What is Seminyak like to visit?

Seminyak is what Kuta became when it grew up and got expensive. It runs north from Legian along the coast, through Petitenget and into Kerobokan, and it is the part of Bali that feels most like a resort town in the Mediterranean sense.

What it is actually like

Two parallel main streets, Jalan Kayu Aya (Eat Street) and Jalan Petitenget, lined with restaurants, boutiques, spas and hotels, with villa lanes behind them and a wide sunset-facing beach in front. It is the most walkable area in Bali, which for a visitor without a scooter matters a great deal.

The crowd skews a little older and better off than Canggu: couples, families in villas, Australians on repeat visits, and a steady flow of people who have decided that a beach club and a good dinner is the holiday they want.

The beach

A long, wide, dark-sand beach running from Legian up past Petitenget. Sunsets are the daily event, with beanbags, cold beer and a queue of people photographing the same horizon.

The surf is a beach break, suitable for beginners with a school in the right conditions. The currents are real. Lifeguards patrol the central sections.

Eating

This is Seminyak's actual claim. The concentration and quality of restaurants is the best on the island: Indonesian, Japanese, Italian, Mexican, steak, seafood, and the sort of tasting-menu places that would work in any capital city.

Prices run from 100,000 rupiah for a good local meal to 800,000 a head with wine at the top end. Imported wine carries heavy duty, which is why a bottle costs three times what it would at home.

Book for dinner in high season. The good places fill.

Beach clubs

Potato Head at Petitenget is the famous one. Ku De Ta, its older neighbour, still works. There are half a dozen more along the strip, each with a day-bed minimum spend, a pool, a DJ and a sunset.

The format is the same everywhere: arrive at 3pm, pay a minimum spend that converts into food and drinks, stay for sunset. If you have never done it, do it once.

Shopping

The strongest retail in Bali: local designers, homeware, surf brands, jewellery, and the tourist tat at the Kuta end. Seminyak Village and the boutiques along Kayu Aya are the concentrated version.

Getting around

Walkable within the strip, which no other part of Bali really is. Scooters and Grab for everything else. The airport is 10 kilometres away and takes 25 to 60 minutes depending on the hour.

Where to stay within Seminyak

• Petitenget and Batu Belig for the newer hotels, beach clubs and a slightly calmer version.
• Kayu Aya and Oberoi, the centre, for walkability to everything.
• Seminyak-Legian border, cheaper, busier, closer to the Kuta energy.
• Kerobokan, inland, where the villas are larger and cheaper and you will need a scooter.

What Seminyak is not

Not cheap, not quiet at the main junctions, and not remotely undiscovered. The beach is not the turquoise water in the aerial photographs, which come from the Bukit and Nusa Penida. Traffic on the two main streets is slow and parking is difficult.

For many visitors it is still the right base, because it solves the single biggest problem in Bali: being able to walk to dinner.

If you are looking at property here

See Seminyak property and Petitenget and Batu Belig for the market view, which is very different from the visitor view.