Kuta Bali Travel Guide – Visit Kuta Bali – Budget Travel In Indonesia

Visit Kuta in Bali to experience the region’s number one destination for nightlife. But does its reputation and popularity come with a price?

Located on the island’s west coast, Kuta has acquired a bad reputation amongst some travellers who despise the city’s cultural void and its openness to the worst kind of tourist. See the ‘Adventurous Kate’ blog and ‘Wandering Earl’ blog for descriptions of why people can be turned off by Bali’s most popular tourist destination.

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How To Get To Kuta From Bali Airport

We arrived back in Bali after spending 5 nights on the island of Lombok, finishing in Kuta (yes, it’s confusing). We only had a couple of days left before our Indonesian visa expired so we chose to stay in Kuta due to its close proximity to the airport.

Departing the airport, we tried to book a taxi. We had both Grab and Gojek apps ready to go and managed to get a driver accept us almost immediately. Watching the location on our app, however, it seemed the driver was heading in the wrong direction before he finally messaged us to say he wouldn’t be picking us up after all.

This happened a couple of times before we finally got a driver who was nearby to accept us. We just had to find him in a car park opposite the airport departure first.

After about 5 minutes, we found him (or he found us) and we were on the road, making the short journey to our accommodation.

Where To Stay In Kuta Bali

These are some of the best budget hostels in Kuta, Bali, according to user reviews. These are affiliate links to the Agoda web site. I found Agoda to be much better than booking.com in Southeast Asia. I receive a small amount for any bookings made through these links at no extra cost to you.

• Amazing Cabin
• Indopurejoy House
• Taste of Bali Hostel
• Berlian Inn
• Jepun Segara Guest House
• Beach Hut Hostel

Pondok Arta Guesthouse

It was already dark when we reached ‘Pondok Arta’ (map) and we were tired from travelling. We didn’t have any big plans for our first night in Kuta. We checked in with the host who seemed friendly and we settled into our room.

It was a comfortable room and we had a hot shower again (which was nice after a day of travelling). The room had a nice outside area which was useful as the WiFi did not work in the room but worked fine just one step outside!

The guesthouse is around 10 minutes walk from the beach but is in a good location as it is fairly quiet (with the exception of the motorbikes) and is in an area that is filled with warungs and small shops, rather than the big restaurants and loud bars of the tourist area. I visited one of the local warungs for some nasi goreng before having a much-needed early night.

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We paid £16.71 for two nights in a double room with en-suite bathroom.

Things To Do In Kuta, Bali

Memorial Cafe

Our guesthouse was just a 5 minute walk from the ‘Ground Zero Memorial’ and just around the corner from that is the ‘Memorial Cafe’ (map). It’s in a prime location and we had the tables looking out on to the street, meaning it was great for people-watching. The staff were friendly but unfortunately the coffee was poor. We had a pastry with our coffee and that was average at best. A real shame as it was a nice place.

Warung Indonesia

Following a successful trip to buy a new mobile phone, it was time for lunch. ‘Warung Indonesia’ (map) is a typical Indonesian warung located just off the main tourist street. They offered us a menu but we opted instead to choose from the buffet. I had tuna curry, some chicken and a number of sides and it was cheap and delicious. Definitely try this place; you will not be disappointed.

Kuta Beach

We headed to the beach where we saw many small beach-bar stalls that were already quite busy, despite it being early in the day. Along the beach, we discovered ‘Beachwalk Shopping Centre’ (map) which we appreciated for the aircon. We were tempted to go and see ‘Toy Story 4’ at the cinema but we had just missed the beginning. Instead, we decided to return to our guesthouse and relax.

Russian Shisha Bar

In the evening, we headed out for food and a couple of drinks. We were hoping to find a cool, quirky bar in Kuta but all we discovered were either bars playing very loud, cheesy dance music or very loud sports bars. Neither appealed.

We managed to find a place called ‘International Relax Cafe’ (map) which sounded just like what we were looking for. It turned out to be a shisha bar that sold local and Russian food. Not exactly what we had in mind but it was fairly chilled so we decided to stay for a couple of beers. After the first beer, we decided to order food and Joanna was happy with her Russian dumplings, though my ragout was quite average.

And that brought our Indonesian adventure to an end. The next morning, we took an early flight to Singapore.

Is Kuta, Bali Worth Visiting?

A tough one. I didn’t see any of the obscene, vomiting tourists but I wasn’t out that late. However, there didn’t appear to be anything that would attract me to Kuta and, unlike Ubud, it didn’t really appear to have much of a soul. I was only there for one full day so this is not a fair reflection on the whole area but I would imagine that Kuta is not what people imagine when they think of Bali.