Guide to Kuta Beach Bali

Kuta Beach is the most famous beach in Bali and the first one most people see.

Its proximity to the cheap guest houses on Poppies I & II as well as Jl. Benesari and the budget hotels on Jl. Melasti make it super accessible for a surfer just arriving for the first time. For someone staying at hotel Bounty on Poppies II for example you only have to walk for about 3 minutes and you will be at the beach.

At the bottom end of Jl. Pantai Kuta you will see the lifeguard tower which is in operation from 6am to 7pm. It is equipped with 2 jet-skis, a Toyota Landcruiser and a surf rescue longboard. There have been over 300 rescues in 2004 as well as 14 drownings.

Being a sandy beach break most of the surfers you will find on Kuta Beach are beginners or intermediates taking it easy. Any time there is swell expect a lot of Balinese in the water as well as Japanese, plus a sprinkling of other nationalities.

Best times to surf this beach are at high tide.

The slope of Kuta Beach is very gradual and you can walk out 100 meters and still be only chest high in the water, a perfect place for beginners. The waves come in flat meaning you are not going to get a very long ride.

Kuta Beach itself has the densest beach activity of any place in Bali with drink, sarong, carving sellers all over the place. Boards of all sizes are available for rent. There seems to be someone with a rack of boards every 10 meters under the trees. You can also get a body board if that is your preference. I asked a number of renters for a rate and they ask 50,000rp for 2 hours with the body board and 75,000-100,000rp for 2 hours for a surfboard. This is their asking price of course and the realities are somewhat different. If you persist you can probably get them down a lot. Remember you can rent a motorbike for a day for 40,000rp.

Expect to be hassled like mad by massage ladies and all kinds of vendors as soon as you sit down for a break. Getting to know a single drink vendor will help if you are planning to stay around for a while, because as trust develops they will guard your belongings as they see you as a regular customer. I still would not bring too much cash or valuables to the beach.

For people planning to spend the whole day at the beach there are a million drink vendors. A Coke goes for 5,000rp and a small Bintang for 10,000rp.

Indonesian food vendors are all over too selling quick snacks that are popular with locals including rujak, the spicy concoction of unripe fruits sprinkled with salt, chili and caramel sauce.

Close to the life guard tower at the bottom on Jl. Pantai Kuta there is a toilet / shower facility which charges 1,000rp for the toilet. There is another similar facility on the beach across from Poppies Lane II and another at Halfway and another at Jl.Pantai Legian a little ways up the beach from the turn off at Jl. Melasti.

Across from the beach down by Poppies I is a Circle K and a McDonalds which may please some people. There are also free-standing ATM machines in this area as well in some of the Circle K’s.

Warungs offering cheap food are within a 2 minute walk on Poppies Lane I so no need to get sucked into a beachside restaurant and high prices.

As a rule of thumb the swell hits harder the further you head north in regard to Kuta Bay. The surf schools often are based in the Kuta Beach area across from Poppies I & II. If you head up to Kuta Halfway which is halfway up Jl. Pantai Kuta to Jl. Melasti, at the end you will have way less of everything, food options, drink sellers ad shade as the trees have not grown here much, although there is a new Circle K next to the Aussie-themed Southern Cross restaurant serving an assortment of western food. Black pepper steak is 45,000rp and red snapper is the same price. For people surfing at Kuta Halfway your nearest budget food options are on Jl. Benesari a minutes walk south.

I am not an expert on surfboards but here is what I see. A lot of people renting a selection of old boards, some of them having been painted a few times. There are also semi-decent mini-mals which presumably came from a surf school at some time. If you have never surfed the best tip I can give you is take a lesson from a western surf school, you will learn safety tips and technique. The renters on the beach won’t give you any surfing tips or care about which board you rent. First timers need a big board, the bigger the better.

When Kuta Beach get old try moving on to Legian, Canggu and Dreamland on the Bukit.