Discovering the beaches and chasing sunsets in Bali. If you’re travelling to the ‘Land of Gods’ Bali, beaches and sunsets, as well as temples, will be high on your bucket list. Ultimately, the most beautiful experience comes at the end of the day in a magical place like Tanah Lot, sitting on the beach and watching the sunset over the rock temple in the sea.
Discovering the Sunset Beaches of Bali
Start the day on an idyllic beach…
Nusa Dua
I just wanted to relax and enjoy beach life. A ride south on our faithful moped took us to Nua Dusa, and reputedly Bali’s best beaches, with sumptuous five-star resorts where you can enjoy luxury of being pampered. We swam in the warm, calm turquoise-blue sea and had a laidback spontaneous picnic in an idyllic spot under a shady tamarind tree!
It was lovely to see a wedding ceremony being held in the flower-decked gazebo of an exclusive hotel, beside a private stretch of golden sands on Nua Dusa beach. Bali is such a romantic island to get married on and is actually one of the best honeymoon destinations in Asia.
A short drive from here, at Benoa harbour you can get a boat to Turtle Island for snorkeling, if you don’t mind the hassle of bargaining and the unrelenting hawkers.
Experienced surfers head for Bali’s most southern beaches on the Bukit peninsula, also known for the distinctive Uluwatu cliff temple and awesome sunsets!
Jimbaran Bay
But our ultimate favourite was Jimbaran Bay…
This is place is unbelievable, the kind of setting that inspires top travel movies – temples beside powdery white sands, a couple of stylish hotels set back from the beach, and a calm, clear azure sea. Get to Jimbaran village early to see the morning fish market… or later in the day, enjoy grilled, fresh seafood at one of the typical beach restaurants, and sip a large, cool Bintang lager as the sun goes down, as we did!
Searching for Surf and Sunsets in Bali
Kuta
Kuta is the lively resort on the south west coast, known for its long rolling beaches and nightlife. One of the top places for surfing in Bali, there are good surf schools, dozens of restaurants and beach bars, as well as budget places to stay.
The busy coast road continues up through Legian to trendy Seminyak, with its designer clothes stores, sassy eateries and some of the best beach clubs in Bali.
Astride our faithful scooter, we passed Canggu on our journey northwards, hoping to see Tanah Lot Temple for sundown. But the distances in Bali are deceptive, it takes much longer to reach your destination than imagined, and using a free tourist map as a guide didn’t help!
We settled for a beach bar on an otherwise deserted stretch of sand on the west coast and watched the scarlet skies over the ocean, a scene snatched from this beautiful “Meet me where the sky touches the sea” sunset quote.
Tanah Lot
On the final afternoon, we found Tanah Lot by taking a route north from Bali’s capital, Denpasar city, through the scenic countryside. Tanah Lot Temple is hued out of a rock in the sea; you can walk over the short sand strip at low tide, and we were in luck this evening. I followed the ritual, washed my face three times at a water spout, and made a hasty wish before an elderly Hindu priest blessed me, put a sign on my forehead and a frangipani flower in my hair… very Balinese!
Then the sun dropped down from the heavens, leaving crimson and mauve streaks in the sky, backlighting the black temple which defies the crashing waves of time, and I could see why magical Tanah Lot is legendary…
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