A Road Trip To Bali's Bukit Peninsula

One of the very best day tours from Kuta is to Bali’s southern Bukit Peninsula. This limestone plateau often simply known as Bukit (Hill), is dry and sparsely populated, although it does have pockets of tourism development.

My friend Mariska and I rented an air conditioned van to chauffeur us around the peninsula for the day. I will never forget how insanely hot we were, fingers dripping from the intense heat. We would hop out of the van, scurry around to see the sites at each stop and then run back into the van to guzzle from our water bottles.

The western side of the peninsula holds some of Bali’s best surf spots. The fabled cove known as Dreamland is perhaps the most exquisite of these, and has some very chill cafes. Further south lies a chain of legendary surf beaches that include Padang Padang, Impossibles and Ulu Watu. At the southwestern tip sits Pura Luhur Ulu Watu which is the most stunningly situated temple I have ever seen.

The temple clings to sheer cliffs, high above the crashing waves below. Enchanting kecak (Fire) dances are held here every night. What an amazing ambiance I’m sure it must send chills down the spine. I will never forget this temple as I was walking behind a group of Japanese tourists who freaked out when a monkey slapped one of the woman and ripped her hat off her head. She was in hysterics crying and heaving for a good 20 minutes and I couldn’t help but laugh at the predicament.

Our last stop was on the easterly side of the peninsula where we visited the famous resort town of Nusa Dua. This stretch of beach is covered in posh hotels and well manicured lawns. We pulled ourselves off the white sandy beach, hopped back into our van and bolted back to our much loved Seminyak.