Roundtrip 21 days Bali and Gili islands - snorkeling, nature and culture

Denpasar

Denpasar is the busy capital of Bali.
Besides some museums and the market there aren’t many tourist attractions in the capital, though you can do some great shopping for cheap prices.

Sanur

Sanur is located directly on the Indian Ocean.
The beach of Sanur beach is protected by a reef at some 100 meters off shore, which means that the waves are much gentler than in Kuta.
Sanur is a quiet old fishing village with lots of hotels, restaurants and shops

Favourite restaurant

My own experience: Mades Restaurant, in the centre of Sanur. Delicious Balinese food and Indonesian dishes!

Mades Restaurant - Sanur

Pemuteran

Pemuteran is a small fishing village in the northwest of Bali, at the Bali-zee.
It’s situated at the edge of the West-Bali National Park very close to the beautiful seagardens of Menjangan island, one of the most fabulous diving spots in Indonesia.
In the village Pemuteran itself is not much to do. But almost every hotel offer plenty of facilities to fulfil your wishes.
Pemuteran is a perfect place to relax a couple of days after a tiring Java trip.

Favourite restaurant

According to Vera, the tahu and tempeh goreng with saté and gado gado are delicious!


Warung Makan Nengah

What to see

Diving or snorkeling at Nusa Menjangan is the must-do in Pemuteran. Book at your reception a day in advance and you will be taken by boat to the island of Nusa Menjangan. We bet you will meet Nemo and some turtles?
Hiking in the National Park west Bali. Not the breathtaking tropical rainforest of Sumatra or Kalimantan, but you will always encounter some strange birds, monkeys, deer and pigs.
Dolphin spotting at Lovina. You don't have to stay in Lovina for the dolphins. Almost all hotels offer a dolphin excursion. You leave around 5 in the morning by car to Lovina and go there on the boat to the dolphins.
Turtle Hatchery Project. Within walking distance, between the Taman Sari an Adi Assri resort is the turtle center, where the eggs wait in a kind of hatchery for the young sea turtles to hatch. They are protected there for the first few weeks of their lives, until they are large enough to be released on the beach and choose the full sea.

Nusa Menjangan

Nusa Menjangan is een klein eilandje in het noordwesten van Bali. Het behoort tot het nationaal park west Bali en je moet ook niet raar opkijken wanneer je grote edelherten op het strand ziet staan.

Ubud

Ubud is called the artist village in central Bali. In and around the busy center are numerous sewing and art studios and several museums and theaters. Dances are performed daily, including in the palace. A visit to the art-market opposite the palace is also definitely worth it.

You can choose a hotel or resort in the busy center, somewhere quiet in the middle of the rice fields or on the border of the river.

Things to see and do

Too much to mention all...
Ubud Palace and Puri Saren Agung Temple: Here you can marvel at traditional Balinese architecture. Daily also the scene of Balinese dances
The Monkey Forest Monkey Forest: A must see for many, personally a torment for me to watch monkeys that have become more than brutal.
Agung Rai Museum of Art houses artworks by, among others, Walter Spies, Rudolf Bonnet and many other artists. The museum's goal is to keep Balinese art alive.
Museum Puri Lukisan specializes in modern Balinese paintings, sculptures and carvings
The Blanco Renaissance Museum is mainly focused on works by the Spanish painter Don Antonio Blanco
The Campuhan Ridge Walk is a must do: Take an early morning hike for this 2 hour hike across the ridge to the village of Bangkian Sidem
And there is much more to see in the Ubud area!

Favourite restaurant

The specialty of Ubud is crispy fried duck, Bebek Bengil. There are several restaurants where "Dirty Duck" is on the menu. Our favorite is restaurant Bebek Bengil at the Jalan Hanoman in the center.

Another great restaurant in the center is Cafe Lotus , with a very extensive menu and a beautiful pond at the Jalan Raya Ubud, close to the Royal Palace .

Many trendy and cozy restaurants can also be found in the quieter Pertiwi district.

Kintamani

Kintamani is the mountain village on the southwest flank of the Gunung Batur volcano. The many restaurants offer beautiful views of the volcano and Lake Danau Batur

The Gunung Batur is reasonably easy to climb. The climb to the top of the volcano starts at 4 a.m. Led by a guide, it is two hours to the top and two hours back. At sunrise you have a beautiful view of the volcanic landscape and Gunung Agung. Many climbers then visit the hot springs of Toya Devasya.

The Batur trek can be started from Kintamani, but also from Ubud, for example.

Gili Meno

Gili Meno is the smallest island and is located between Gili Air and Gili Trawangan. It is also called the honeymoon island.
The island is only accessible by public or charter boat from the other 2 Gili islands, or with the Eka Jaya fastboat from Bali and Lombok.
Everything on this small island radiates peace and also has the most beautiful beaches of the three Gili islands.

Things to see

There is a bird park on Gili Meno where various species of birds such as the flamimgos, eagles and cockatoos can be viewed. The Turtle Sanctuary on Gili Meno aims to protect the green turtle swimming in the sea around the Gili Islands, you can see the little turtles swimming in the water tanks.

At the beach on the west and east sides you have the best chance to see the turtles swimming in the shallow water.

There are only a few shops, lounge bars and restaurants on the island.
You can also walk around the island in about an hour, take a ride by Cidomo or do a snorkeling or diving excursion.

Nusa Lembongan

An hour's boat ride from Bali are the bounty islands of Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Penida.
Nusa Lembongan has beautiful beaches with even nicer names such as Dream beach and Mushroom Bay beach. Snorkeling is excellent from the beaches, but take the boat to beautiful and interesting locations between Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida, or to the Mangrove, where you will spot countless colorful fish.

