Surfing in Bali

Surfing at the popular Bali tourist spots at Kuta/Legian beach is crap and crowded. So avoid it!

BUT try surfing at the West side of the Bukit peninsula for some great reef breaks that will throw out some sweet barrels with a lot less competition in relative tranquility. It is still under developed and you are away from the over-crowded towns and popular tourist spots. It is so much quieter and has much better waves than the beaches at Kuta, Legian and Seminyak that you will really experience the surfing paradise of Bali. Its a bit off the track (which is why only surfer and some of the roads are a bit of a challenge but its worth it when you see the waves.

The Bukit peninsula is on the South West coast of Bali. It takes about 50 minutes to get there from the Bali airport. These are the reef breaks I surfed:

• Bingin (Northern end of the peninsula) surf high tide for intermediate level and low tide for better surfers (you get barrels over reef but watch out it is shallow). Bingin Beach is surrounded by bush down below the cliff-top overlooking the rugged coastline of the Bali Burkit peninsula. I stayed here at Mick's Place you can stay there for around 100 USD per night per villa and surf all of the reef breaks on the West of the peninsula but you will need a car or a motorino/vespa scooter to get around once you are there.
• Impossibles - challenging.
• Padang-Padang - great waves at high tide for intermediate level, barrels at low tide for better surfers.
• Suleban/Uluwatu (South end) Walk down about 1000 steps through a cave and come out to a small beach where you can paddle out to the reef and some sensational waves.

Here is a crude map but it will give you an idea of where the breaks are:

So, some crude directions (as best as I can remember) for you (it is a good idea to hire a driver - get your hotel to organise it - and tell him where you want to go) - it takes about 1 hour from Seminyak:

From Seminyak toward Jimbaran take these roads:

• Jalan Sunset Road which becomes (heading straight)
• Jalan I Gusti Ngurah Ral then turn RIGHT on to
• Jalan Raya Uluwatu this is a long straight road for about half and hour or more and goes through Jimbaran then turn RIGHT just as you reach the village of Pecatu (the turn off is opposite a temple but slow down or you will miss it) into
• Jalan Labuhan Sait.

From there you can access all of those breaks from roads off Jalan Labuhan Sait. Those roads are not really shown on the google maps though. Once you are there rent yourself a motorino/vespa scooter which comes equipped with a surf board rack and you will be able to get yourself around to all the breaks without any trouble. The roads are a lot quieter than in Kuta or Seminyak.

Heres a google map link which starts at Padang Padang (zoom out and you will get a view up the coast to Bingin and it will give you an idea of the roads to take):

If you want you can also try the sand breaks nearby (to the north of Bingin) at Dreamland which is good for all levels of surfers and further north at Balangan.

I thought Dreamland was a bit too like the crap at Kuta for me (very crowed) but the waves were nice. Careful, its starting to get developed now with a new nightclub just built overlooking Dreamland beach. You just know that in a few years the beauty of this little beach will be turned into a tourist mecca. They are calling Dreamland beach the "New Kuta" so get there before it gets over-developed and crowded.

Have fun!