Beaches in Bali

Kuta is the busiest beach in Bali and the one most first-time visitors head for, a long stretch of pale gold sand with Jalan Pantai Kuta behind it: surf schools, shops, bars and cheap food the whole way. The waves are small and forgiving, which is why most beginner surf lessons on the island happen here. It is loud and crowded, and that is largely the point. How to Reach: About 10 to 15 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, with the calmest surf between May and September.

Seminyak is Kuta's expensive neighbour, the same coastline with beach clubs, villas and Jalan Laksmana, known as Eat Street, behind it instead of surf shacks. The sand is wide and the sunset is the main event, which is when the clubs fill up. Swimming is possible but the shore break and rip can be strong, so take the flags seriously. How to Reach: About 20 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, with late afternoon the best hour of any day.

Double Six is the southern end of Seminyak, named after the club that used to stand on it, and it is the stretch where the beanbag bars line up along the sand for sunset. Loungers and parasols are for hire the length of it, and a stable behind the beach rents horses. The surf is manageable and the crowd is younger than Seminyak proper. How to Reach: About 20 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, from late afternoon onwards.

Legian is the stretch between Kuta and Seminyak, and it is the middle option in every sense: the same wide sand and easy surf as Kuta, with fewer hawkers and a slightly older crowd. Jalan Werkudara and the lanes behind it hold most of the bars and the cheaper hotels. Loungers and umbrellas are for hire along the front. How to Reach: About 20 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, with sunset the busiest hour.

Uluwatu is not one beach but the clifftop stretch at the southwestern tip of the Bukit, where the coast drops away in limestone walls and the surf breaks are the best known in Indonesia. The beaches sit at the foot of stairways cut into the rock: Suluban, Padang Padang, Bingin and Nyang Nyang, each listed separately below. Uluwatu Temple stands on the cliff edge above them. How to Reach: About 30 to 40 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, which is also the main surf season.

Padang Padang, or Pantai Labuan Sait, is a short pocket of white sand reached down a staircase and through a gap in the rock, which is what gives it its enclosed feel. It is small, it fills up quickly, and the reef break offshore is for experienced surfers rather than swimmers. It appeared in the film of Eat, Pray, Love, which is where most of its name recognition comes from. How to Reach: About 30 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, early in the day, since the sand shrinks at high tide.

Bingin is a small strip of sand under the Pecatu cliffs, reached by a long staircase that runs past guesthouses built into the rock. The reef break in front of it is one of the more demanding on the Bukit and draws experienced surfers, but at low tide the beach opens out and rock pools appear, which is when everyone else gets the most out of it. How to Reach: About 30 to 40 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport, then a steep walk down. Best Time to Visit: April to October, around low tide.

Suluban, also called Blue Point, is less a beach than a set of sand pockets and pools between limestone walls, reached through a narrow slot in the rock at the foot of a staircase. At low tide you can walk through the caves; at high tide the sea fills them. The Uluwatu break offshore is for experienced surfers only and swimming is not advised. Bars and beach clubs sit on the cliff above. How to Reach: About 30 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, at low tide.

Balangan is a long strip of gold sand under the Bukit cliffs about 20 km south of Kuta, with a left-hand reef break running down one side. The view from the warungs on the hill above is the one most people photograph. Surf shops and schools work off the sand, and swimming is reasonable at high tide well away from the reef. How to Reach: About 30 to 40 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, with the best surf from May to September.

Dreamland, signposted as New Kuta Beach, is a wide bay on the southern Bukit backed by cliffs and, behind them, a golf resort. The sand is pale and the shore break is powerful, which makes it popular with surfers and awkward for swimmers. Beach bars, loungers and vendors work the length of it. How to Reach: About 30 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport, via Pecatu. Best Time to Visit: April to October, with the largest swell between May and September.

Nyang Nyang is one of the least developed beaches on the Bukit, a 1.5 km stretch of white sand reached by a long flight of steps or a rough track down from the clifftop. The two wrecked boats on the sand, both covered in graffiti, are its landmark. There is nothing at the bottom: no warungs, no shade and no toilets, so carry water. How to Reach: About 30 to 40 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport, then a 15 to 20 minute walk down. Best Time to Visit: April to October, early, before the heat.