Via the Yellow Bridge you go from Nusa Lembongan to Nusa Ceningan. It is the smallest of the 3 islands and is less known to tourists. It has a beautiful but small beach at Mahana Point.

The Nusa is a paradise for experienced divers, with manta rays, sharks and beautiful corals. In the months of August to November you will also find the impressive and ugly Mola-Mola sun fishing here. Beginners should consider strong currents.
The food on the Nusa's is comparable to that in South Bali. Fresh fish is of course best when the fish is really fresh.

Diving at Nusa Penida ansLembongan

Diving at Nusa Penida and Lembongan islands is for somewhat more advanced divers. There’s often a strong current but the underwater world is certainly worth a visit. You’ll find here manta rays all year long. Majestic, non-dangerous and curious rays with a wing span of up to four meters. Also something for snorkelers, the rays swim very close to the surface here.

BLUE CORNER

This is an exciting site for experienced divers only. The huge expanse of current-swept slopes at Blue Corner provides some dramatic topography. Dropping away to 50m, a series of overhanging terraces hide white tips and large black marbled rays and, as you approach the corner, schools of snapper and jacks regularly pass by. A great site for mola mola (ocean sunfish) during the season and other visitors include eagle rays, wobbegong, tuna and even the occasional shark.

MANGROVES

This site is so-called due to its location, right by the mangrove area to the north east Nusa Lembongan. Mangroves offer a healthy sloping coral reef, with small bommies and table corals waiting to be explored for the smaller stuff but often marble rays and other larger species swim past in the deeper water. Sharks are occasionally seen here too. It’s a great site for all levels of diver.

MANTA BAY

Manta Bay is a shallow bay with a stunning backdrop. Being rich in plankton it attracts manta rays all year round. The dive has a maximum depth of 12m and the coral bottom, with its gullies and swim-throughs, is an interesting distraction from the manta action going on above. Similar to Manta Point, we cannot get to this site every day, but it is closer and more protected than Manta Point, so is fast becoming a very popular dive spot.

GAMAT BAY

Gamat Bay is a very small yet memorable site off Toyapakeh Strait. The steep, rugged reef slope is rich in hard and soft corals and is colourful down to more than 50m. Gamat is a dive where you don’t want to cover much territory and once you have navigated the slope, there are plenty of bommies, overhangs and small caves to explore as you head back into the shallows.

MANTA POINT

The site that made Penida famous! The plankton rich waters here attract the mantas all year round, sometimes seven or eight at a time, though even one is a fantastic sight. We rarely dive more than 15m deep at this site as along with the main attract of the mantas, turtles, nurse sharks, bamboo sharks and blue-spotted rays are regularly sighted at this depth, when the sea conditions are calm and favourable, it’s a dive to be savoured.

CRYSTAL BAY

Also known as Penida Bay, the ‘Crystal’ in Crystal Bay refers to the fantastic visibility normally experienced here, which can reach over 40m on a good day. Crystal Bay is certainly one of the area’s most popular dive sites and is a favourite of the visiting mola mola (ocean sunfish) from August-October. The rock in the middle of the bay has very steep drop offs to the south and west and an amazing shelf in the north that is carpeted with wrinkled soft corals in the shallows. A healthy reef, an interesting cave, huge table coral and hundreds of fish of all shapes and sizes – there is not much that this dive site cannot offer!

CENINGAN WALL

This impressive coral wall begins at the foot of the sea cliffs to the north of Ceningan and drops down vertically to a depth of 180m. Currents can be strong here and this site is reserved for experienced divers only. The wall is colourful with dense collections of multi-coloured soft corals and sponges making it fun to explore with plenty of nudibranchs to find. Sweeping out into the current along the wall are inquisitive eagle rays which occasionally join the dive groups for the tour, which winds through schools of oriental sweetlips and sleek unicornfish.

PURA PED, PURA MAS GADING & BUYUK

These three sites are found side by side on Nusa Penida and share similar sloping reef topography. The colourful reef is made even more interesting with big, randomly placed barrel sponges and coral bommies. Schools of redtooth triggerfish, fusiliers, butterflyfish and drummers compete for passing food that rides the ocean currents. Turtles, rays, sea snakes and the occasional mola mola distract divers from the multitude of smaller creatures hiding amongst the corals, such as scorpionfish and frogfish.

TOYAPAKEH

The ‘jewel’ of Penida, Toyapakeh means salt water in Balinese and is the richest site in Penida. It is a divers’ favourite as you often find yourself swimming through school after school of colourful fish of every variety, including the red tooth triggerfish, giant trevallies and batfish. It has a steep wall to the south, terraces with huge hard coral formations in the bay and a shelving reef in the north that drops off gently all the way to 190m! The density of coral, sponge and fish life is incredible, even the infamous pygmy seahorse is occasionally spotted here. All this plus occasional larger pelagics such as hammerhead sharks, mantas and sunfish.

SEKOLAH DESA (SD)

Sekolah Dasar means ‘primary school’, but when the currents are running, this site is not for beginners. Although less steep than Blue Corner it has large coral heads and currents that drift you past green and hawksbill turtles, marble rays, sea snakes, octopus, white tip reef sharks and the most diverse collection of corals and sponges in Bali. Not forgetting the resident school of batfish at SD that are almost always a certainty.

Jimbaran

The fishing village Jimbaran, on the way to the peninsula Nusa Dua, is famous for its little fish restaurants on the beach.
For around 16 euro you can eat fresh lobster, crab, tiger prawns or a delicious Red Snapper!
Join a table at around half past five to admire the beautiful sunset and enjoy the good food and the romantic atmosphere on the beach in the evening.
Wine lovers: the local Two Islands Chardonnay is alright. The other wines are not so good.
2018: You can still eat fish in Jimbaran, but it has become a very popular place. Prices have gone up, it’s very busy and less romantic. But the food is still good though…