I. NUSA DUA
1. Dining
The five-star hotels of Nusa Dua contain a great number of high standard restaurants (with international prices) serving international, European, Chinese, Balinese and Indonesian cuisine. Generally, the restaurants of the neighboring resorts of Tanjung Benoa have greater variety and are better value. Virtually all Nusa Dua restaurants immediately outside the resort offer free transport in the Nusa Dua, Tanjung Benoa.
2. The Beach
Nusa Dua’s beach hotels front a three-kilometer-long shoreline of sugary white sand with gentle waves and usually not a rock, jet ski or motorboat in sight. The surf break, only accessible by boat, is from September-November. Boats are only allowed to pick up passengers at designated jetties and barriers have been constructed to protect the swimming environment, moving the surf quite a distance from shore. There’s a lovely seaside park in this beach, with a picnic rest area and nearby rocky outcroppings with spectacular blowholes created when waves blow up through fissures in the coral. This is also a great bird watching area.
3. Shopping
Although the Nusa Dua/Tanjung Benoa are does not compare to Kuta or Denpasar for choice, you can find a wide range of products in a much smaller area. On the stretch of Jalan Bypass Ngurah Rai between the airport turnoff and Nusa Dua itself there are scores of small retailers offering a wealth of local goods from lamps, woven mats, pottery, outdoor furniture and garden accessories.
II. SANUR
1. Dance Performance in Sanur
Being a fishing village traditionally, Sanur retains its local flavor even though the busy Bypass Ngurah Rai passes through and the main street, Jalan Danau Tamblingan is wall-to-wall shops and restaurants. The Brahman banjar (village) of Anggarasih and the fishing village of Belong still hold a yearly baris gede warrior dance at Pura Dalem Kedewatan. And the village of Taman, whose Brahman’s have traditionally served as the region’s chief administrator or perbekel is a home to an electric barong troupe complete with an impish telek escort.
2. Prasasti Belanjong
Sanur’s history goes back a long way, with some of the oldest recorded writing on the island still preserved at the small temple in Belanjong Village. The ancient text called Prasasti Belanjong, dating back to the 10th Century, is inscribed on stone pillar locked in a glass cabinet only about 10 meters from the street. Wrapped in cloth, you can just manage to see a bit of the writing sticking out. The inscriptions detail the arrival of a Javanese king in Bali of the Mahayana Buddhist kingdom, another cultural and religious influence.
3. Nightlife
Sanur nightlife is basically the local bar and restaurant scene, with the some places providing live music. There are no real nightclubs in Sanur and the younger party crowds do not frequent the area as much. One of the most pleasant aspects of Sanur is its large expanse of beachfront. A footpath covers the entire 5kms allowing visitors to stroll along and explore, stopping when they feel like it for a drink or snack at a beach side restaurant. The sand quality is good in Sanur, yellowish in color and fairly clean.
4. Watersports
Sanur has a reef making it ideal for surfers and also people with young kids inside the reef. Sanur does not get a strong beach break like Kuta and Seminyak. Swimming is only possible at high tide as low tide exposes the reef. Swimming outside the reef is not recommended. You can find almost any watersport imaginable here. Most of the facilities are found right on the beach around the Sanur Beach Market, or in front of the big hotels in this area. There are jet skis, kayaks and windsurfing boards to rent. There are also other activities such as banana boat, water skiing, parasailing and snorkeling.
III. UBUD
1. Dance Performances and Ceremonies
Ubud often regarded as ‘the real Bali’. This nickname makes it open its door for people who want to come and see the daily life of Balinese the way it has been for hundreds of years. When you come, make sure you see as much as dance and ceremonies as possible because some of the performances in the temple are sacred, or can only be happening in a certain time. You may just witness ceremonies that never happen again in the same place in another fifty or a hundred years. The regular performance is scheduled everyday in almost 10 different places in Ubud. Ask for the performance schedule and choose the performance you want to see.
