By the time we made it to Uluwatu, we were craving a beach experience. Along the Bukit Peninsula there are a myriad of beaches to explore. The town has a definite beach/surfer vibe. Westerners are zipping around with surfboards attached to the side of weathered scooters.
It took a couple of days for us to find our feet. We found that many of the beaches were not really relaxing for swimming. Many have rocks which means the tide — and hence time of day — matters a lot.
Melasti Beach
Swimming was possible here though there were some rocky parts. Down one end of the beach there was a lot of seaweed. Locals frequent here and have set up a bar pumping music, probably to try to rival Karma Beach next door.
Thomas Beach
Quite a nice beach, near Padang beach but a much smaller crowd. There are warungs and shacks serving drinks + renting chairs. At high tide, the water gushes right up to the chairs (it almost washed my flip flops away!). As the tide gets lower, some rocks appear.
Dreamland Beach
This was our personal favourite. White sand, check. Sunbeds, check. Local warung, check. Swimming… some care required (as not to get dunked by a wave). And a great sunset too.
One tip for Dreamland beach: Google Maps will direct you there via the road on the north side of a river. From Padang, the journey takes about 20-30 mins. However, it’s much faster to take the small road down past El Kabron (the road is called Jl. Pantai Cemongkak). It’ll save you doing a big loop around into the resort area and you also won’t have to pay for parking.
Nyang Nyang
A lot of what we’d read online said that some of the beaches were empty with nowhere to buy food or drink. We found this to be incorrect. All beaches had at least some stalls with sun beds. I think this shows how year on year these beaches are still being developed!
One exception was: Nyang Nyang. There were no sun beds or stalls here (although there was a hut with sun beds packed away under a tarp, so they must come out sometimes).
Nyang Nyang is virtually empty. Probably because most people read online that it’s a long hike down. It’s partially true, but that depends which side of the beach you choose: there are two sides. We went down on the west side and it only took 20 mins.
On the beach I met Nyoman, a friendly local who sold me a cold drink from an ice bucket and a bracelet that he made with a small tool to poke holes in shells that he collects.
Nyoman taught me to count in Indonesian (something that has been very useful in impressing locals since!). And he insisted we could come back and sleep on the beach in his shack if we wanted to!
Bingin Beach
Another one good for the sunset. There are also many places to sit and chill here. We only made it here for low tide though, where it’s a bit more difficult to swim. We did see a wedding there though!
Rock Bar
Our goodbye experience was to check out the infamous Rock Bar, an exclusive bar and restaurant made on the cliff that is perfect for watching the sunset. While it seems a bit cheesy, it’s worth going. The staff are among the most friendly people we’ve met on the whole time.
I think we made friends with our waiter, because in the end he gave me a rose to give to Katina! At first I thought: “this is gonna be great” but then I realised it wasn’t my idea. Wait so… the rose was actually from… him?
With some beaches under our belt, we kept moving. Next stop: Nusa Penida.