life's a beach: kuta beach

A deserted, palm-fringed beach; warm, clear water; perfect waves peeling off the headlands at either end of the bay – it’s paradise and it’s all yours! The trouble is, you’re 30 years late! Now every surfboard-toting traveler, package tourist, vacationing family, impoverished backpacker, and yes, even busloads of Japanese tourists, have all been to Kuta Beach!

But hey,  the waves are still peeling the way the did before the influx of tourists, and the water is still warm and clear, and I guess you could argue that it’s still lined with coconut palm – just a few hotels, too. Kuta Beach is what it is, and if you’re looking for an unspoilt paradise, you’re going to have to get a little more adventurous than just spending two weeks in Bali. If, on the other hand, you’re after a beach with loads of cool bars, an endless choice of hotels, bars and restaurants and locals that are still, after all these years, warm and welcoming, you should head straight to Kuta Beach, order a drink with an umbrella in it, and have an awesome vacation.

Bali is small. There are loads of beaches all the way ‘round the island that can easily be explored with a rental jeep, or for those who like to live dangerously, a rental motorcycle. Kuta Beach is an ideal base to explore Bali from, and it has all those facilities you need in a home base. If you’re lucky enough to be there in April, you get to be part of the launch of the annual Indonesian Pro Surfing Tour. Let’s not forget that Indonesia offers some of the best surfing on the planet. Bali was where it all started, and of course it was Kuta beach that set the whole Indonesian surf scene in motion.