Jimbaran

Jimbaran Beach

Ah, those mouth-watering shrimps and lobsters! Grilled octopus, snails, lobsters and other sea creatures! If you ever compose a hymn to the abundance of seafood, it would be most appropriate to sing it here at one of the many open-air fish restaurants.

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Jimbaran is a famous village and tourist resort located in the southwest of Bali, 10 km from Denpasar city center, 3 km south of the airport. Jimbaran is the place to enjoy a romantic atmosphere and fresh seafood.

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General Information

Jimbaran is located off the coast of one of Bali’s best beaches. The bay is protected from the winds, so the sea in it is always calm and disposes to hours of swimming. An undeniable plus Jimbaran in the absence of strong tides, characteristic of other Balinese resorts. Tourists, who are taken from luxury hotels in Nusa Dua specially to try the sea delicacies “in the Jimbaran way”, succumb to the charm of this place and bitterly regret their hasty choice. Indeed, sitting at a table on the beach, you can watch the panorama of all Balinese volcanoes, and right in front of your eyes minute by minute unfolds a free air show – the takeoff and landing of colorful airliners on the strip of the airfield, taken out almost in the open sea.

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If you walk along the beach to the northern edge of Jimbaran and do it by seven in the morning, the eye will see a colorful fish market with colorful boats, as if descended from old broadcasts of “Travel Club”. In just a few hours, all this fish and crab abundance will be smoking on roasters, knocking you off your feet and causing salivation, but in the meantime, you can take a leisurely stroll through the fishing village, observing the daily unshowy life.

Jimbaran Beach is lined with a chain of luxury hotels, in no way inferior to its Nusa Dua rivals. But of course, its main calling card is the Four Seasons, which closes the resort on the south side. It is considered one of the most beautiful in the world and consists of a cascade of luxury villas surrounded by a tropical garden and one and a half thousand handmade stone statues. Walking along its paths, one can easily bump into some Hollywood “star” and criticize her new movie.

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In the afternoon, active citizens, tired of beach lounging, leave for walks and shopping in Kuta. The distance quite allows you to do this by cab, and public transportation services fall away for unnecessity. Others choose the southern direction, towards the famous Ulu Watu temple. Surfing enthusiasts rent boats to Kuta Reef, a rift between Jimbaran and the airport with high waves. Other water extreme fans rent motorcycles and drive 15 km south to the famous beaches of Padang Padang and Dreamland Beach, where the most dashing and reckless surfers congregate.

Evening Jimbaran lights thousands of candles on tables along the beach, as if thousands of fireflies have gathered to greet the gods of the sea. Twice a month at the ancient temple of Purl Ulun Siwi (Jl. Pemelisan Agung), tourists caught by surprise witness a ritual action accompanied by a barong dance. The dancers are in a state of trance and are not responsible for their actions. Invulnerable to blows, sometimes they start a real stabbing, and spectators need to be on the lookout to avoid being hit by the trance.

The combination of convenient location, beach, culinary and cultural merits have made Jimbaran on par with Seminyak as the trendiest and most relevant Balinese resort today.

Places of leisure and entertainment

Kuta is very close, so there is no need for nightlife in Jimbaran. Clients of expensive hotels shorten their days on tennis courts and golf courses, the rest of us eat shrimp and crabs while admiring the sunset panorama.

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Restaurants

Non-designer restaurants with starched tablecloths attract tourists and locals to Jimbaran. Dozens of warungs (open-air cafes) have set up tables on the beaches for lovers of fresh grilled seafood. The main places of their concentration – the southern (between the hotels “Four Seasons” and “Intercontinental”) and the northern end of Jimbaran Bay. Toward evening, buses with tourists arrive to them every minute, the smoke from the fryers is such that it eats your eyes. Smells and the sight of crabs with golden crust cause a real tsunami of saliva, you want to eat them all at once. Prices in neighboring warungs may differ slightly, but the quality is the same everywhere. As a rule, the southern warungs are distinguished by a higher level of furnishings and service, designed for guests from neighboring five-star hotels and guests from Nusa Dua, and correspondingly higher prices.

In the north and center is easier: plastic tables and lack of toilets, and the bills for eating snails and octopus are not so hard on the pocket. Competition between warungs is fierce, so many go for various tricks: free cabs to the hotel and lowering the advertised price per kilogram in the expectation of underweight. In this case it is useful to check the tricksters in the simplest way – to put on the scale an object weighing 1 kg (usually it is 2 half-liter bottles of lemonade or a liter bottle of mineral water). Naturally, the guides who bring tourists to a particular warung get good kickbacks and a free table from it, so you should not believe the words that the place they have chosen is “even better than the others.”

On the south coast, Intan Sari Cafe and Kalang Anyar have a good reputation, in the center Jimbaran Beach Cafe, in the north Uluwatu and Aroma. However, the best rule of thumb when choosing a cafe is to eat where there are the most people, preferably local. These free experts will not be fooled, will not slip stale fish from last night. Garnish is usually rice, finished dishes are served with various sauces. Dinner by candlelight in one of the beach warungs for a long time memorable, and once tasted “Jimbaran sifud” return here again and again, often choosing the hotels of this small quiet resort as a place to stay in their next visits.

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“Jimbaran Seafood Markets”

The concept of this restaurant is quite unusual – several bamboo huts with tables, creating an atmosphere of privacy. The seafood is absolutely fresh as the owners bring it in on their boats. Red snapper, tuna and shark are served wrapped in banana leaf with rice garnish and baked potatoes. The prices are very humane, so the place is very popular. The average bill is 100,000 – 150,000 Rp.

“Nelayan”

One of the most famous hotel restaurants in Jimbaran, located right on the beach. A large selection of Asian dishes are complemented by perfectly cooked fish and prawns with tamarind sauce. The average bill is 200,000 – 250,000 Rp.

Transportation

Actually, the dark blue Bemos coming from Denpasar’s Tegal Terminal (5,000 – 7,000 Rp), all public transportation in Jimbaran is limited to. With Kuta, Denpasar and Nusa Dua all close by, metered cabs rule the day and night flanking Uluwatu Road. A trip to Nusa Dua will cost 50,000 Rp, to Kuta twice as cheap. Many Jimbaran hotels provide free transfers to Kuta and the airport.