Where to Stay in Bali: Choosing a Base

Where to stay in Bali depends on what you want within easy reach, because the island's areas are far apart in travel time. For a first visit, the choice is usually between a beach base in the south and Ubud in the hills. Seminyak suits dining and beach, Canggu surf, the Bukit cliffs and quiet, Sanur and Nusa Dua families, and Ubud culture and rice terraces.

How to think about a base

A base in Bali is the area you sleep in and return to each night, and it decides what your days look like. The island is small, at about 89 miles from end to end, and its roads are slow. A sensible base puts the things you most want to do within a short ride, so that long drives are the exception.

Start from what you want

Our advice is to list the three things you most want from the trip before looking at hotels. Beach and restaurants, surf, temples and terraces, quiet, diving: each points to a different part of the island. A base chosen for its price or its photographs, without that list, is how visitors end up in the car.

Check the distance in both directions

Every base is close to some things and far from others. Ubud is about 22 miles from the airport to Ubud by road, and about 34 miles from Uluwatu. Seminyak is 7 miles from the airport and about 20 from Ubud. Look at what your base is far from as well as what it is near.

The southern beach bases

South Bali is where most visitors stay, and it offers five quite different bases. Travel guides describe Kuta as the most developed, Seminyak as quieter and more upscale, Canggu as a fast-developing surf area, the Bukit peninsula as rugged cliffs and surf beaches, and Sanur and Nusa Dua as the calmer resort areas on the east-facing coast.

Seminyak

Seminyak suits travelers who want good restaurants, shops and a sunset beach within walking distance. It is about 7 miles from the airport. Our view is that it is the easiest base for a first visit, since it asks the least of a newcomer and has the most to do on foot.

Canggu

Canggu, north of Seminyak, suits surfers and longer stays. It is about 12 miles from the airport and the furthest of the west-coast areas from the Bukit. Travel guides describe black sand beaches, surfing and rice paddies. It is more spread out, so plan on a ride for most outings.

The Bukit and Uluwatu

The Bukit peninsula suits surfers, couples and anyone who wants cliffs, views and space. Uluwatu is about 13 miles from the airport. Little of it is walkable, and its beaches are at the bottom of steps. It is the furthest southern base from Ubud and the central sights.

Sanur and Nusa Dua

The east-facing coast suits families and travelers who want quiet. Travel guides describe Sanur as a mature resort town popular with families and older visitors, and Nusa Dua as an enclave of high-end resorts with little traffic. Sanur is also where boats to the Nusa islands leave from.

Ubud and the center

Ubud is the inland alternative to a beach base, and the island's cultural center. It sits at about 200 meters, cooler than the coast, among rice terraces and temples. It has no beach. It is the best-placed base for the central and eastern sights: Kintamani is about 27 miles away and Sidemen about 22.

Who Ubud suits

Ubud suits travelers who care about culture, crafts, food, walking and yoga. It is a weaker choice for anyone whose trip is mainly about the sea. The center is busy and congested, and the quiet that people associate with Ubud is found in the villages around it.

The quieter regions

Beyond the south and Ubud lie the quieter bases, which suit a longer trip. East Bali has Sidemen, a rice-terrace valley, and Amed, a strip of fishing villages known for snorkeling. The central highlands have Munduk, known for waterfalls and cool air. The north coast has Lovina's black sand beaches.

The price of quiet

These bases are far from the airport: Munduk about 51 miles, Amed about 61. They reward the journey with fewer visitors and more landscape. Our view is that they belong on a trip of ten days or more, as a second or third stop, and not on a first week.

The islands

Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida, off the southeast coast, are bases reached by boat from Sanur. They offer small-island days with little traffic. A stay there adds two boat crossings to the trip, which depend on the sea.

Matching a base to a traveler

The right base in Bali follows from who is traveling. These are our own suggestions, and they describe a starting point, not a rule. Each pairing follows from what the area is known for and how far it sits from the airport.

• First visit, a bit of everything: Seminyak, or Seminyak and Ubud.
• Surfing: Canggu or the Bukit in the dry season.
• Family with young children: Sanur or Nusa Dua.
• Culture, walking, yoga: Ubud.
• Diving and snorkeling: Amed or the Nusa islands.
• Quiet and nature: Sidemen or Munduk.

Season changes the answer

The time of year moves some of these. Surf guides describe the west-facing coast as best in the dry season, from about April to October, and the east-facing coast in the wet season. A surfer's base in January is not the same as in July.

What to check about any place

Whatever the area, a few checks apply to every booking. Bali's rules require visitors to stay in licensed accommodation. In Badung regency, which covers most of the southern resorts, the local tax on hotel stays is 10%, and a service charge may be added, so compare final prices.

Walkability

Look at a map of what surrounds the property. A villa that is cheap because it is isolated will cost you a ride every time you want a meal. If you do not plan to ride a scooter, which requires a motorcycle license in Indonesia, walkability matters a great deal.

What this decision actually sits inside

Notice what happened across all of this. Every base came with a list of what it is far from. The beach bases are far from the terraces, Ubud is far from the surf, and the quiet regions are far from the airport. A single base is a choice about what to leave out, which is why most trips longer than a few days end up asking whether one base is enough.

How bases combine, in what order and for how many nights each, is worked through in Bali, in Its Own Time.