Hi,
we (me, my wife and 10 year old daughter - both non Surfers) booked a flight for 3 weeks in the beginning of April 2020 to Bali.
Now we have no idea where to stay, especially what side or what town of the Island?
Important for us would be:
- lots of different spots, close together with good consitency and wind patterns - we don't want to spend much time in a car. I don't need big Barrels, but clean waves would be nice, especially rights.
- not too much of a busy Tourist place would be welcome. No big nightlife needed.
- nearby beach for Swimming and snorkeling for kid and wife.
- not too complicated to Access from the Airport.
OK, I think, that's the most important.
Any tip will be very welcome.

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pampel said..
Hi,
we (me, my wife and 10 year old daughter - both non Surfers) booked a flight for 3 weeks in the beginning of April 2020 to Bali.
Now we have no idea where to stay, especially what side or what town of the Island?
Important for us would be:
- lots of different spots, close together with good consitency and wind patterns - we don't want to spend much time in a car. I don't need big Barrels, but clean waves would be nice, especially rights.
- not too much of a busy Tourist place would be welcome. No big nightlife needed.
- nearby beach for Swimming and snorkeling for kid and wife.
- not too complicated to Access from the Airport.
OK, I think, that's the most important.
Any tip will be very welcome.

Sounds like you picked the wrong destination,you may be better off getting a boat over to Nusa Lembongan tickets your boxes.

Hilton Bali Resort, South Nusa Dua not the airport one. Easy waves within walking/paddling range. Close to all the snorkling diving tours down along the main Nusa Dua drag & gegar beach next beach North in front of super pricey Mulia hotel is always calm for a swim if the swell is up with good food/drinks available in the warungs. Not the cheapest, but worth the money.

Balian on the river 200m walk to this, will have it to yourself or a couple of others until the hordes descend about 9:30-10am. About $60 a night for all of you with breakfast.

If you can be bothered exploring there's others in the area too....




Dinner at the markets at the highway intersection ten minutes walk away is $2-5 a head and the best food in the area.
These pics are last week of March.

Thanks,
I will have a look a nusa dua. Looks good, not so off the beaten track as balian. Suits maybe better to us/our wishes. Only concers are the waves-not much informations about this zone on internet. It is mainly all about the west coast. How long is a taxi to the dreamland region?
Any other ideas, what could be perfect for us?
Cheers

Nusa Dua is about as consistent as Ulus, just about always has a wave, several other good waves in the area too. Just $hit tonnes of people in and out of the water and you get hassled walking along the beach, same as the other side of the Bukit. Dreamland is the perineum of the Bukitverse.
By the sounds of what you're saying I'd reckon Lembongan would tick the boxes.

Nusa Lembongan is def worth a visit....for 3 or 4 nights. Missus & daughter will get bored after that unless they're happy reading a book by the pool. Everything happens on the high tide & by everything I mean the snorkling/diving & surfing. Coz thats about all there is to do there apart from eat/drink. Everyones surfing at the same time coz of the tide window. The snorkling at the spots past Mangroves is the go but at full tide, otherwise the current is pretty strong. Can't recall the name of the place right now, but if you go to the place to the left of Playgrounds Resort & ask for "mushroom" (named for his previous sales lol). Ask him to hook you up with Wyan who skippers the Sista, top bloke to go on a trip with.

Waves arounf Nusa Dua, Sri Lanka, Mushrooms, place between the double islands (Nusa=island Dua =2), Black rock on the South of them, Nusa Dua (heap of sections catering to a heap of people), Nusa Dua Left not a far paddle from the temple at the end of Gegar Beach & the waves out the front of the Hilton formally know as the (Japanese owned) Nikko hotel & name of the wave there which has been devided 2 by a bloody groyn. Forget dreamland, go to Pandawa beach, Melasti beach & Green Ball instead.

Taxi to Gegar will cost you about $4.50 & to the Double Island area with big shopping place & nice place to walk around the beach for the girls is about $7.

Thanks for all the Infos. We finally found a cheap hotel (new kuta hotel) near dreamland beach as our base? The plan was to go by foot to dreamland beachbreak and surf there or take a taxi to the other spots on bukit, either west or east side (nusa dua area). Any snorkeling spots around?
What do you think of our plan, and how Long does it take by taxi from dreamland to nusa dua area or keramas area?
Aren't there any quieter beaches on bukit, not especially for Surfing, just hanging around with Family?
We plan to go for three weeks, march/April.

Haha no one's mentioned the traffic yet. Took us nearly 2 hours to get from seminyak to balangan last trip. Having a base and driving all over for 3 weeks is a BAD idea. Pick 3 places and stay in each area for that week and avoid having to sit in cars for hours.