Green Bowl is at the bottom of a long staircase down the cliff at Ungasan, and the climb back up is what keeps it quiet. Two limestone caves at the back give the only shade. It works at low tide, when the reef flat opens up for wading and snorkelling; at high tide the water reaches the cliff and the beach disappears. Warungs, parking and toilets are at the top. How to Reach: About 30 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, and only around low tide.

Melasti sits at the bottom of a road cut down through the limestone at Ungasan, on the Bukit's southwest coast, and the descent between the white rock walls is half of why people come. The sand is white, the water is clear, and at low tide shallow pools form in the rock at either end. Beach clubs have opened along the cliff above. How to Reach: About 30 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, at low tide and late in the day, since this coast faces west.

Pandawa was cut off behind limestone cliffs until an access road was carved through them, and the five Pandawa figures set into the rock wall on the way down are where the name comes from. Below is about a kilometre of white sand backed by cliffs, with seaweed farms at one end and beach clubs and loungers at the other. The water is shallow and calm. How to Reach: About 30 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, in the morning before the tour buses.

Jimbaran curves around its bay on the neck of land between south Bali and the Bukit peninsula, and it is known for two things: calm shallow water and the seafood warungs that set tables out on the sand at dusk. The fish market at the northern end supplies most of them. It is one of the few beaches in Bali where swimming is genuinely easy, which makes it a common choice with small children. How to Reach: About 15 to 20 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, arriving late afternoon for the grills.

Nusa Dua is Bali's resort enclave, a gated stretch of manicured lawns, large hotels, spas and an 18-hole golf course, with the Pasifika Museum and a shopping complex inside the same compound. An offshore reef takes the swell out, so the water is shallow and calm, and beach beds and umbrellas run along most of the sand. It suits families and anyone who would rather have the day organised than go looking for it. How to Reach: About 15 to 20 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, though the reef keeps it swimmable most of the year.

Mengiat is the public beach inside Nusa Dua, a short walk from the resort strip and far quieter than Kuta or Seminyak. White sand, an offshore reef taking the swell out and shallow calm water make it one of the easier beaches in Bali for swimming with children. Sunbeds, showers and warungs sit along the back. How to Reach: About 20 to 25 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, though the reef keeps it calm most of the year.

Kelingking is the cliff on Nusa Penida's southwest coast that most photographs of the island show, a headland shaped like a dinosaur's head with a white beach in the bay below. Most visitors stop at the viewpoint: reaching the sand means a steep, exposed scramble down a bamboo-railed path and back up again, and the currents at the bottom make swimming a bad idea. Warungs and parking sit at the top. How to Reach: Ferry from Sanur to Nusa Penida, then about an hour by car or scooter. Best Time to Visit: April to October, as crossings are rougher in the wet season.

Atuh is the bay next to Diamond Beach on Nusa Penida's east coast, with rock stacks standing offshore and an arch through one of them. A long stairway drops from the clifftop, where the warungs, swings and bean bags are, down to the sand. The water is clearer and calmer here than at most Nusa Penida beaches, though currents do come up, so look before going in. How to Reach: Ferry from Sanur to Nusa Penida, then about an hour by car or scooter. Best Time to Visit: April to October, at sunrise.

Diamond Beach sits below a set of limestone stacks on Nusa Penida's eastern tip, and a stairway carved into the cliff now runs down to the sand where there used to be a rope descent. The water is clear but the shore break is heavy and swimming is often unwise. The clifftop holds the much-photographed viewpoint and a few warungs. Atuh Beach is in the next bay along. How to Reach: Ferry from Sanur to Nusa Penida, then about an hour by car or scooter. Best Time to Visit: April to October, early for sunrise over the stacks.

Broken Beach, or Pasih Uug, is a collapsed sea cave on Nusa Penida's west coast: the roof has gone, leaving a round cove with a natural rock arch open to the sea. You look down into it from the path around the rim rather than going in, and manta rays are sometimes visible in the water below. Angel's Billabong is a few minutes' walk away. How to Reach: Ferry from Sanur to Nusa Penida, then about 45 minutes by car or scooter. Best Time to Visit: April to October, mid-morning for light into the cove.

