Before I get into our trip home, I wanted to briefly comment on the beaches of Bali. One of the reasons we went was obviously because my wife wanted to hunt for shells on the beach so we visited quite a few beaches.

Bali isn’t necessarily known for its beaches. It certainly has many different ones, but many people extend their trip and visit nearby Nusa Penida or the Gili islands by ferry if they want those picturesque postcard type beaches with perfect blue water. Bali beaches are still very nice, but the water can be a bit murky and have some trash floating in it depending on the tide and which beach you visit.

Some of the Bali beaches are very accessible. Sanur, where we spent the first few days of our trip has an eight kilometer long “beach walk” or a boardwalk as we might call it in the US. You can walk or cycle along the entire length of the beach on a paved sidewalk adjacent to the beach. There are shops and restaurants all along the length of the beach walk. While the beach itself is relatively small, the water was pleasant and calm due to an offshore reef where the waves broke out to sea and not on the shore.

Uluwatu beaches are more for surfers. There were some large shore breaks when we visited Melasti Beach and even Thomas Beach, which looks calm above, had some surfers a bit later in the day. Some of the beaches in Uluwatu are reachable by car, but others require a lot of steps down a cliff to reach the sand.

The final beach we visited, Baruna Beach, is near the popular and busy tourist spot, Kuta. The water wasn’t the cleanest, but my wife found great shells there. All of the beaches we visited had beach loungers and umbrellas for rental, usually for 100k IDR (about $6) for the day. Many also had vendors selling beer, water and soft drinks. There are also warungs, or local shops, selling food and souvenirs.

We enjoyed our beach time in Bali, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as an entirely beach vacation. If you are looking for shells or going surfing, then pick the best beaches for these activities. If you want white sand and blue water that you can snorkel in right off the beach, head to the Gili islands or Nusa Penida by ferry.

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