Pantai Nunggalan
The Beach You Have to Earn
For many people, Bali means beaches. Unfortunately, beaches are also one of the easiest things to get wrong here. There is very little point in crossing half the world only to squeeze yourself between crowds, traffic and the relentlessly generic soundtrack of yet another beach club. So let me tell you about the closest thing I know to a private beach in Bali.
Nunggalan is one of those places that still has to be earned. Hidden below the limestone cliffs of Pecatu, it asks for a little more effort than simply stepping out of a taxi. From the top, a narrow trail winds down through the vegetation towards the ocean. The descent generally takes around twenty to thirty minutes and parts of it can be steep and uneven, so this is not the moment for decorative footwear. But inconvenience has its virtues: the cliff does an excellent job of filtering out the less determined.
Eventually, the path opens onto an almost surreal landscape. First comes a wide green pasture, sometimes browned by Bali’s dry season, where cows appear to have claimed one of the island’s finest addresses for themselves. Beyond it lies a long stretch of sand and the immense blue-green Indian Ocean. The beach remains remarkably quiet compared with Bali’s better-known southern beaches, precisely because the cliffs and the walk make casual access difficult. An old shipwreck resting on the sand has also become one of Nunggalan’s visual signatures.
For a moment, you can genuinely feel like a castaway. The horizon seems endless, the cliffs close behind you and the usual Bali machinery disappears. You will probably encounter a few other people who made the same journey, along with surfers willing to take on Nunggalan’s reef break, but there is space here — actual, luxurious space. The waves can be powerful and there is no lifeguard service, so this is a beach where the ocean deserves rather more respect than Instagram enthusiasm. (Padang Padang Surf Camp)
You will not, however, be entirely abandoned. Down on the beach sits Warung Bikini Bottom, presided over by the unforgettable Ismed. And this is where Nunggalan becomes more than simply a beautiful stretch of coastline. There are cold drinks, simple food, hammocks, music and the kind of improvised hospitality that no hospitality group could successfully manufacture. Bikini Bottom is small, unpretentious and wonderfully out of scale with the commercial machinery found elsewhere on the Bukit. (Wanderlog)
While others spend the afternoon queuing for a sunbed beneath somebody else’s idea of luxury, you can lie in a hammock here, listen to reggae, talk to Ismed, stare at the ocean and slowly forget what time it is.
Sand, salt, music and happiness. That is essentially the programme.
Do not leave Bali without making the descent at least once. Nunggalan may no longer be completely secret, but to me it remains one of Uluwatu’s real hidden jewels — and one of those increasingly rare places where Bali still feels larger than tourism.
The Address
Nunggalan Beach (Parking)
No. 8 Jl. Batu Nunggalan
Pecatu, South Kuta
Badung, Bali
Indonesia
Price
€ — Free beach access; local parking charges apply. (Traveloka)
Go for
Seclusion, wild coastline, an endless horizon and the feeling of having genuinely escaped.
Take with you
Good shoes, sunscreen and enough energy for the climb back up.
Also Nearby
Warung Bikini Bottom
On Nunggalan Beach itself.
Cold drinks, simple food, hammocks, reggae and Ismed — quite possibly everything a beach bar actually needs. (Instagram)
Recommendation
Give yourself most of the day. The point of Nunggalan is not to tick it off a list, but to stay long enough for everything else to disappear. Check the ocean conditions before swimming. If you want to stay for sunset, however, make sure your phone still has enough battery left to light the trail on the way back up.
