ABOUT BALI
Bali. The isle of the Gods, as it is called. More like the island of the tourists. Bali is swarmed with post corona tourists who seek an adventure and don’t know where else to go but Bali. However, this shouldn’t stop you from visiting Bali. The island itself is beautiful, and has a lot to offer. From tropical forests to surf spots to amazing food, it’s all here on this Indonesian island. You just have to find the right spots.
TRAVELING THROUGH BALI
Our route through Bali
When travelling through Bali, there are a few things which come in very handy in order to elevate your experience. First thing you need to fix immediately, is a scooter. Why? The taxi drivers will try to scam you with tourist prices right off the airport. The roads are too busy to drive by car, and with a scooter you can go from A to B a lot faster. There are 100’s of local scooter rentals where you can hire a scooter for about 5 euro’s a day. Another solution is Gojek, an app where you can order almost everything. From scooter taxi’s to food to massages to groceries, it's all on Gojek. The downside of Gojek is that they’re in the way of the local businesses, who are just trying to make a living. It’s up to you to decide.
Uluwatu is the most southern part of our route, Canggu lies in between, Nusa Penida is an island right next to Bali and Ubud is the most northern part. If you don’t want to drive hence and forth, we recommend exploring Bali in this order. You can even decide to go deeper into Bali when in Ubud, where there are less tourists.
For us, it felt like every part of Bali has their specialty. Canggu has the best food and parties, Ubud has the best places to explore and Nusa Penida has the best beaches. Uluwatu has a bit of all. That’s why it’s a great spot to be ‘based’ so you are close to sea, close to some good food spots and close to some cool stuff to do.
Our ‘hive’ close to Uluwatu, provided by Hivegeist
The diversity of Uluwatu
Uluwatu is known for its great surf spots, so the beaches of Uluwatu are very popular for people who surf or like to watch the surfers surf. We’re the second type of people (eager to learn though!) and have watched the surfers over and over with some nice sunsets and a cold Bintang. A big recommendation. The best beaches of Uluwatu are:
Nyang Nyang
Padang Padang
Binging Beach
Food
The food in general is very diverse in Bali. You have ‘local’ food which is very cheap in comparison to all the other options that are still growing by large numbers. Since Bali has become so increasingly popular among tourists, so have the bars, restaurants, café’s etcetera. This does offer a lot of choice when it comes down to food or drinks. Here’s a list with some of our favorites.
La Baracca
Sugar Rock
The Place With No Name
Lola’s
Party
If you’re a party animal, Savaya is the most famous place to party. Big artists like Lost Frequencies, Fisher and Kygo have performed at Savaya while we were in Bali. It’s quite decadent actually, so you have to be prepared to spent some €€€€. Other party options are:
Single Fin Bali
El Kabron
Hatch
Kecak Ceremony
Uluwatu offers a lot of activities, but there is one you shouldn’t miss. The Kecak ceremony at the Uluwatu temple is a traditional Balinese dance where spectacle is guaranteed. Yes it’s touristy, but sometimes that’s not so much of a problem.
Kecak Ceremony
Canggu, food lovers paradise. There are way too many food spots to write down but we’ll list our favorites and why down here.
Shady shack: best vegatarian food €€
RiZE Cafe: best Indian food €
Cinta Cafe: best coffee €€
Pels Supershop: best vegan food €€
Crate cafe: best smoothies €€
Canggu also offers a lot of places to party and or/hangout. Most of them are beach clubs, but there are a few which are in the town’s center. The beach clubs to hangout are:
- Potato head: best sunsets €€€
- La Brisa: most popular €€€
- Old Man’s: best party vibes €€€
Potato Head beach club
Although Nusa Penida is quite discovered already, it felt like an escape from busy Bali. Maybe it had to do with the time of year, maybe it had to do with the rainy day, who knows. A ferry will take you from Sanur which will set you back 5 euros. After a 45 min boat ride you’ll arrive at Nusa Penida, not to be mistaken with Nusa Lembongan. Here it’s best to hire a scooter to explore the island. There are 3 main attractions in Nusa Penida. These are Diamond Beach, the manta point and Kelingking beach. We were only for one day in Nusa Penida and misjudged time so we got to visit Diamond Beach only.
Exploring Nusa Penida
On the way to Diamond Beach there is a great place to have breakfast/lunch, called Secret Penida. You’ll definitely have to stop here since there are not so many options to eat or drink as there are in Bali.
After about a 1,5 hour drive on the scooter, depending on your speed, you will arrive at Diamond Beach. This beach is a famous Instagram spot where a lot of people will take photo’s on the stairs leading down to the beach. We recommend going down to the beach, since most tourists don’t go down here. It’s quite steep and requires some bravery, but once you arrive at the beach you’ll have plenty of space to chill out. You can also go to the other side of Diamond Beach which is more accessible but more people as well.
We spent way to long at Diamond Beach enjoying its beauty, so we had to drive back in a hurry to catch the last boat leaving Nusa Penida back to Bali (17:00). Therefore we missed the Manta Point and Kelingking beach. The latter is also a famous Instagram spot because of the famous shape of the rocks and the crystal blue water. If you have the time, you’ll probably not regret visiting these places as well.
Diamond Beach from a bird’s eye
Ubud is our favorite place in Bali. It’s such a vibe. People tend to be more relaxed down here. Everything goes a little slower, the jungle and rice fields are everywhere which makes for amazing views and there’s so much to explore. We stayed at Firefly Bali. They have 2 locations which both are amazing. 1 of them is even featured on Netflix!
Firefly
Why Ubud is our favorite
From here on we got to explore Ubud. Driving around Ubud is fun by itself, but we did make some stops at certain highlights. One of them are the Tegallalang rice fields, probably the most famous rice fields of Bali. We recommend going early (or late) to avoid tourists. If you’re a photographer, this will also give you the best light.
Tegallalang rice fields
Another recommendation we did is the Campuhan ridge walk, which was a welcome early morning walk. We met an unbelievably nice person called Dr. Home who does the ridge walk every morning, while playing his guitar, accompanied by his dog. Such a vibe.
Dr. Home playing his guitar
If you’re hungry by now (which we get) you should stop over at Mudra. Their food is the best. Period. We’ll list some other options down below if you don’t believe us.
Taco fiesta: best taco’s in Bali
Namaskara: best coffee break (they even serve ceremonial cacao)
Alchemy: make your own delicious smoothie bowl
Jungle fish: Great place to hang out with infinity pool and jungle view
Jungle Fish
Deeper into Ubud
Another fun little stopover is the Ubud Monkey Forest. This is a forest where the monkeys roam freely, although they are being taken care of here and there. The place does attract a lot of tourists, but that’s Bali. Be sure to not wear any hats, glasses etc. since the monkeys will steal it from you. They are quite the little thieves. But they are cute, as can be seen below.
Monkey Forest
The waterfalls of Bali
Most of the waterfalls are pretty touristy. This kind of spoils the fun. There’s one waterfall that isn’t that popular, which makes it a good spot if you want to visit a place in the middle of the jungle by yourself. The waterfall’s name is Sumampan waterfall. We even met some local fisherboys down there!
Sumampan from above
Hi, we are Bren and Tess! We travel to the most beautiful places in the world, and with our video's, we hope you feel inspired to do the same.