We spent four days visiting Nusa Penida Island from Bali, and we highly recommend you take some time for this island and don’t just visit it in one day because it has so much to offer, which you don’t want to rush through. Here are the four best things you can’t miss and all you need to know for visiting Nusa Penida Island.
How to get to Nusa Penida from Bali
You can get Nusa Penida from the Harbor in Sanur, Bali, by fast boat, which takes you about 45 minutes. But the trip was more time-consuming because we were told to be at the Harbor 1 hour before departure. In our experience, it wouldn’t have been necessary to be there that early because we had to wait a lot. But except for that, it worked all pretty well. There are many companies to choose from. To get to Nusa Penida, we took Angel Billabong, and when we came back to Bali from Nusa Ceningan, we booked the Crown. Both companies did a good job, took care of our big pieces of luggage, and it was a comfortable ride.
The cost of the speed boat was around IDR 200K, which is about 14 $ for one way. It depends on whether you have pick-up and drop-off services included or not. We got our tickets directly at the Harbor. We heard that they could be booked online for a cheaper price, but we don’t have any experience with that.
Prepare yourself to get wet feet when entering and leaving the boat because there is no such thing as a footbridge. We recommend you wear shoes that can be removed easily and shorts, not long pants or dresses.
How to get around in Nusa Penida
When we first arrived to Nusa Penida, we took a taxi to our accommodation because we had all our luggage with us. We paid about IDR 150K for a 30-minute ride.
After that, we rented a scooter for our whole stay in Nusa Penida and paid IDR 70K per day, which is about 5 $. We highly recommend you get around by motorbike because this allows you to visit some famous spots early in the morning. You should get to these places before the tourist masses arrive; this will make it a much more memorable experience for you.
But we must mention that the streets on Nusa Penida are sometimes terrible, and we had a lot of bumpy rides, which caused us to get ass-pain. Also, there are many accidents happening because of these streets, so if you have no experience driving a scooter, we wouldn’t recommend you. If you are an experienced driver, you will be fine. Just count on enough time to get there, and always wear your helmet.
UPDATE: We heard that most streets in Nusa Penida got paved, so driving should be a lot easier now.Â
4 Best things to do on Nusa Penida
There is a lot to do on Nusa Penida Island, and we were thrilled by our adventures there. We didn’t even make it to do all we wanted to. That is why we mention again, count enough time if you really want to experience this Island.
Diamond Beach and Thousand Islands View Point
On the east coast of Nusa Penida, you can find the incredibly beautiful Diamond Beach. It has its name because of the diamond-shaped rock which is located in the bay. We have seen a lot of pictures of this beach and couldn’t believe that it is even more beautiful in real life.
We recommend you to visit this beach early in the morning. We got there around 7 am, and we experienced it to start getting crowded by 9 am. When we first arrived, there were only very few other people. Another great thing about arriving early is that you can skip the entrance fee because there was no one at the entrance yet.
The stairs down to the beach, which is newly built, are pretty straightforward, but they go only halfway down. After that, it gets much steeper, but there are still some stairs you can follow. Only the last part is a bit of a hike.
The beach is worth every step to get there. It is a beautiful white sand beach with turquoise blue water. We enjoyed our time at the beach so much. But be aware that the water is very rough there, so swimming is not recommended.
Just a few minutes’ ride from Diamond Beach, you can find the Thousand Islands viewpoint, which gives you a stunning view. We highly recommend you visit this place at sunrise because it’s the perfect spot for it. Unfortunately, we caught some rain when we did so. This is also the place where the famous Rumah Pohon Treehouse can be found.
Kelingking Beach
There are probably not that many places in the world that are more famous than this beach, but when we got there, we totally realized why. It’s a magical place, and what makes it unique is the T-Rex-shaped formations that can be admired from above.
To visit Kelingking beach in Nusa Penida, we recommend you again to get there early or at sunset. We heard that the big tours leave in the late afternoon, and if we had known earlier, we would have considered visiting for sunset because the lights on the beach would have been better. But also, in the early morning, it was a beautiful experience. We arrived at the beach shortly before 7 am and were first there.
We took some photos at the top and admired the beach from above first because we knew that many people wouldn’t go all the way down, but the top can get crowded. After that, we started our hike down. The first part until the middle is pretty easy, but the second part got way more challenging. We recommend you wear the right shoes, either sneakers or sandals, with good soles that can not slip off your feet. It took us about 30-40 min to get down.
The beach we landed on was worth every step. It’s probably the most beautiful beach we have seen so far. The ocean is wild and rough, and you can spot Mantas in the water. Also, Swimming is not recommended because the enormous waves can get quite dangerous.Â
We spent about 1.5 hours at the beach. There were only a few people coming all the way down, and we loved the time we had there. After that, we hiked back up, which took us about half an hour again. By then, the top was crowded already, and we were happy to hop on our scooter and drive on.
Broken Beach and Angel Billabong
These two places are right next to each other, so you can park your scooter and walk to both of them. There is a parking fee of IDR 5’000, which is less than 1 $.
Angel Billabong is like a natural infinity pool, which is very beautiful. It is possible to swim inside, but only at low tide because the waves are breaking over the rocks at high tide, and it can get very dangerous. When we visited, the low tide was unfortunately not in the morning, so we didn’t get to swim inside, and because of the crowds, we decided not to come back in the afternoon when the tide got lower.
Right next to it, only a few minutes walk, you can find broken beach, which is like a big round hole, and a natural archway which you can walk over. Getting down to the actual beach is impossible, but it’s beautiful to see from above.
Visit the neighboring Islands Nusa Ceningan & Nusa Lembongan
Don’t miss the smaller neighboring Islands, which have a fantastic laid-back vibe and cute beach cafes to relax after your adventurous days on Nusa Penida.
Things to do on Nusa Ceningan & Lembongan
Where to eat on Nusa Penida
We had fantastic food during our time on Nusa Penida and have listed our favorite spots here:
- Penida Colada: Our favorite place on the Island. Located on the beach with the best beach vibes and great vegan options. Very delicious Buddha Bowl as well as smoothie bowls. Run by a lovely Australia-Penida couple working towards sustainable practices.
- Penida Espresso: Great place to have Breakfast and good Coffee. We loved the smoothies Bowls here.
- Organica: Lovely place to have dinner. We loved their curry and black rice dessert.
- Vegan Soul Kitchen: This place is a bit secluded, but that is why it’s even more idyllic to eat there. They have amazing Vegan dishes and smoothies.
- Warung Lonto: Our favorite Warung on the Island. Delicious Nasi Goreng and Gado-Gado for a reasonable price. (Add a delicious watermelon juice to your food, because water is sold only in plastic bottles here)
Where to stay on Nusa Penida
We stayed at La Roja Bungalows and we liked the place a lot. Spacious Bungalows and super friendly staff. We had the chance to rent a scooter directly at the hotel and there were some good restaurants close from the Bungalows.
