Bali’s best beaches on the Bukit

Looking for great beaches on Bali? Head south! The Bukit peninsula, the dangly bit at the southernmost tip of Bali is home to some of the most stunning postcard-perfect beaches on the entire island.

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While the northeast corner of the Bukit is given over to Bali’s luxury hotel haven, Nusa Dusa, much of the east and southern coastline is blessed with some truly fabulous strips (or tiny pockets) of white and golden sands, lapped by long perfect rolling waves.

Balangan pre much of the beachside development. Photo taken in or around Bali’s best beaches on the Bukit, Bukit, Indonesia by Stuart McDonald.

Balangan pre much of the beachside development. Photo: Stuart McDonald

So pack your towel, water, sunscreen and camera and discover this jewelled necklace encircling the rocky limestone bluff. Starting at the necklaces’s clasp at Jimbaran, famous for its seafood barbecue and sunsets, venture anticlockwise (maybe stopping at the Rock Bar at Ayana Resort for a tipple), to Balangan.

Balangan is one of Bali’s lesser known beaches, but is all the better for it. Glorious surf, amazingly spherical grains of sand and smallish crowds. As with many of the beaches on this side of the Bukit, the beach backs onto an imposing limestone cliff, though this is the most easily accessed, and it’s just a short walk down a steep staircase to the sands lined with a hodgepodge of shacks housing warungs and cheap homestays along the southern end of the beach and a regiment of sun lounges for hire at the northern end.

Beach shacks at Balangan. Photo taken in or around Bali’s best beaches on the Bukit, Bukit, Indonesia by Sally Arnold.

Beach shacks at Balangan. Photo: Sally Arnold

At high tide some good swimming is to be had, though bear in mind, as a surf beach, the currents can be fast and strong. At low tide a rocky base breaks the surface, making much of it crummy for swimming but ideal for pond watching, shell collecting and of course, as the tide drops, dam-building. If you start building lots of dams or sand castles, you’ll note another of Balangan’s special features. The grains of sand are, by and large, perfectly spherical. They immediately bring couscous to mind, and are apparently due to them being rolled over the stone base by ... please log in to read the rest of this story.