Batu Bolong is Canggu's main beach, dark grey volcanic sand with a temple on the rock outcrop at one end and a forgiving break in front of it. Surf schools and board hire operate along the sand, and the cafes behind it are the centre of Canggu. Beach beds, showers and toilets are all on the beach. How to Reach: About 30 to 40 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, with the easiest surf around mid tide.

Berawa is Canggu's southern beach, black volcanic sand with some of the island's biggest beach clubs set behind it. The break suits improving surfers rather than beginners, and the shore dumps hard, so swimming is not advised. Sunbeds and parasols line the front. It is quieter than Batu Bolong by day and a good deal busier by night. How to Reach: About 30 to 40 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, with the calmest surf early in the morning.

Batubelig is the quieter end of the Kerobokan and Seminyak coast, a grey-sand beach with bars and restaurants along the back but little of the crowding further south. Loungers and umbrellas are for hire and parking is free. A river mouth at one end separates it from Berawa and can be waded at low tide. How to Reach: About 30 to 40 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, late afternoon.

Pererenan is the next beach north from Canggu and still the quietest of that run, black sand with a heavy, fast break that suits confident surfers and rules out swimming. Warungs and small restaurants sit along the back at lower prices than Canggu, and sunset is the busiest hour. Sunbeds, showers and parking are available. How to Reach: About 30 to 40 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, late afternoon.

Sanur runs along the east coast just above Denpasar, and an offshore reef takes the swell out, so the water is flat and shallow where the west-coast beaches are not. A paved path runs several kilometres behind the sand past hotels, warungs and cafes, and this is where the boats for Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan leave from. Sunrise, not sunset, is the view here. How to Reach: About 20 minutes by taxi from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, and early morning for the light and the calmest water.

Blue Lagoon is a small bay just around the headland from Padangbai's harbour, backed by green hills and reached on foot or by a short boat hop. It is a snorkelling beach above all: the reef starts a few metres out, gear is for hire on the sand, and the water is calm enough for children. A handful of warungs sit behind it. How to Reach: About 1.5 hours by car from Ngurah Rai International Airport to Padangbai, then a short walk. Best Time to Visit: April to November, in the morning when visibility is best.

Bias Tugel, often called Secret Beach, is a small cove about ten minutes on foot from Padangbai, over a headland and down a steep dirt path. It is white sand between rock walls, with clear water and reef at one end that is worth snorkelling early in the day. A couple of warungs rent sunbeds. The shore break can be sharp, so it suits waders more than swimmers. How to Reach: About 1.5 hours by car from Ngurah Rai International Airport to Padangbai, then a 10-minute walk. Best Time to Visit: April to November, in the morning.

Pasir Putih lies between Bugbug and Perasi in Karangasem on the east coast, down a rough lane off the main road. The sand is pale rather than truly white, the bay is closed off by headlands and backed by palms, and the warungs along the back rent loungers and grill fish. The water is calm enough to swim, with reef at both ends for snorkelling. It is also signed as White Sand Beach. How to Reach: About 1.5 hours by car from Ngurah Rai International Airport, near Candidasa. Best Time to Visit: April to November, in the morning.

Amed is not a single beach but a run of villages along the northeast coast in Karangasem, with black volcanic sand, coral close in and Mount Agung behind. This is the diving and snorkelling end of Bali: a Japanese wreck sits in shallow water off Banyuning, and jukung outriggers run trips straight off the sand. Far quieter and less built up than the south. How to Reach: About 2 hours by car from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to November for the best visibility, with mornings calmest.

Lovina is the main beach on the north coast, a long stretch of dark grey sand across several villages with calm, reef-sheltered water. The draw is the sunrise dolphin trip, when the outriggers go out from the sand before first light. It is a slower, cheaper and much less crowded side of Bali than the south, and it works better as an overnight than a day trip. How to Reach: About 2 to 3 hours by car from Ngurah Rai International Airport. Best Time to Visit: April to October, and before dawn for the boats.