- Joined
- Jul 13, 2016
- Messages
- 506
Here is some recycled info - a couple of years ago so updates welcome please.
Some are put off by the ferry terminal located here. If staying on the beachfront this is not an issue (well it wasn’t for us). When arriving in the town one turns off well before the harbour area to access the hotel precinct. No harbour traffic on the road that services this area. No noise from the harbour other than the occasional muted “TOOOOT†and in fact at night the lights of the ferries as they arrive and depart are quite picturesque. The hotel area is located near the jetty that serves the fast boats mainly bound for the Gilis and Lombok. A local told me that 700 people per day take these boats to the Gilis. Combine this with the divers taking day trips and you get a very busy and watchable hour or so from around 7am. After that it quietens down completely.
The popularity of the spot with divers, the number of dive shops and boats, and my previous experience of off-the-beach snorkelling at Blue Lagoon seem to indicate that it’s still a pretty good locale for these activities.
A dozen or more places to eat but nothing out of the ordinary or expensive from appearances. There were some very fresh fish and prawns on ice outside one restaurant and in the past I indulged in a couple of huge crays here (with friends) for a good price. I had the best flat white (that's coffee for the non-Aussies) I’ve ever had in Indonesia at a diveshop/coffeeshop/eatery next door to the hotel.
The beach opposite the hotels is OK - pretty clean and lots of the usual colourful perahu. Just the right number of beach hawkers - about four.
Didn’t get to the snorkelling spot known as Blue Lagoon (a few hundred metres over the headland to the north and past Pura Silayukti) but the hotel manager told me that it’s much as before with gear for hire and warungs on the beach. Search the internet for lots of traveller tales. Also didn’t get to the white sand beach over the headland to the south of the harbour but a look at Google Earth shows that it’s probably a lot more accessible by vehicle now because of some tragic failed development on the hill above the beach. Still looks like a very nice beach with warungs, deck chairs etc, judging by the photos. The rock shelf to the south is accessible and has some interesting mini-blowhole effects.
The drive from South Bali is easy now with the major highway to within about 5 ks of the Padang Bai turnoff.
Some are put off by the ferry terminal located here. If staying on the beachfront this is not an issue (well it wasn’t for us). When arriving in the town one turns off well before the harbour area to access the hotel precinct. No harbour traffic on the road that services this area. No noise from the harbour other than the occasional muted “TOOOOT†and in fact at night the lights of the ferries as they arrive and depart are quite picturesque. The hotel area is located near the jetty that serves the fast boats mainly bound for the Gilis and Lombok. A local told me that 700 people per day take these boats to the Gilis. Combine this with the divers taking day trips and you get a very busy and watchable hour or so from around 7am. After that it quietens down completely.
The popularity of the spot with divers, the number of dive shops and boats, and my previous experience of off-the-beach snorkelling at Blue Lagoon seem to indicate that it’s still a pretty good locale for these activities.
A dozen or more places to eat but nothing out of the ordinary or expensive from appearances. There were some very fresh fish and prawns on ice outside one restaurant and in the past I indulged in a couple of huge crays here (with friends) for a good price. I had the best flat white (that's coffee for the non-Aussies) I’ve ever had in Indonesia at a diveshop/coffeeshop/eatery next door to the hotel.
The beach opposite the hotels is OK - pretty clean and lots of the usual colourful perahu. Just the right number of beach hawkers - about four.
Didn’t get to the snorkelling spot known as Blue Lagoon (a few hundred metres over the headland to the north and past Pura Silayukti) but the hotel manager told me that it’s much as before with gear for hire and warungs on the beach. Search the internet for lots of traveller tales. Also didn’t get to the white sand beach over the headland to the south of the harbour but a look at Google Earth shows that it’s probably a lot more accessible by vehicle now because of some tragic failed development on the hill above the beach. Still looks like a very nice beach with warungs, deck chairs etc, judging by the photos. The rock shelf to the south is accessible and has some interesting mini-blowhole effects.
The drive from South Bali is easy now with the major highway to within about 5 ks of the Padang Bai turnoff.