I was also in Naran last week and had a lot of fun, though I was also with my family. We stayed at Pine Park which is on Lake Road, the rent was Rs 5500 per night, which we negotiated to Rs4500.
As for your Balakot bypass question it is fairly simple, as soon as you enter Mansehra you will reach a "Y" junction, the one going left is KKH towards Shinkiari, you need to take right going towards Naran/Balakot.