It is more common to hear about Kuta in negative than positive. It’s a busy city that may seem overwhelming to some but fun to others. Kuta is the first place I visited and I personally liked the city. It is not a place where I would spend more than one or two full days, but I still think it is worth spending some time there. It’s also a great and cheap place to recover from your jet lag if you’ve come a long way like I did. Recharge your battery in Kuta to fully appreciate the other regions. If you decide to live the experience the place has to offer, here are 5 of the best things to do in Kuta to help organize your stay:
Shopping
Shopping is a classic we tell you to do in every city, but in Bali, I think Kuta is the best place to do it. There are so many “souvenir shops” where you can buy sunglasses, caps, phone chargers, flip-flops, well everything you might have forgotten at home.
The ultimate truth of why it is the best place is because there is so much competition. Every meter is another little shop with most of the time the same things to sell as its neighbors. The trick is to do a couple of them, ask their price and find the cheapest. Bali is THE place to negotiate. They know you will negotiate, so they will tell you a huge and ridiculous price for everything. The best way to react is to laugh (with them, not of them) and tell them a way smaller price. You will together find a price in the middle of it all.
Before my trip, I was rushing so hard trying to find a cute cap in Canada. The ones I liked were 40$ CAD, but I was too last minute to order them, so I arrived in Kuta with no cap. Thank god because I found a dupe of the cap I wanted, and I paid 5$ CAD for it.
I also took the opportunity to buy some dupe Chanel sunglasses because I also forgot to bring some of those! I paid 10$ CAD and they were so cute. So many options.
Remember to be nice when negotiating. Balinese people are my favorite people of all time. They are the best and purest souls I have met during all of my travels. Negotiating is fun for us and for them, but still consider it is their way of living.
Hit the beach
The beach of Kuta has a really nice vibe. There are a lot of sellers on the beach and a thousand surf schools. They don’t have the nicest beach if you compare it to the rest of the island, that is for sure. I would not go there to relax for a full day, but I would surely go again, take a walk, take a surf lesson and watch a sunset.
I went to Bali during the rainy season. It didn’t rain in Kuta when I was there, but the locals explained something to me. Everything is so clean in Bali. The locals are really respectful of the planet, so their beaches are never dirty. Kuta’s beach was different, there was a lot of trash on the side of the water. Also, when swimming, I would see so much trash in the sea. What they explained to me is that because of the strong winds and the big courants, Kuta’s beach ends up welcoming trash from other places/islands nearby. They call it the “trash season” and they told me it was more precisely from the island called Java.
Surf lessons
On the beach, there are so many surf schools! You will walk and hear “surf lessons, hi, come here for surf lessons” every two seconds. I don’t know if we were extremely lucky or if every surf teacher on Kuta’s beach is incredible but wow. Rico is definitely a highlight of my trip to Bali. We could have been best friends. The surf lesson cost us 200k IDR (17$ CAD) each for two hours. It included the board, one hour with the coach and one hour by ourselves. We were so tired after the hour with Rico that we ended up not going back and just stayed at their little cabin on the beach, talking and laughing with the guys for another hour or two.
If you dare to walk on the beach and ask for a certain Rico, do it!
Watch a sunset
Such a simple but nice activity that speaks for itself. Sunsets are always beautiful.
Eat at Beach Bowl
I’m a vegetarian, and the best fake meat I’ve ever had in my life was at Beach Bowl in Kuta. The caesar salad with the fake chicken was my favorite! The fake turkey (in the picture) was also delicious.
