The resort area of Nusa Dua in the east of the Bukit Peninsula is the best in Bali. Until the beginning of the 80s. it was just a palm-fringed coastline, and today it is an elite holiday destination with a chain of luxury hotels beloved by Hollywood stars, politicians and businessmen. The beaches of Nusa Dua are sandy and very clean. From the high ocean waves, they are fenced off by a chain of coral reefs. In the center of the resort, behind the hotels, is the Bali Collection shopping complex, under the roof of which there are more than 80 shops and boutiques, as well as restaurants, art galleries and a theater.
To the north of Nusa Dua stretches the narrow sandy strip of Tanjung Benoa. This is a former fishing village, now turned into a chain of four- and five-star hotels (comparatively low class) with a whole bunch of opportunities for water activities.
Beaches
According to Best-medical-schools, the Nusa Dua beach resort stretches for 3 km from the Sofitel Resort in the north to the Mulia Resort in the south. With a wide strip of light yellow sand, a gentle approach, clear water and a protective barrier of coral reefs, it is considered one of the best in Bali. The staff of the hotel opposite which it is located is responsible for the cleanliness, order, proper condition of umbrellas, sunbeds and other infrastructure. A narrow paved path stretches along the beach, separating it from the rest of the hotel territory, which is usually closed to outsiders. At the same time, the beach itself is accessible to everyone, and anyone can get on it.
In the center and in the southern part of the Nusa Dua beach there are areas intended for the public, not living in the hotels of the resort area. The sand on them may not be so clean, but here you can have a bite to eat in restaurants, rent a sun lounger (35,500 IDR) and even take a shower.
Each hotel offers a wide range of beach activities – jet skiing, banana boating, parasailing, surfing, wakeboarding, etc. at prices ranging from 200,000 to 500,000 IDR. But the rare beach vendors do not bother anyone – under pain of losing their license, they are strictly forbidden to approach sunbeds. Therefore, the word “no” they understand the first time.
Due to the gentle approach and the absence of large waves, it is good to relax with children on the beaches of the Nusa Dua resort area.
Shopping: shops and souvenirs
Shopping in Bali is an essential part of the holiday. There has not yet been a person born who would leave here without shopping. For hundreds of years, entire generations of craftsmen have worked to decorate the local temples and palaces, who now create real masterpieces for tourists. Balinese masks, dolls, batik, mosaics made of different types of wood, figures of gods and goddesses are known all over the world – from tiny to huge, the size of a human being.
Famous jewelers live in the village of Celuk. Masa has the best wood carvers on the island. Tenganan Village is famous for its wickerwork and art carved on palm leaves. At the beginning of the 20th century, Europeans were literally stunned by Balinese painting, and Western artists who fell in love with the island gave it new shades. Now both directions – traditional and modern, exist simultaneously, and each has its own fans and customers.
All products of the famous John Hardy jewelry brand, which Sting and Jessica Parker love so much, are made only in Bali. The founder of the brand, American John Hardy, having arrived on the island, was so captivated by the art of local craftsmen that he opened his own jewelry factory here and made Bali his second home.
Shopping in Nusa Dua can be done without leaving the hotel – each has boutiques and art galleries, more like museums. It is even better to go to the huge Bali Collection shopping center, located on the territory of the resort area. In addition to handicrafts, here you can buy interesting cut clothes of European and American designers living in Bali.
Cuisine and restaurants in Nusa Dua
In each of the hotels in the resort area there are restaurants of international cuisine – Indonesian, Italian, French, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Latin American. They compete with the establishments of the Bali Collection shopping center (including the Russian cuisine restaurant “Polar Bear”) and beach ones. Invited chefs from all over the world try to outdo each other by treating their guests to gourmet gourmet cuisine.
Not the last role is given to interior design. In one of the most popular restaurants – The Pirates Bay in the center of Nusa Dua beach, there is everything to feel like a real filibuster – a pirate ship, an observation deck on a tall tree, thatched huts. To enter the image, you can change into pirate costumes and take part in the search for a chest with gold coins.
When ordering a dish of local cuisine, you should warn the waiter so that the chef does not abuse hot spices.
You can eat cheaply and tasty in the neighboring village of Bualu with quite democratic restaurants, cafes, pizzerias, sushi bars and “warungs” – small eateries with national cuisine devoid of any glamor. It can be a nameless eatery with 2-3 tables on the street, and a small restaurant, for example, Warung Bule and Susi (Pintas Siligita St., 111), which is loved by Western tourists. The menu includes traditional local dishes: “babiguling” – suckling pig roasted on a spit, “bebekgoreng” – chicken baked in banana leaves, grilled fish “ikanpepes”, vegetable salad “gado-gado”, fried noodles “migoreng” and, of course, “sate” – small skewers of chicken or lamb.
The average cost of dinner in a hotel restaurant in the resort area of Nusa Dua is 1,000,000 IDR per person, lunch in a warung is 150,000-200,000 IDR, street fast food is from 40,000 IDR.
