In my previous blog post, Before travelling to Bali, I told you about the less attractive side of Bali. However if you Put that aside there is also magic to be found and so I will discuss my favourite places on the island in this post.

Lately I seem to be in the habit of booking flights and hostels when I am already in the airport, which isn’t convenient but it allows me to be flexible and I like that feeling. Anyway it brought me to the lounge area of an Australian airport where I once again had to decide where I would stay that same night! Making use of the free wifi I booked a hammock (yes you read this well a hammock!) in a hostel in the area Jimbaran. After a big hustle with taxi drivers I finally arrived in the hostel where I was most friendly greeted and guided to my sleeping place, although the hammock, made of a net and cushioned by foam pillows,  wasn’t the most comfortable it definitely was an amazing experience and the cheapest, only 29.000 RP. They told me that they will replace the net hammock with a cloth one so next time I would definitely go for one of those!

The area Jimbaran is situated 8,5 km south from the airport and allows you to travel around the southern part easily with every beach within a 20 – 30 minute reach. Apart from that this area is also known to be cheaper. My favourite places accessible from this area are Pantai Gunung Payung, Bingin beach, Padang Padang beach and Uluwatu.

Pantai Gunung Payung is a secret beach where you will be asked to pay an entry fee of 8.000 RP, I am not sure if you have to pay for the beach adjacent but you would be able to cross from the other beach when it is low tide. Keep in mind that this beach only has restaurants, more like little food stands, on top of the cliff. However because this beach isn’t as known it is the perfect beach to really relax and get away from people.

Bingin beach has the same relaxed vibe but is surrounded by hotels, restaurants and houses , which is nice if you like to escape from the crowd but also like to have food on the beach or be situated on the beach. So far this beach has free access and again you can, by low tide, walk all the way to the neighbouring beaches, like dreamland beach, and visa versa.

Padang Padang beach is a little bit more crowded and has lots of monkeys walking about, so beware of your things as they are the number one pickpockets. I saw a monkey open an unguarded bag and take a wallet out in broad daylight and before anyone could react he already took off, they are just to quick to stop! The entry fee for this beach is 10.000 RP but it has toilets and showers, which aren’t present on every beach.

My absolute favourite place in the south of Bali is Pantai Suluban Uluwatu Surf. It looks like a cute Greek village build up against a cliff, where as the name suggests you can surf. With lots of places to stay ,eat, borrow surfboards and take surf lessons it attracts a lot of tourists. Yet I must admit that I wouldn’t mind staying around this area as I love the little village, hippy vibe exuding the place. Stairs bring you all the way down to a rocky cave  you’ll have to walk through to get to the actual beach featuring some graffiti sprayed shipwrecks. That being said it might not be the best place for an amateur to start surfing as the ocean is pretty fierce, therefore they also charge more for surf lessons. Last but not least I’ld like to mention single fin, which is a bar/ club that has a great Sunday sesh starting around 6 pm and which has a great sunset view overlooking the ocean.

I could keep going on and on about these places but every post has a limit and this one just exceeded its. I hope this blog helps you decide on what to do and where to go.

If still undecided, keep an eye out for my blog post about what happens north of the Balinese airport.