NUSA DUA – Balinese style paradise

Nusa Dua developed through the idea to create an enclave for luxury resorts, where sustainability, gardening, beach maintenance and hospitality will reach the peak of excellence. World Bank granted money, and everything started in 1974. Name Nusa Dua or “two islands” refer to Peninsula and Dharma islands. Today they are beautiful promontories, connected with the coastline of eastern tip of Bukit Peninsula. It is here, where waters of Indian Ocean are relatively calm and clean. From a neglected southern tip of Bali, Nusa Dua grown into one of the world’s most renowned resorts.  It proudly offers twenty, mostly highest class hotels, with over 5000 rooms and more and more, cheap, private accommodation options. If we add two convention centers, a museum, golf and country club, superb Balinese beaches, high-end facilities and shopping, Nusa Dua has everything you need for a perfect vacation. Is it only about fancy surroundings, gardens and luxury? Can you see any locals or real life here? Oh yes.

Whenever leaving resort complex in Nusa Dua, one can face every day life of  local population. It is not as authentic, as in other popular towns like  Kuta, Uluwatu or Ubud, but absolutely enough for a family trip. We decided to pick a hotel with the best price to quality ratio and booking.com provided some great deals. It was not expensive, beach front one, but four star Mercure Bali Nusa Dua Hotel, where a total of 25 nights with fabulous breakfast included costs around 1250$. Not per person, but for a family of three, plus possibility for a free cancellation, five days before your arrival. I would agree on rating rooms as smaller ones or as average four stars. Above all, they were perfectly clean, while garden, pool area, restaurant, gym, spa and specially kindness of hotel staff were simply fabulous. 15 min. walk, or 5 min. pleasant drive on a free, hotel shuttle was just perfect to reach our private beach, with included sunbeds, in a natural shade of tropical trees.

Air temperature never went over 29 C (84.2 F) throughout the month of August. That was absolutely amazing, but with caution to avoid staying in the sun between 11.30 AM and 3.30 PM. Being so close to the equator, you never mess with long sun exposure, due to UV index of 10 to 11 on a daily basis. Whenever you decide to explore Bali, you are going to face tropical, warm and humid climate. July and August are certainly the highest season, while pleasant dry periods are April, June and September as well.

Wherever you stay in Nusa Dua, allow yourself some time to explore the beauty of Peninsula Island, which in our case, was two minutes walk from the beach. Impressive, typical Balinese gate is welcoming you to the Garden of Hope where huge green space is simply fantastic for traditional celebrations and cultural shows like famous Kecak dance. Two massive statues of Krishna and Arjuna are overlooking the area, symbolizing archetypal spiritual Guru and Disciple connection from the famous Bhagavad Gita verses. For me, there is no better place to reflect the beauty of the coastline, or admire romantic sunset, than from Peninsula Island.

During the afternoon, my family and I could not resist an easy stroll down the marvelous walkway following large part of Nusa Dua Beach. It was simply passing from one exotic paradise to another. Inaya, Grand Hyatt, Melia, Westin, Sofitel, Club Med and other elite resorts were lining up. Honestly, I did not care for any of the luxury, but let myself to dive into incredible fusion of Balinese tropical vegetation, environment – aware architecture, exotic birds, and always pleasant breeze. Evenings were reserved for some shopping and nice walks through Nusa Dua’s most famous mall – Bali Collection. Planned as a small town under starry sky, it offers diversity of local handicrafts , musical instruments, spices, great sea food restaurants and loads of retail brands. From high fashion designers to colorful motives of Rip Curl, Billabong, