Help with Bali Itinerary

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AceszHigh

Contributor
Messages
314
Reaction score
16
Location
Delray Beach
# of dives
1000 - 2499
Heading to Bali in 2 weeks with my girlfriend. We want a good portion of the trip to be diving, but also want to see the beautiful things on land as well. This is what we've come up with in the following order:

2 nights in Seminyak to relax
1 day of driving to Pemuteran and stopping at the temples and waterfalls along the way (recommendations??)
2 nights in Pemuteran to dive Menjangan
1 night in Seririt to dive Puri Jati
2 nights in Tulamben
1 night in Sanur
Take ferry next day to Lembongan to dive Nusa Penida
2 days of diving Nusa Penida
then 3 nights in Ubud for touring.

I like a bit of Macro photography but not too much, my GF hates muck diving and macro. We both love beautiful reefs and of course sharks , pelagics, etc.
Looking for any critique or recommendations on this itinerary. We like beauty and adventure..hikes, waterfalls, nice temples, etc. Any recommended stops between destinations? Do any of the routes between the above destinations have mountains so high that we would need to have waited a while since diving? Any recommendation for driver/transportation between those places?
 
I have no specific suggestions about where you dive, or what you do on your 'land' days. Well, I do ... but there are so many beautiful places to see in Bali I wouldn't know where to start, or stop, with my suggestions. So I'll make one general suggestion ....

I personally think your itinerary is ambitious, to say the least. Maybe consider reducing it by about half. I have no doubt you've chosen some beautiful places to dive, and to tour. But when you're in Bali, take some time to stop and smell the roses ... or the frangipani, in this case. I honestly think you'd get back home rested, and with amazing memories, rather than being exhausted and thinking, "Where did my vacation go?"

YMMV :wink:
 
I have no specific suggestions about where you dive, or what you do on your 'land' days. Well, I do ... but there are so many beautiful places to see in Bali I wouldn't know where to start, or stop, with my suggestions. So I'll make one general suggestion ....

I personally think your itinerary is ambitious, to say the least. Maybe consider reducing it by about half. I have no doubt you've chosen some beautiful places to dive, and to tour. But when you're in Bali, take some time to stop and smell the roses ... or the frangipani, in this case. I honestly think you'd get back home rested, and with amazing memories, rather than being exhausted and thinking, "Where did my vacation go?"

YMMV :wink:

I agree 100% with highdesert. You'll be moving location so much you won't have any chance to appreciate the real Bali. It will be more like a Contiki tour at your pace. I just got back from 6 days diving at Tulamben, and could of stayed 6 more days. The wreck is amazing for the big and small stuff. It's a shame you don't like muck, the diving at Seraya Secret was almost as good as Lembeh (not as good, just a closer destination to Oz than Lembeh). Recommend Liberty Divers and also stayed a couple of nights at Bali Dive Resort which was just gorgeous and half the price of the same accommodation as Nusa Dua. Enjoy your trip, and the Bintang! Bali is a very special place.
 
Really really ambitious. Relax, cut your transits in half. You're going to be 12 hours out of sync with "normal". Night will be day and day will be night, good luck! I'm guessing you're traveling in coach, and you're looking at ~26-27 hours of transit. If you've never done long haul flights, before, you're in for a real treat (a bit like being beaten with a baseball bat)

One of the beauties of Bali is that the pace is slow. Seminyak to Pemuteran is a full day of driving (please tell us you're not going to rent a car) without many stops. I'd strongly suggest you pick a couple places and slow way down. (FWIW, I'm going to Bali for the 5th time this September)

-------------------------------------------------------
I'm also going for two weeks, but we're only going to Ubud and Tulamben
 
If you want to PM me, I can give you the number and email to the driver we used last year. Great guy and we will definitely use him again when we go back this December.
 
Thank you for the replies everyone. Done a few across the world long hauls and definitely know the feeling.. We have an 18hr overnight layover in HKG (in a hotel) so that will help in getting adjusted. I feel almost spoiled saying this, but its kind of stressful planning this trip! I want to see and do it all. I realize that can't be done.

So my next question would be ...what do I cut out?
I've dived in Palau & Similan islands in Thailand before and LOVE the pacific compared to the carribbean/atlantic. My GF has never been to this part of the world. I want to show her the beautiful pacific fish and reefs. Pemuteran (for Menjengan island) seemed like a great place for this, though its the most out of the way of everything else we want to do.

@btonthemove .. I personally like muck diving some since I enjoy macro photography (though I have a terrible eye for the small stuff..hooray for guides!) ..the GF gets bored very quickly with it though.
 
