Nusa Dua & Tanjung Benoa & the Bukit (Southern peninsula)
Bali's southern peninsula is where you find today most of the island's international 4- and 5-star Bali Hotels and Resorts - set in Nusa Dua's manicured and not very Balinese garden environment. Nice beach with shallow water, no high waves. All kinds of water sports, 18-hole golf course. Nusa Dua Galleria center with a variety of rather expensive restaurants, shops, and department stores. Some more reasonably priced restaurants are located in adjacent Tanjung Benoa and Bualu village. No night life to speak of. About 12 km/7.5 miles from the airport.
An increasing number of private villas is being built on the Bukit, the hill South of the airport. Many of these offer spectacular views of the sea, Kuta, Denpasar, Sanur and Bali's mountains. The climate is much cooler and much more dry – even if it rains in most parts of Bali you can expect sunny days here.
Jimbaran Beach (West coast, South of the airport)
Probably Bali's best beach with decent hotels and accommodation: nearly white sand, waves not too high for swimming, wind surfing, and sailing (no motorized water sports activities); not too many tourists, and no beach vendors (yet). A few up-market hotels and resorts, and a fast increasing number of unpretentious but good seafood restaurants right on the water front. Highly recommended for watching Bali's famous sunsets. Located just a few miles south of the airport.
Tuban, Kuta (West coast, North of the airport)
An increasingly busy area with many hotels and resorts of all categories right on or near the beach (powerful waves, strong currents). Many restaurants and shops along the main road. Located between Kuta and Bali's international airport.
Kuta Beach & Legian (West coast, South Bali)
Crowded beach (many vendors, masseuses, beach boys, etc, high waves, strong currents) lined by numerous hotels and resorts, mostly in the 2- to 4-star categories. In early 2000 the beach road from the Hard Rock Resort to the Bali Intan Hotel has been extended to the "DOUBLE SIX" disco, and many hotels such as the Legian Beach, Bali Mandira, Bali Padma, Jayakarta Hotel and others have lost their direct beach access and a large part of their garden.
Kuta and Legian (grown into one township during the past decade and spreading further north every month) are the centers of Bali's night life with a great number of restaurants, pubs, open bars, discos, and all kinds of super markets, department stores, and shops selling casual wear and beach fashions, antiques, handicrafts and souvenirs. Daily traffic jams and many, sometimes quite insistent hawkers have made this very untypical and rather ugly part of Bali a nightmare for many visitors.
Seminyak to Batubelig and Tanah Lot (West coast, South Bali)
Until recently this used to be a rather rural, mostly residential area, stretching a few miles north from Legian. Good, off-white, sandy beach with powerful waves and some strong currents, and getting less crowded the further you move to the North. Fast increasing number of hotels and villas, good but reasonably priced restaurants and Bali's most interesting pubs and discos as well as shops selling casual wear, furniture, antiques, decorative items and handicrafts.
Recommended for visitors who wish to be somewhat away from the tourist crowds but appreciate easy access to the restaurants and shops of Seminyak, Legian, and Kuta. Access to other parts of the island is equally good as you don't have to pass through crowded Kuta. Between Seminyak and Batubelig, and in the beautiful, still rural area stretching further North to Canggu and up to Tanah Lot you'll also find some of Bali's most attractive vacation villas.
Sanur Beach (East coast, South Bali)
This is where you'd find 25 years ago all of Bali's international standard hotels although the beach was never outstanding. Today the beach has further deteriorated, and Sanur has become rather quiet compared to Kuta and Nusa Dua but is still popular with old-time visitors and some foreign residents.
Ubud and Surroundings, Central Bali
The town of Ubud is to Bali what Jogyakarta is to Java - culturally speaking. Ubud is where most accomplished painters, dancers, musicians, carvers and weavers live and work, and there are a number of very good museums and art galleries. Because of its location at the base of the mountains (about 19 miles or 30 kilometers north of Denpasar) temperatures are slightly lower than in the lowlands, and year-round rain showers help to grow lush tropical vegetation.
The town itself has developed rapidly during the past decade, and today the main roads are lined with art shops, handicraft and souvenir shops, as well as many restaurants and cafes. Until late afternoon tourist groups and other day-visitors are roaming shops and eateries. After sunset, Ubud becomes more quiet.
Accommodation ranges from very cheap, very basic *losmens*, quite expensive but equally basic "losmens", to some of Bali's best-known and most expensive boutique hotels and beautiful private villas. Most of these are located in Sayan a few miles away overlooking the picturesque Ayung river valley.
Candidasa & Lovina, East & North Bali
These two tourist centers in the East and North of Bali have become popular meeting places for all those visitors wanting to get away from the tourists. Both offer a number of often quite simple but adequate hotels and restaurants. Beaches around Candi Dasa, however, have kind of disappeared during the last decade after most coral reefs in the area were destroyed, and many visitors do not like the black sand covering most beaches in the North of Bali.
The place of accommodation in Bali
Amankila
Manggis, Bali, Indonesia
Tel: 62-361-41333 Fax: 62-361-41555
Amankila (peaceful hill) is a cliffside beach resort overlooking the lombok strait in east bali. the resort is close to manggis, candi dasa, tenganan and other villages in karangasem, bali most traditional regency. the suites are elevated to take advantage of the spectacular views to the sea and surrounding hillsides.