Three weeks on the Bukit is a loooooong time.
A week there, a week at Canggu/Seminyak to wine, dine and smash the beachies and a week at Sanur. If you're paddling out at first light you'll get waves.
or if it was me...
a week at Balian, a week at Seminyak, a week at Balian.
Or fly into Bali and fark off somewhere else.

Hi and thanks for all the Input.
So a base at dreamland and doing a couple of daytrips to cangu, nusa dua or even keramas is more or less not possible because of the traffic? We are more on the lazy side and my concern was, if we Change hotl three times, we loose three days due to packing and unpacking all the stuff with suitcases, boards, kid and wife...
What About dreamland wave, why is it so negative?
And nearby balangan or Padang Rights could also be an intermediate alternative or not?
Thanks again for all your Input.

Go to Dreamland. All the advice has been a conspiracy to stop you enjoying your first trip to Bali.

The New Kuta is an old hotel but great staff and food is good not sure if the Chinese are still staying there on mass if they are you will have a Chinese cultural lesson no one shouts down the corridors or slams a doors at midnight like Chinese tourists

Just see the desk and they will move you to the other side the Balinese staff will smile as they listen to your request its pretty common just keep in mind the Chinese are a happy lot just really noisy.

The Russians also stayed there the girls are stunning not that my eyes strayed from my wife.

Balangan is just around the corner get in early and low crowd factor for a surf good place for the wife and daughter to hang for a while (beach Warungs) nice beach.

Dreamland is a reef break with a heavy close out on the beach if the swell in running but for entertainment head down to the Dreamland beach get yourself and wife a Bintang sit up on the wall and watch the Chinese boogy board right thought all the tables and chairs in between near drownings on a hot day it will be a longer walk than it looks.

Padang Padang right gets pretty busy but yes its a wave nice little beach but can get busy.

The hotel will hire you a scooter or if thats not you there are drivers sitting out the front.

Check out Ulus and do the tourist thing have a look at the temple keep an eye on the monkeys there they are really quick.

I would think a week would see you (wife and daughter) out staying at Dreamland it is a bit out of the way at the New Kuta unless they have built more places since I stayed there 5 or more years ago.

You could stay Canggu lots of cheap accommodation and food surf the righthander at Batu Belong but must get in at 1st light before the surf schools turn up worth going to Tanah Lot temple for a look again must go early to beat the crowds one of the better Balinese markets for tourists left on the island and they don't hassle you.

You can walk along the beach to Berawa beach from Batu (not far), a couple of breaks there including a right plus nice hotel to sit watch the action and eat, drink (Legong Keraton Beach Hotel)

Just keep smiling no matter the hassle / hustle the Balinese are great

Hi,
thanks for your help and patience.
So maybe last question...
What hotel or destination/town would you recommend for us if we want to stay all the 3 weeks in one place. I am intermediate regular with wife and 10 year old daughter who wants to snorkel from time to time.
Thanks again

If your wife is a shopper stay in Canggu or Seminyak ,your wife and daughter will have plenty to do in those locations while you surf so everyone is happy.,you can surf Old Mans in Canggu, heaps of great food places in both locations. Traffic can be a nightmare in and out of Canggu but pick your times and you should be fine.You can hire a driver to do day trips just leave early to avoid traffic.Best advice I can give is explore Bali so much to see and do and with 3 weeks you can see it all.

I made my recommendation based on the girls wanting to swim/snorkel. Best places for that are between Geger beach & Sanur. Not much swell that time of year, so wouldn't recommend Sanur. Needs 2m+...

Hilton could be a bit pricey for 3 weeks. The Swiss-Belhotel Segara Nusa Dua behind it is great value & has the best buffet brekky of anywhere I've stayed in Bali. They also have a bus to take you to & pick you up from Geger beach running regularly through the day. Otherwise you can actually catch a taxi from there (more on this below). But if you don't mind riding a scooter, the roads round here are very quiet until you get down to the Jl Bypass Rd.

From there you can hire a driver to check out, Uluwatu temple/surfbreak, Padang Padang, Pandawa, Balangan, even get that damn Dreamland desire out of your system lol It would even take about the same time or be faster to head up to Keramas from there via the toll Rd ($1) than the traffic Jam between Kuta/Legian/Seminyak/Canguu. After popping into Keramas, you could check out the Bali Safari Park or the stuff up around Ubud. Its not far from there. Negotiate transport cost with drivers. Don't pay more than 500,000Rp ($50) for 8hrs. I usually pay 400,000Rp but often finish the day under the 8hr mark, but pay 50'000Rp for each hour over 8hrs. You can tell them what your paying, you are the employer.

Staying on the Bukit (Balangan/Dreamland/Bingin/Padang Padang/Uluwatu) you need to realize there's a bit of a transport mafia. You will not be able to call a taxi or anything like an Uber. Signs are up around the place saying they're not allowed. So transport can be very expensive even by Aus standards if you don't hire a scooter.

