Vacation ideas

You’ll find Bali located three miles off the west coast of Java with a relatively tiny land area of just over 5,000km ; Bali could fit into Australia over 1,200 times.  From the top on a Map of Bali in the north to the end of the island in the south is only 55miles and east to west it’s just ninety miles, so getting round the island is fairly simple and the longest drive that you’d need to do in order to get to any resort would be 2 hours at the most. 

The hottest Bali Hotels are situated in the south of the island with a couple of others along the east and west coast.  Nusa Dua is the most southern resort that’s favored by visitors, though you may find other less known ones a bit further south.  The roads around the coast of Bali are usually in fine condition, it is when you leave the main stretch that you’ll find that the roads are infrequently maintained to any standard and are typically just mud tracks frequently impassible by two vehicles and you must be wary of people and animals that use not only these side roads but the main roads to stroll on. 

Heading along the west coast from Nusa Dua you will come to Jimbaran another extremely popular and busy holiday maker resort.  Maybe ten minutes further along you will go by Ngurah Rai International airport that is used as a gateway for the remainder of Indonesia.  Kuta and South Kuta are perhaps another 20 minutes drive from here and this is where you will find the most commercialized area of Bali.  Not only are the hotels designed to accommodate many tourists, but the leisure facilities and the shopping areas very tourist orientated.

The drive from here to the tip of the west coast will take you past some of the more up market visitor destinations of Bali.  Legian and Seminyak are situated along the west coast and offer more luxurious accommodation including private beaches, gardens and swimming pools.  The rest of the drive up the west coast will take you past many places to remain, but they aren’t the famous or preferred resorts or hotels.  For the holiday maker who favors secluded areas there’ll be plenty of places to stay along this western section of Bali without all the trappings and crowds of the massive tourist places. 

From here you might head inland in an easterly direction and you will come to Ubud which is situated in the mountainous area of Bali.  The landscape is worlds apart compared to the seaside resorts.  Here you’ll be encircled by lush tropical rain forests with stunning views of the mountains and volcanoes.  Driving further east you will shortly come to the eastern shore, where there are some popular resorts.  As with the resorts further up the west coast you’ll find these are far more expensive than the southern areas because of the wonderful diving locations around this area.  The widely known resorts on the east coast are Candi Dasa and Sanur.  When you get to Sanur you can take a detour inland and come to Denspanar, the capital of Bali.  Though this isn’t really a well-liked tourist destination due to its lack of beaches, night life and shopping malls, it’s still worth taking time out to explore. 

From Denspanar you would drive south again and before you get to Nusa Dua where you started from, you will pass Tanjung Benoa a truly well-liked, but very up market area.  Tanjung Benoa is located on the tip of the peninsula and has stunning views of the sea. 

As far as the most visited and popular places in Bali go, those are the better known ones, but Bali offers so very much more.  There are so many more Bali hotels situated all round the island and on some of the smaller islands just round the coast.  Bali is certainly an island to be explored and taking one of the Bali Tours to one of the lesser know towns will give you a far better understanding of the genuine Balinese way of life.