2. Museums and Galleries
Ubud is the only town in Indonesia with many museums in it. Thanks to the encouragement of the late Cokorda Gede Raka Sukawati, Walter Spies was settled in Ubud thus provoking a growing tide of visitors to this enchanting village. In 1920s and early 1930s, Ubud became the focal point for foreign artists and other creative people gathering around Spies, a highly gifted and versatile German artist. The result of this development is a flowering of the arts, that somehow made some museums and galleries exist in Ubud. In the Ubud Main Road, you can find Puri Lukisan Museum, home for paintings and sculpture made by members of Ubud’s Pita Maha artist association. In Campuhan, there is Blanco Renaissance Museum that exhibited artworks from the eccentric painter. Up to Sanggingan, the Neka Art Museum displays a comprehensive collection of Balinese and Indonesian artists. There are two other museums slightly out of Ubud, the Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA) and Museum Rudana is also worth to look for. Several galleries that you must not missed are Lempad Gallery and Seniwati Gallery in Ubud Main Road. The latter features women’s art, especially works by female Balinese artists. Visit also Sika Gallery, on Jalan Raya Sanggingan, Komaneka Fine Art Gallery on Monkey Forest Road and Gaya Fusion and Senses at Sayan for contemporary artworks by Indonesian and foreign artists.
3. Pura Gunung Lebah
According to an 8th century legend, a Javanese priest named Rsi Markendya came to Bali from Java and meditated in Campuhan (Sangam in Sanskrit) at the confluence of two streams – an auspicious site for Hindus, he founded the Gunung Lebah Temple here, on a narrow platform above the valley floor, where pilgrims seeking peace came to be healed from their worldly cares. You can still get there by following a small road on the western outskirts of Ubud, then taking the path down toward the river.
4. Spa in Ubud
Set amidst emerald green rice paddies and steep ravines in the stunning central Balinese foothills, the village of Ubud was originally an important source of medicinal herbs and plants. “Ubud” in fact derives from the Balinese word for medicine – ubad. Nowadays, the general feeling of wellbeing can be enjoyed in the spas all over Ubud. The area offers wide range of treatments and prices for tourists of all budgets.
5. Dining in Ubud
Ubud has an incredible variety of places to eat. The simple warungs serving nasi campur, satay and suckling pig are still around, but now there is everything else. Today Ubud offers a choice ranging from American hamburgers and steaks, country-style Japanese, and sophisticated Italian pastas all the way to haute cuisine attracting worldwide acclaim. A few restaurants stand head and shoulders above the crowd for the quality and the originality of their food. Those on a budget can find the local warungs.
6. Petulu – place of herons
Petulu is a small village northeast of Ubud where everyday around sunset time you can witness thousands of white herons hovering over the village as they alight in lofty trees. Just mention the name, and any villagers will point you the way to get there.
7. Puri Saren Agung
The main street is Jalan Raya Ubud, which runs east west through the center of town. Two long roads, Jalan Monkey Forest and Jalan Hanuman, extend south from Raya Ubud. Puri Saren Agung is a large palace located at the intersection of Monkey Forest and Raya Ubud roads. The home of Tjokorde Gede Agung Sukawati (1910-1978), the last "king" of Ubud, his descendants currently live there and dance performances are held in its courtyard. This is one of the buildings that were decorated with carved statues and ornament made by the late I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, a noted sculptor and painter in Ubud. Puri Saren Agung is located near to several other important buildings (also decorated by Lempad) such as Pura Pamerajaan Sari Cokorda Agung –the royal family temple and storage place for the family regalia, the main temple of the noble family (Pura Puseh) in the north of the palace and Pura Saraswati (temple of learning) next to it.
8. The Sacred Sanctuary Monkey Forest Park
Monkey Forest Park is a small nature reserve located near the southern intersection of Jalan Monkey Forest and Jalan Hanuman. It houses a temple for the deceased and over 200 long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) monkeys.
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