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smicko said..
Go to Dreamland. All the advice has been a conspiracy to stop you enjoying your first trip to Bali.

LOL

Great advice Mick!

Padang Padang rights was a great wave - and a great little beach. But can get crazy busy when it's good. I had one of my 'funnest' surfs there about 4yrs ago (an easy take off into a head+ size wave with a nice fast bowly section going into a fattish wall - ie one big bottom turn, one cutback and a pump or two ) but i had to come in after a couple of hours as the crowd on the inside was out of control and just plain dangerous - you literally had no where to go...

Dreamland on the other hand was just a bugger to get out and in - it was smashing through and was a bit T.O.A.D. ish. The shore break was well over head high on this particular day.

Disclaimer: I only spent a week in the area - then we moved back to Kuta.

OK lets start at the beginning with "THE RULES"

As busy and some times a hustle Bali can be its still a cheap fantastic surfing destination thats a lot of fun.
You will get waves and if you can handle solid 6ft you will surf waves of a life time.

So.....you want to make it a family tradition every year.....right?

Rule one (read this 3 times) the wife and daughter must have a great time and its your responsibility don't screw it up. Please note rule number one has nothing to do with surfing.
Rule two never break rule one.

That means having good accommodation with a good clean pool don't scrimp here, pony up what you can afford you can sort the cheap places out next trip when you become a Bali veteran

Everyone is different I can sit in the same place for 6 months but the Minister for War (wife) is good for 7 days-ish .

More later waves are calling

^ very good advice

Hey MickPC and the others,
Seems that you convinced me to forget about dreamland. Nusa duo and hilton or behind looks great for us. I was just concerned about all the far out spots of nusa dua area. Long paddle, strong currents, complicated, etc.
But MickPC mentionend the breaks close to shore in front of the hilton. What are they like during march/april and are there any other waves closer to the beach than most offshore spots on the outside reef?
Thanks for your help.

Nusa Dua is far out, has relentless current & sneaker sets. But if the swell is small at least theres a wave. If its big, waves out front are not so far out. Pandawa has waves right on the beach & around those 2 bits of land sticking out, the nusa duas there are waves close to shore also. It would be about a 35 min walk from the hilton, you just have to cross over the temple headland & walk down to the end of the beach north. Or walk from geger is about 20 mins or about a $5 taxi ride.

Mac & Smicko & what you just said changed my mind though...I reckon your prob better off staying somewhere around Jl Padma, like "The Sari Beach" Legian for about 5 days at the start & 5 days at the end of your trip with Nusa Dua in between. You'll have your waves close to the beach & the girls will have more to do other than just swimming/snorkling. They'll enjoy walking around checking out all the little shops on their first trip to Bali.

Thanks for all the Input. So flights are booked: 20 days in march/april
You guys convinced us to split our trip: 10 days in Cangu/Berawa - hopefully easy and maybe a little less crowded beachbreak sessions and after that 10 days on Bukit: Either in a surfcamp with guiding or we take the Swiss Belhotel in Nusa dua, behind the Hilton. There I would hopefully surf mostly the little beachbreak in front or the right reef ( on the south side - seems to be not too far outside). And hopefully also the breaks next to mushrock (the fast right and the multipeak south of the rock). And doing also in Nusa dua the snorkeling stuff and from time to time a trip to the lefts on the west side of Bukit or Malesti and Green Bowl? And who knows, Maybe also "Dreamland"... :-)
What do you think?

While your in Nusa Dua, I would highly recommend a day trip to Nusa Lembongan on a fast boat ,its a beautiful island and so much different than Bali.

You & the girls will have more fun at Pandawa than Dreamland. But please check out Dreamland

If you stay at the Legong Keraton Beach Hotel at Berawa , ask for a room on the South side so the doof doof from the overpriced sh1tty club at Echo Beach is a few decibels lower. Berawa needs low tides to work properly, but you can walk up to all the other breaks along the beach very easily. That time of year the cross shore tradewind will often kick in later & sometimes stay light or offshore all day. Personally 10 days at Berawa is way too long for me & my missus would last about 2 or 3 nights unless we were doing day trips which would defeat the purpose of being there coz you need to leave early to avoid traffic which is when the winds are most likely good.

The beachside setting from that hotel is awesome. But there's not much to do up there but eat/drink & checking out Deus. Plenty of eyecandy up around Batu Bolong (Old Mans) but your there with your wife & daughter. Don't forget those dark sunnies lol

Just be aware the roads get really busy between Canguu & the airport. Its the busiest area with the worst transport infrastructure. Don't spend too much time stuck in traffic, if your driving anywhere you wanna leave ASAP. I will usually buy some banana's & something to drink so I'm not waiting for my accomodation brekky to open. I'll snack on the banana's & then get a mie goreng or something later on when I reach my destination. There will usually be a warung where'ever your headed.

