Visited: October 3 – 11, 2024
As you can probably tell from the dramatic title, I fell in love with Kuta, Lombok (not Kuta in Bali). Visiting Lombok was a last-minute decision, so I went without knowing what to expect. It turned out to be the perfect place to rest, recover, and enjoy after our four-day boat journey. We originally only planned to stay in Kuta for four days, but we ended up extending our stay twice and stayed for a total of ten days.
Kuta is a town on the southern coast of Lombok that has been growing in popularity among tourists over the past decade or so as Bali has become overcrowded. I had read that it was a sleepy town of surfer bums without much going on, so I didn’t expect much. But it was a surprisingly developed town with numerous nice restaurants and bars, close to many stunning beaches, and best of all very little traffic.
For ten days, we spent our days sleeping in, lounging at the beach drinking cold fresh coconuts, hanging out in cute cafes, getting cheap massages, going to happy hours, and eating lots of food both local and western.
The Gorgeous Beaches Near Kuta
There are many beautiful beaches within an hour drive by motorbike from Kuta. Here are the beaches we visited during our stay.
Kuta Beach
Kuta Beach in Kuta, directly off of the Main Street, making it an easy beach to visit and walk. However, it is not a particularly nice beach compared to the others in the area. The water is shallow and a darker color and there are many local fishermen boats so it is not good for swimming. Furthermore, because it is in town, there are so many people (adults and kids) trying to sell you things. We walked to Kuta Beach our first night in Kuta and a few more times during out time in Kuta, but we never stayed to enjoy the beach.
Selong Belanak
This was the first beach we went to and a popular beach for beginner surfers with small waves. We rented a motorbike and it was about a 30-min drive from town. The drive there was gorgeous through the mountains and rice fields. There is also very little traffic so it was an easy ride.
Selong Belanak is a long beach with mesmerizing turquoise water and framed by small mountains on either end of the beach. It was a busy beach lined with warungs and surf schools and beach beds. It seemed like a well-maintained, clean beach with almost no trash.
We went with our one and only friend from the Komodo boat trip, Sven. We rented beach beds with an umbrella for the day for 50k IDR (~$3) each and settled in for the day. I do not like being battered in the water so I did not do any surfing and instead enjoyed the beach vibes while reading while sipping on a fresh cold coconut and swimming. For lunch we ordered nasi goreng (fried rice). It was wonderfully relaxing.
Nate had taken a surf lesson the day before at another beach, so he rented a surfboard and went out to practice. Coming to Indonesia, he was very excited about surfing and was confident that he could pick it back up even though it had been a few years. However, he was quickly humbled by the waves after the first two times where he realized that surfing is not that easy. And he came away battered and sore. The second time surfing at Selong Belanak was his last time of the trip.
Tampah Beach
This is the second beach we went to. Tampah Beach is a quieter and less developed beach with only a handful of warungs. But there were still many tourists when we went. The water was rougher with strong currents even close to shore so I did not go in for very long. I had read that there is decent snorkeling at this beach, but the waters were too rough to try to approach the corals.
Mawun Beach
Mawun Beach is about 20-minutes west of Kuta. It is another quiter and less commercialized beach compared to Selong Belanak. There were also fewer people at the beach so it was a quieter, more remote experience. The water here was also a beautiful turquoise water with whitish sand. I liked this better than Tampah Beach which is nearby. As per usual, we rented beach beds and relaxed here for a few hours.
Tanjung Aan Beach
Tanjung Aan Beach is about a twenty minute drive east of Kuta. This is the first beach that Nate went to on our second day in Kuta for his surf lesson. He went here because he told the instructor that he was an advanced beginning — but this beach was too difficult. We went back together several days later so that I could check out the beach. It is one of the more famous beaches near Kuta and I could see why. It was so beautiful. It is a very long white sand beach with glistening turquoise waters.
As a popular beach, it is full of surf schools and warungs, but surprisingly, there were not many people when we went. So it was a nice quiet beach day. The crashing waves are further out in the water, so it was also a nice beach to swim in, close to shore. I loved the time we spent there.
The Diverse, Good Food in Kuta
We were amazed at the diversity and quality of food in Kuta. The way that Kuta is described online does not do justice to how developed it is in terms of the food scene. There was everything from local warungs to hip cafes with açaí bowls to pizza, burgers, and even Mexican! After four day of eating the same local foods on the boat, we were eager to eat different foods and were generally impressed with the quality.
We had pizza a couple of times including at a place called Mama’s Pizza which was always packed. They make a really good sourdough crust pizza.
My favorite surprise meal was food at the Mexican Spot. Their shrimp tacos were flavorful and I would have been happy with this meal in the US. Their burrito was also solid being reminiscent of what we’d find back at home (though not exactly the same). We liked this place so much we went back twice. We still think that Mexican food outside of North America is generally terrible, but this place is an exception.
Nate also had one of the best burgers on the trip at Rocksalt. Pricey, but was worth the price.
We also went to a couple cafes to blog/vlog/read and had some good smoothies and sweets. There was one place with the best peanut butter banana smoothie that we had a couple times. Unfortunately we didn’t take a good picture. We also had really good smoothie bowls at an Instagrammable cafe called Bush Radio. And we also discovered one of the best chocolate chip cookies we’ve ever had at a coffee shop called Jelajah which also had really good, but incredibly strong coffee. We went back for the cookie multiple times and I still miss it.
We also had some of the best Indonesian food in Kuta at the Warung Bude. In contrast to the sleek and modern restaurants, Warung Bude is truly a local spot with plastic chairs and tables. Everything is only a fraction of the cost of the western restaurants but the food was so good that we went there twice.
Finally Crossed off the Bucket List: Paragliding in Kuta
I was surprised at how smooth the flight was and so it did not feel that scary even though I have a fear of heights. However, I did get pretty motion sick from the turns so I was happy to land when we did. Overall, I am glad I tried it, but I wouldn’t do it again due to how sick I felt.
Kuta – See You Next Time!
Kuta was truly the perfect place to relax and just enjoy. There are many more active things we could have done like visiting waterfalls, going snorkeling, or hiking. But we wanted to take it easy and tried not to feel pressure to do too much. Kuta is the perfect, manageable size where it feels small, but still offers a large variety of establishments with good amenities. And although it is full of tourists, there is not too much traffic so riding around on a motorbike is very doable and pleasant. After ten days in Kuta, I wanted to stay even longer. However, we decided there was more to see in Indonesia so we moved on. But Kuta has now taken a special place in my heart and I definitely want to go back again in the future!
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