I overheard two people talking about how the noise bothered them. I actually liked hearing the birds sing, the rooster crow, the dogs barking faintly in the distance as we were waking up.
Breakfast is AWESOME!! I would stay here again just for the breakfast! They serve the same dish to everyone, but if you want something different, you can request it. Every day the main breakfast item changed. Presentation is lovely. Food is yummy. Fruit smoothies are refreshing. There's also tea and coffee. Nearby, little birds are eating from the beautiful bird feeder. Red Bougainvillea decorate the area. The breakfast here is something we looked forward to every day.
There's a cafe nearby (though I didn't go) and a restaurant next door. The restaurant didn't seem to get much business so we took that as a sign that it wasn't too good, so we didn't go.
The route to walk to downtown is steep and there wasn't always a sidewalk or the sidewalk was broken up. If you have trouble walking, this isn't the hotel for you unless you have vehicle transportation.
There's a convenience store about a block or two away where we bought water, juice, fruit, yogurt, soap, toothpaste, etc. Don't drink the water at the hotel. You should buy bottled water to use for brushing teeth, rinsing your mouth, etc.
A tip about driving: Drivers slow down for a stop sign, but most don't actually stop. On one YouTube video, the YouTuber said he once got a ticket for rolling through the stop sign too slowly. And yep, we learned to just roll through. And we learned to stop or yield only when there's another car at the intersection.
The Bungalows' web site is thorough, so take a look at it to check out the accommodations and breakfast items and photos!
Oh, the roof is something like a thatched roof, made out of dried leaves! Very interesting! Definitely adds to the decor when you look up at the roof when you're about to go to sleep!
