How to see Nusa Penida in a Day
Nusa Penida is the highlight of Indonesia for backpackers right now. If you scroll down your Instagram feed, it will be a unique day if you don't see one picture of the stunning attractions on this island. We visited as many as we could fit in in one day and boy was it worth the bumpy roads!
Nusa Penida Photos
Things to note-
The roads in Nusa Penida are not really roads at all. The majority of the time they are just dirt tracks littered with potholes that are really hard to manoeuvre around on a moped. If you don't feel skilled enough on a moped, hire a driver! Even if you do feel confident enough to do it on a ped, having a driver will for sure be a more relaxing experience.
Prices-
We visited Nusa Penida whilst staying on Nusa Lembongan so that effects the price. It is much cheaper to do a tour whilst you are already on the island. We also really wanted to visit both sides of the island (something that they will only usually do in two trips) so we paid a little extra for this and for private boat over earlier than usual. We wangled this by explaining that we weren't going to sit on the beach or relax at every single place, so we would be faster than average.
Prices go down the more of you there are however these are the prices for two people-
Private:
From Lembongan including early leaving, a private boat, lunch and seeing both sides of the island- 1,800k.
To see the entire island with the boat and lunch not included- 800k
To see only half of the island, boat and lunch not included- 600k
Boat cost alone:
60k per pax each way public or 200k each way for a private boat
Public:
With 10 other people including pick up from hotel the boat and driver- 300k
We paid 1,800k for two people for everything including lunch. Pick up from hotel, the boat and the driver. This is pretty standard when you are traveling from a different island, want to leave early and sneakily ask to see more than they offer. Our driver also took most of our photographs for the day when our tripod couldn't.
If we were going to do it again next time, we would have stayed on Penida so that might be something to note.
Places we visited and average time to spend at each-
Diamond beach: 1 hour (if you also visit the beach)
Atuh beach: 1 hour
Tree house: 45 minutes
Angel's Billabong: 15 minutes
Broken beach: 15 minutes
Kelingking Beach: 45 minutes
Diamond Beach-
Have you ever visited somewhere and it actually looked BETTER than the pictures you have seen before on Instagram? Well this was Diamond beach. Words cannot even describe how beautiful this place is. There are a set of windy steps carved into the cliff that lead you down to the actual beach but the walk down is the best part and this is where you get the famous view. We visited at 7am and we had the entire place to ourselves, it felt like a dream!
Atuh Beach-
This is right next to Diamond beach. We didn't have the time to visit here because we did both sides of the island in the same day but we saw it from above. If you have time, we bet it would be worth the trip down!
The Tree House-
This is just a two minute drive from Diamond and Atu beach, is a stunning tree house overlooking Diamond beach. We expected it would just be at the top of the cliff and you would be able to park right next to it. After paying the entrance fee (10k each) and having a little look around for the tree house, we discovered it was half way down the cliff! Of course, we had to still visit and it was absolutely worth it! (We probably wouldn't have said that after the walk back up though, haha!)
Angel's Billabong-
A beautiful natural pool where you can see a stunning divide as two colours of water meet. We were really excited to see this place because we had visions of being able to swim in the clear natural pool. Sadly, the pool and the lower area are now closed off to the public due to the unpredictability of the waves. The view was still beautiful from above but this is something to keep in mind!
Broken Beach-
Broken beach is recognised by its natural rock formation that creates a beautiful arch over vibrant blue water. This is right next to Angel's Billabong so they're a great pair to visit together.
Kelingking Beach-
Now this is the place that we had been looking forward to the most on our trip and It lived up to our expectations and more! As we approached the edge of the cliff, we gasped as we saw this amazing natural art form in real life. It is so much bigger than the pictures show it to be. There are 4 main viewpoints here so get ready go get your camera out and get all of the best shots! It's not possible to put a tripod up here however our driver was prepared for this, getting up into the trees to get all of our best angles!
The hike down to the beach is exactly that- a hike. There are no steps... you're pretty much just climbing down the cliff face with a piece of rope to hold onto for dear life! As we were wearing flip flops, we weren't so keen about going the entire way down to the beach so we went half way down and turned back around.
Penida Colada-
We never got the chance to visit here but if you are staying in Penida, we have heard that it is a great place to spend the day
Thank you so much for reading! We hope to see you over at @followintheirfootsteps!
Lots of love,
Esme & Zac