Indonesia | May 2024 |
Here's a recap of a recent few days ride around the west of Bali, 6 months after a rides around east Bali and Penida. West Bali is a great route, featuring relatively short distances and amazing sites. If you are looking for a journey back in time to "old-style" Bali, the western route takes into some of the most throwback areas of the island, where tourists are few and locals still predominantly speak Balinese. As always I like to add the disclaimer that I am not a true expert on this region, certainly not a local or expat living in Bai, but this trip is a decent example of how anyone can easily do something different and gratifying on their Bali trip.
I rented an Yamaha Aerox 155 from Pande at Bali Bliss, 1,250,000 rupiah for 2-weeks. This is the same bike I previously rode from Bali to Flores and back in 2023. Pande requires no deposit (perhaps it's a "mates rate" thing for me?) and is fine for the bike to be taken outside of Bali (which I did on this trip, as this West Bali ride was actually part of a West Bali & East Java journey).
Ride 1: Seminyak to Permuteran
Departed 9:00 am, Seminyak to Tabanan - a massive 90 minute traffic jam. Fortunately, from Tabanan onward the ride was excellent. The road follows the coast and its epic beaches, places like Balian and Medewi that I had heard of but never visited (and didn't manage to stop at on this trip, but will be back). From Gilimanuk junction it's a short 45 min ride to Pemuteran.
Honestly, I was blown away by Pemuteran, stayed 4 days, longer than planned. This is throwback Bali at its best: quiet, deep culture, economical, relaxing, world-class diving. I stayed at Mango Tree, and it was truly superb, especially the upstairs room. The beach at Pemuteran is nice and quiet, lots of shade, and no pounding waves, as on the south of the island.
Permuteran is renowned for its diving and I was keen to give it a try. I went with Dive Concepts did 2 dives at Menjangan Island, part of the West Bali National Park. The dive site is a short boat ride away, and offers stunning views of Ijen volcano across the straight in Java. "Menjangan" means deer in Indonesian, and there are many hanging out at the diver lunch zone looking for handouts. Diving was good, a nice wall; apparently, the shore diving is also great (I didn't try).
Ride 2: Permuteran to Seminyak
After 4 relaxing days in Permuteran, it was time to head back to Seminyak. My route was Permuteran to Bubunan, and then south. It's incredible how nice this ride is, jungle mountain road, around a volcano, through impressive rice terraces, with little traffic, nary a tourist, and super-friendly people. After a decent 2 hours or so ride, I was back to Tabunan and the dreaded final section of the ride back to Seminyak. This time I avoided the main road and swung by Tanah Lot, nearer to the coast - it was much better than the trip out of Seminayk when I started this trip.
So....
If you had a bit of time (2-3 days, even 1 long day) you could easily experience a whole other Bali on a rental scooter. Or if you had a bit more time, you could easily do a loop of the entire island. I highly recommend this and wish I had done it years ago; the "real Bali" still exists, you just need to ride 90 minutes out of the south.
My route and stops
Click the "window" at top-left on the map for more details.
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