To visit Ijen, we had to stay a night at Banyuwangi. After a 7 hours cramped up drive in the car, I am totally glad we booked our stay at one of the best hotel in Banyuwangi.
We arrived quite late in the evening greeted by the grandeur entrance. The lobby was huge and with very traditional Indonesian flavour in their colours and floor tile selections. The check in counters are separated into small booths catered for each guest’s privacy.
There is a bar lounge where guests can have their welcome drink after completing their room check in. There are also many sofa and arm chair for guests to sit while waiting.
From the lobby you will walk by a long corridor to see the huge swimming pool which is right in the middle of the buildings housing the guest rooms. The deck chairs are set in a very inviting manner for guest to just rest by the pool.
The corridor is brightly lit and has about 20 rooms to each level.
The rooms are very spacious with 2 super single twin beds. The bed and pillows are quite firm with a good support. There is more than sufficient space for our luggage with a huge wardrobe.
We were greeted by this cute little towel animal. I think its a squid!
The bathroom is spacious, clean and well lit with a standing shower area behind the door. The shower heater is good with hot water and basic bathroom amenities and drinking water are provided.
We had dinner in the hotel at the only restaurant where breakfast is served as well.
The restaurant is a considerable size and has both indoor and outdoor seating. The breakfast spread includes some international selection like sausage, eggs and toast as well as local delights like fried rice, fried noodles and also chinese dishes like plain congee.
Back to dinner, we had the soto ayam which was not bland but yet lacking in taste. You can’t really taste the chicken in the soup except for heavy spices.
My friends had the fried rice with satay and fried chicken which was quite fragrant and delicious. The only thing was that the rice was slightly dry.
I had the herbal chicken fried rice but it simply taste like fried rice. There was nothing herbal about this dish.
One of my friend had the beef soup which accordingly to her was generally ok but not very flavourful.
We also tried out the spa which was very affordable. However, there was only 3 masseurs at any point of time so we could not all do it at the same time. I tried the feet massage which was ok.The complain I have is that they only had beds at the spa so even feet massages were done lying down which was not as comfortable I would prefer to be.
Overall, El Royale is a great resort to relax and chill with affordable room rates.
Rooms start from: SGD 62
Address: Jl. Raya Jember KM 7, Pakistaji, Banyuwangi, Dusun Krajan, Dadapan, Kabat, Kabupaten Banyuwangi, Jawa Timur 68461, Indonesia
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