Is west Bali worth visiting?

West of Canggu the coast empties out almost immediately. Tabanan regency runs from Kedungu up past Tanah Lot and along a hundred kilometres of coastline to the national park, and outside Tanah Lot at sunset almost nobody stops.

Kedungu and Nyanyi

Twenty minutes past Pererenan, a long black-sand beach with a river mouth, a surf break that works for intermediates, and rice fields behind it. It has gone from empty to developing in a few years and is where a lot of Canggu's overflow is heading.

Tanah Lot

The sea temple on its rock, and the most visited sunset in Bali. See which temples are worth it for how to do it without the crowd. The coastline either side, at Yeh Gangga and Pasut, is empty black sand with almost nobody on it.

Jatiluwih and Batukaru

Inland, the UNESCO-listed Jatiluwih rice terraces and, above them, Pura Luhur Batukaru, a mossy forest temple on the slopes of Bali's second-highest mountain. Cool, green and almost free of visitors, and the best temple-and-terrace combination on the island.

Medewi

An hour and a half from Canggu, a long left-hand point break in a quiet Muslim fishing village. It is one of the longest rides in Bali, forgiving by local standards, and the village has a handful of simple guesthouses and warungs.

Wet season and shoulder months work here. The break is stony underfoot; reef boots help.

Balian

Closer than Medewi, a river-mouth break with a small expatriate scene and a few good places to stay. Quiet, black sand, and a completely different pace from Canggu 45 minutes away.

West Bali National Park

The far northwest corner: dry monsoon forest, savannah, mangroves and a marine section that includes Menjangan Island, which has the best snorkelling and wall diving in Bali.

Birdwatching is the other draw, including the critically endangered Bali starling, which survives in the wild only here and on Nusa Penida, supported by a long-running breeding programme.

Trekking with park guides through terrain that looks like nothing else on the island.

Gilimanuk and the Java ferry

At the western tip, the ferry port for Java. Crossings run around the clock and take 45 minutes to an hour plus loading. This is the route for anyone heading to Ijen and Bromo overland. See the Java route.

Practicalities

Getting there: Kedungu 30 minutes from Canggu, Tanah Lot 45, Balian 90, Medewi two hours, the national park three and a half to four.

Staying: small guesthouses and a handful of good boutique properties at Balian, Medewi, Soka and Pemuteran. Very little at the top end apart from a couple of resorts near the park.

Eating: warungs. Do not expect a restaurant scene.

Roads: the main west-coast road carries the Java truck traffic and is busy and slow in places. The inland roads through Pupuan are spectacular and empty.

Who it suits

Surfers who want a break without a crowd, drivers doing the island loop, divers heading for Menjangan, and anyone whose reaction to Canggu was to keep going. It is not a first-trip destination, and it is the part of Bali that most resembles the island twenty years ago.

The drive itself

The inland road through Pupuan is one of the best drives in Bali: hairpins through clove and coffee plantations, rice terraces on both sides, and a road that climbs to 800 metres before dropping to the north coast. It is the scenic alternative to the coastal truck route and adds about 45 minutes.

The coastal road west is functional rather than beautiful, carrying the Java freight traffic, and it passes through a string of ordinary Balinese towns that see almost no tourism.

Where west Bali is going

This is the frontier for development in Bali. Kedungu and Nyanyi have already turned, Tabanan's coast is being bought, and the road infrastructure is improving. For a visitor, that means two things: the empty beaches are emptier now than they will be in five years, and the accommodation at the good end is still thin.

If you are looking at the area as an investment rather than a holiday, the relevant pages are Tabanan and the west coast and Kedungu and Nyanyi.

A two-night west Bali trip

Night one at Balian or Medewi for the surf and the quiet. Night two at Pemuteran for Menjangan snorkelling. Drive back through Pupuan and Jatiluwih. That is a better two days than most people have in a week in the south.