Bulgari Hotels & Resorts Bali
Jl. Goa Lempeh
Banjar Dinas Kangin,
Uluwatu - Bali
PH: 62-361-847 1000 Fax: 62-361-847 1111
Four Seasons Resort Bali
At Jimbaran Bay Jimbaran, Denpasar,
Bali, Indonesia 80361
Tel. 62-361-701010 Fax. 62-361-701020
One of the finest, and most expensive, hotels in bali, and consistently voted as one of the top ten hotels in the world. each villa here is built inside its own little traditional balinese compound, comprising a series of the thatched pavilions a living area, a sleeping area and a garden bathroom. the resort is situated end of jimbaran bay and facilities include infinity-edge swimming pools, a spa and tennis courts. an elegant balinese villa awaits you luxuriate with a choice of traditional royal balinese spa treatments in the seclusion of your own private perfumed garden. jimbaran's unique villas designs include expansive sleeping and bathing rooms with an external living and dining pavilion perfect for dining beneath the stars.
Grand Hyatt Bali
P.O. Box 53, Nusa Dua,
Bali, Indonesia
Phone: 62-361-77 1234 Fax: 62-361-772617
Terraced rooms and cottages grouped into villages surrounded by sumptuous grounds filled with ponds, fountains and tropical flowers. has an amazing series of tree-from swimming pools complete with water chutes, bridges and sunken bars, plus tennis and squash courts, and kids club. free shuttle bus to the sister operation, the bali hyatt, in sanur. like the fabled balinese water palaces of old, grand hyatt bali is a cluster of 4 villages set amidst an inter-linking system of cascading waterfalls, landscaped gardens and lagoons that meander through 40 acres of lush tropical gardens in nusa dua.
Grand Mirage Resort
Jl. Pratama 74 Tanjung Benoa
PO. Box 43 Nusa Dua 80363, Bali - Indonesia
Tel : +62-361-771888; Fax : +62-361-772148
Nikko Bali
Jl. Raya Nusa Dua Selatan,
PO Box 18 Nusa Dua 80363, Bali - Indonesia
Tel: 6-361-773377 Fax: 62-361-773388
Occupies a spectacular cliffside position above pantai sawangn, about 3km south of the bali hilton, with one block of rooms built right on the shorefront in what is effectively a private golden-sand bay. other rooms have back doors that open right on to small swimming pools. facilities include a spa, a lagoon swimming pool, and a kids’ club. five restaurants, three bars and an authentic balinese amphitheater are available for your dining and drinking pleasure. there's a wide choice of activities for both adults and children everyday.
Nusa Dua Beach Hotel & Spa
Nusa Dua resort area
Bali, Indonesia
Phone: 62-361-771210 Fax: 62-361-772617
The Garden Villas Meliá Bali
Nusa Dua Beach,
P.O. Box 88 Nusa Dua
Bali Indonesia 80363
Phone: 62-361-771510 Fax: 62-361-771362
The Ritz-carlton Bali Resort & Spa
Jalan Karang Mas Sejahtera
Jimbaran, Bali, 80364, Indonesia
Phone: 62-361-702222 Fax: 62-361-701555
Renowned for its excellent service and a frequent contender for one of asia's top ten hotels, this deluxe outfit enjoys a very impressive location on a cliffside several kilometers south of the jimbaran beachfront. most of the 375 luxuriously furnished rooms are in a central block, with ocean or garden views. there's spa, several swimming pools and tennis courts, plus an 18-hole putting green, but the nearest swimmable beach is a couple of kilometers away. it is four stories, following the basic balinese architectural principles that no building should be higher than coconut palms. the hotel includes 36 one and two-bedroom villas. the majority of the guest rooms have ocean views.
Aston Bali Resort & Spa
Jl. Pratama No. 68X, Tanjung Benoa
Nusa Dua 80363
Tel: 62-361-773577 Fax: 62-361-774954
Keraton Jimbaran Resort
Jimbaran
Bali, Indonesia
Kuta Paradiso Hotel
Jl. Kartika Plaza, PO Box 1133, Tuban,
Kuta, Bali, Indonesia.
Phone: 62-361-761414 Fax: 62-361-756944
Melia Bali Villas & Spa Resort
P.O. Box 88 Nusa Dua
Bali, 80363, Indonesia
Phone: 62-361-771510 Fax: 62-361-771360
Hotel Santika Beach Bali
Jl. Kartika PO BOX 1008 Tuban Kuta
Bali - Indonesia
Phone: 62-361-751 267 Fax: 62-361-751 260
Parigata Resort & Spa - Sanur, Bali
Batu Jimbar, Sanur
Bali, Indonesia
Puri Santrian
Jl. Danau Tamblingan 63, Sanur 80228
PO Box 3055 Denpasar Bali - Indonesia
Tel: 62-361-288009 Fax: 62-361-287101
Resor Seminyak
Jalan Lasmana, Seminyak Beach, Bali
P.O. Box 1085 Tuban Bali 80361, Indonesia
Tel: 62-361-730814 Fax: 62-361-730815
Risata Bali Resort & Spa
Jl. Jenggala South Kuta,
Tuban - Bali, Indonesia
Segara Village Hotel
Jl. Segara Ayu, Sanur
Po Box 3091 Denpasar 80030 Bali - Indonesia
Tel: 62-361-288407 Fax: 62-361-287242
Photo CC by antwerpenR