This is the area around South Nusa Dua

Sorry for my slow follow up life gets in the way

Remember rule number one, a routine I do (we are all different so work out what works for you and more importantly wife and daughter) is I get up early and paddle out in the dark-ish back in time to have breakfast with the family then off for the day do what ever sites, shopping, coffees, lunch in Seminyak (this is not a cost its an investment) back in the arvo if there is a glass off out for another hour or so back for sunset drinks on the beach and off to dinner some where nice (only eat in restaurants that are full never eat in a empty place no matter how swang it looks).

Note to keep this up for 3 weeks you need to train hard before going (this is a life decision you must make dont get slack and screw it up).

So location is important 1st comes the girls then you.....but you can have it all dont leave it to chance.

An example of screwing it up some years ago after an epic trip of amazing surf trip back in WA having dinner with a group of friends the wife casualty says that i didn't go for one swim with her in the pool while in Bali.......there was a loud gasp of shock and looks of disbelief from all the males at the table with me making the loudest gasp.............I had for gotten rule number one what an idiot.

This is your 1st trip, play it safe good accommodation is important, one area to start with is around the Holiday Inn Resort Baruna Bali area some reasonable accommodation with walking distance to the shopping malls Lippo Mal and Discovery Kartika Plaza not fantastic but worth a look around to get into the Bali scene, eat out watching the sun set at the Boardwalk restaurant (daughter can eat western meals there) plus close to the airport.

I have stayed at the Holiday Inn only because I wasn't paying the greatest breakfast but they were building the Sulis across the road I think Mick mentioned up the top restaurant the view and breakfast was pretty good.

Its a good area to arrive into and exit out off Bali

The airport.......while not as crazy as the old days pays to organise transport coming in removes the stress factor the place you stay will organise if you ask them, change some money in the terminal ($200) to pay the driver and to be able to buy stuff for 1st day.

Also only change money behind glass, better rates down alleyways will end in ripoffs and physical risk never be tempted.

On the way out to the airport keep $40K RUP handy and get a porter, he will take you straight to the correct terminal, if there are queues he will jump the lot go straight to the front and run you through in front of all the glaring eyes took me ten ears to work that one out

From this area you can go to Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Nusa Dua etc

Surfing in this area is by boat out to the reefs (Kuta Reef, Middles, Airport lefts) get the early out on Captain Ketuts green boat to beat the crowd ($50K RUP) back in time for breakfast.

From there you can go onto Cangu, Batu Belong or Berawa then onto Dreamland or what ever its all good.

Remember no matter the hassle keep smiling the Balinese have a charm all of their own and a smile is the currency of friendship.

Yeah Sulis is built on the location of Green Garden which used to be my favourite place to stay at the start & end of a Bali trip. I like the area, the Agung Warung 1/2 way up Jalan Segara has Bali Cider that my missus likes to drink & everything else at a good price. Cheaper than the supermarket under Lippo, I just buy fruit & energy drinks from there for a pre dawn snack before jumping on a boat, surfing & getting back by 0830 to have brekky with the missus.

Sulis is nice, but I don't stay there coz the new pool on the roof has no shade. New section of Holiday Inn is the same setup. I told the owners sister when they build shade I'll stay there again. But I think they're already at max allowed building height. I stay at a less flash place 100m away & have brekky at Sulis. The video on my website of Kuta reef was filmed from the 4th floor of Sulis, the pools on the 5th. surferblogs.com/vids/

I would of recommended the owners other hotel Febri's or Ramada Bintang but Pampel wants to surf close to shore.

Hey Mick,

thanks for the your post with the Video. I also checked out your blog entry for the east coast on october: surferblogs.com/2019/10/19/surfing-bali-east-coast-october-2019/
Looks very inviting. Are these pix from sanur or the nusa dua area? Especially Picture 6, 9, 19, 51 and 57.
So half of the trip in Cangu/Berawa and the other half in Nusa Dua also for a snorkeldaytrip to Nusa Lembogan. Have you done this, snorkeling with Mantas?
Do you have any recommandations for Transport - Berawa and Nusa Dua? We won't get a rental car, nor a Scooter (toodangerous with kid and wife). Are daytrips from Nusa Dua to the west coast spots on Bukit doable easier than from Cangu?
Thanks again for all the tips.
Looking really Forward to this Adventure:-)

P.S.: The right you were surfing when it startedd to rain, was this the break in front of the Hilton, or the break in front of Ayoda resort (not far from Hyatt)? Did you need a boar to get there?