Bali offers mind-boggling array of accommodation from huge resorts to family-run homestays, and everything in between

Bali offers a mind-boggling array of accommodation. Apart from massive resorts with several hundred rooms, there are also small family-run homestays, which accommodate guests within the confines of traditional Balinese courtyard homes. And everything in between.

The advantage of the larger resorts is that they can offer more in the way of facilities and activities. At smaller properties, such activities might only be offered once or twice a week.

Smaller properties might lack the wide selection of facilities and activities, but they can offer a more personal touch. Take One Eleven, which is located on a quiet side street in trendy Seminyak. It has only nine 350-square-metre villas, so staff will quickly learn your name. You get a welcome massage in a 35-square-metre spa gazebo within your own enclosed compound upon arrival. You have your own swimming pool, which is large enough to do laps in. Your breakfast is even cooked for you in the kitchen of your villa each morning.

At the other end of the spectrum are homestays or guest houses - they go by various names. Many Balinese families live in an enclosed complex of gardens, living quarters, a temple and shrines. The architecture and landscaping can be truly breathtaking. To earn extra cash, an increasing number of families throughout Bali are opening up their homes to paying guests. Often there are only one or two rooms, sometimes this may extend to as many as 15 or 20.

Rooms are usually tastefully furnished with quality linens and beautiful wall-hangings and other artefacts. They often have intricately carved doors and window frames. Staying in a Balinese guest house not only affords a chance to get up close and personal with the locals, it also represents extraordinary value: rooms can be rented for less than US$15 a night in the off season.

There is one drawback: they don't usually have air-conditioning.