Defiinitely cut the northwestern part out of your trip, for me not the best diving part. Pemuteran is NOT that great place for colorful reefs that you will find in Tulamben, Padang Bai or Nusa Penida (Menjangan is a litlle bit tame on fish) A better move regarding your itinerray would be to dive Amed for one day, which is nearby Tulamben : Amed is great for corals and gorgonians (Jemeluk, Bunutan, Japanse wreck).You will have your share of muck in Seraya/Melasti, hence not worth going to Seririt as well.

As for landtrips You can as well rent a driver from Tulamben/Padang Bai area and drive along Sidemen rice fields, gunung Batur volcano and Ubud outskirts.
There is no reason why you shoudl overnight in Sanur as well, Tulamben to Lembongan is only a matter of 2 hrs drive and 30 minutes speedboat.
 
indeed it's ambitious trip, but still doable. We (myself, wife and two teenager daughters - all are divers) did similar and regular our own Bali safari trip.

Highly recommend to rent a car with driver (for less than 50 bucks you'll get a nice car + driver for 24 hours/day). Being local and familiar with Bali, I "enjoy" driving in Bali.
Honestly, I feel safer driving my self than using driver.
If you survive driving a car in Jakarta, Bangkok, Cairo, Manila - then driving in bali (except in Seminyak, Kuta and Legian area) is a fun as along as you remember that you're in holiday.
get local sim card (Telkomsel simpati) and install waze app in your smart phone; more and more people use waze, so it's pretty accurate.

Here is one of itinerary few years ago
D1 - ETA Bali around 09, car was waiting at airport, travel to Padang Bai stop at Macro (now Lotte mart) grocery, Bali safari (not very interesting for us), bat cave.
D2 - 3x fun dive Padang Bai area
D3 - 2x day trip to Nusa Penida + 1 night dive
D4 - Travel to Tulamben, stop at Tama Ujung water palace (you can skip) and Tirta gangga water palace + 1 night dive at Liberty.
D5 - 3x fun dive (early morning at Liberty + 2 x at Seraya)
D6 - 3x fun dive (early morning at Liberty + 2 x at Melasti)
D7 - 2x fun dive (early morning + coral garden) and travel to Seririt for diving at Puri Jati (stayed at Surya inn, diving with Zen)
D8 - 2x fun dive PJ then travel to Gerogak / Pemuteran - stayed at Mimpi Menjangan.
D9 - 3x fun dive menjangan
D10 - 2x fun dive secret bay gilimanuk, travel to Bedugul high land, stop at Brahma Vihara Arama (very interesting Budhis monastery).
D11, D12, pura beratan, degasing at Ubud - enjoy various top sites attraction - let me know if you want the detail.
D13 travel to Seminyak, stop at Pura Tanah Lot for sunset, overnight at Seminyak
D14 visit pura Uluwatu, then airport


On 12 April, we'll visit bali again, but only short trip to Padang Bai and Tulamben.
 
I agree 100% with highdesert. You'll be moving location so much you won't have any chance to appreciate the real Bali. It will be more like a Contiki tour at your pace. I just got back from 6 days diving at Tulamben, and could of stayed 6 more days. The wreck is amazing for the big and small stuff. It's a shame you don't like muck, the diving at Seraya Secret was almost as good as Lembeh (not as good, just a closer destination to Oz than Lembeh). Recommend Liberty Divers and also stayed a couple of nights at Bali Dive Resort which was just gorgeous and half the price of the same accommodation as Nusa Dua. Enjoy your trip, and the Bintang! Bali is a very special place.
Hi Btonthemove, I just wanted to check what the name of the resort was that you mentioned. I've searched for Bali Dive Resort and didn't find anything. Is that at Nusa Dua? I'm looking for recommendations for dive companies and locations to get my open water certificate and then do a few more dives in Bali. Thanks!
 
Hi Rebecca
if you are going to do open water i'd recommend Liberty Divers in Tulamben.Liberty Dive Resort - Liberty Dive Resort Tulamben Bali - Home Page You can stay in a nice room, they have 3 pools to do your training and are so close to Liberty Wreck it is very convenient. I also witnessed a lot of training when I was there. The Bali Dive Resort is SSI, not padi, but here is the link: Bali Dive Resort and Spa. For me it was wonderful as I had an awful accommodation at another resort in Tulamben and this was luxury at very affordable rates. It does depend where you stay though. there are probably great dive shops in Nusa Dua others can recommend. I loved Padang Bai and dived with Geko dive there. Happy to give you any other information if you want to send me a message. I love Bali. it is close to Australia, has amazing diving and the people are lovely.
 

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