Bali Loop

Indonesia | September 2023 |

Here's a recap of my 1-week or so ride around Bali. While I am calling it the "Bali Loop", I didn't cover the entire island. But I did tick off a number of prime tourist destinations. And it's a fun and simple ride that can be easily done by anyone on a rental scooter. After 30+ years visiting Bali and never making it further north of Ubud, this tour was a nice slice of adventure and some great exposure to the rest of the island, people and culture.

My travel plan started with a pre-arrival rental from my long-time scooter connect Pande at Bali Bliss. Terms were a relatively hefty 2,500,000 rupiah per month for a Yamaha Aerox 155 (the same bike I had rented in April-May and rode from Bali to Flores and back).

For the first week in Bali I stayed in Seminyak at an AirBnb'ed villa, about 1,200,000 rupiah a day. A villa is always a great stay option in Bali - your own private (Idaho) paradise.

Uluwatu & Tanah Lot

From there it was easy "local" ride to Uluwatu (Temple and Beach) and Tanah Lot, two of the major tourist destinations in south Bali. Tanah Lot is a breezy 40-minute ride from Seminyak, a sacred ancient place, which is now, for better or worse, part of "Greater Canggu". Honestly, Tanah Lot is not "super-wow", but it is worth the effort to see and explore. Lucky for me: a large Krait (sea snake) was perusing around the base of the temple, which added a higher level of mystique to the visit - it's not every day you get to see one of those amazing (and highly poisonous) beasts up close, out of the sea. I imagine the gods had a role to play in this.

Next up was Uluwatu, a longer ride at about 75 minutes from Seminyak. Uluwatu Temple locale is a must-see, with stunning cliff views and a "wild" Macaque community who have their own dedicated swimming pool. These buggers pretty much run the show, and like the Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud, the local apes of Uluawatu are expert smash-and-grab thieves, preying on many an unsuspecting tourist; I saw a French backpacker melt down when a monkey snatched her iPhone (and then proceeded to "use" it - monkey see, monkey do). The video below gives a snippet of some of the action there.

Five minutes down the road, Uluwatu Beach is also spectacular and well worth a visit, a great place to chill at a cliffside bar and watch the surfers in action in an incredible setting.

Aside from those tourist activities, the rest of my time that week was mainly spent as follows: breakfast at Zanzibar; chill at Bakso for lunch; beach warung at Double-Six beach; 5km run on the beach at sunset. And I had some great company, nudge-wink.

Aerox & diving gear

In addition to my Bali Loop moto tour, I also planned to dive at some new places in and around the island. This involved an important decision: bring my own diving gear on the Aerox, or rent at Penida, Amed, Tulamban, possibly Lovina. I had my ROK Straps with me, so I strapped on my dive bag containing 25kg of gear and clothes and whatnot, then did a quick test drive. Now, you are probably thinking "huge heavy bag on back of scooter?" (I was...); but it was all good. Dive gear on Aerox it was to be.

Ride 1: Seminyak to Sanur / Pendia ferry terminal

My first Bali destination was Nusa Penida - an island next to Bali in the Lombok Strait. This involved a mundane 45-minutes ride to Sanur Harbour to catch the ferry. I left my bike parked at the harbor parking lot (with an AirTag under the seat). When I arrived at Penida I rented an Nmax at the port. Read more here about my diving experience at Penida (moto trip story coming).

Ride 2: Sanur to Amed

After 3-days at Penida, I took the ferry back to Sanur Harbour. The Aerox was there intact, Parking for 3 nights/4-days was something like 70,000 rupiah. I re-strapped the dive bag and set off for Amed. Two hours into the trip, Google Maps, directed me into a village and the road became a single-track paved trail. I was thinking "this can't be for real" but soldiered on and after 30 minutes of jungle, I was back on to the "normal" road to Amed.

I ended up staying 4 nights in Amed. Gotta say: it's one of the most chill places I have ever been to. It is an amazing setting, with Mt. Agung, a picture-perfect volcano and Bali's tallest mountain, looming over. Amed is full of great restaurants, cheap decent accommodation and ok diving at Amed and Tulamben (separate diving stories coming).

Ride 3: Amed to Lovina

I set-off from Amed with good views of Agung, a pleasant ride. Just before Lovina, I was surprised to see Singaraja, a place I knew of only as a brand of beer. This is a really interesting city, the second largest in Bali, the prior capital of Dutch-era east Indonesia. It's full of colonial buildings and has a distinct Chinatown vibe about it. Lovina is just 15 minutes further down the road. It's another chill place with lots of decent places to eat (and drink, I guess). For example, I tried Georgian food there (country, not state), for the first time in my life - very good. But, in general, Lovina seemed to be a bit dull.

Ride 4: Lovina to Seminyak

This was a surprisingly quick 2.5 hour ride north to south. It starts with a nice hill-climb, out of Lovina, through some decent forest road, then onto a couple of famous lakes. From there it's back into Denspasar and the flat and heavily populated bottom of the island. I stayed another 5 days in Seminayak, this time at my old mainstay, Puri Pancha Jaya.

My route and stops

Click the "window" at top-left on the map for more details.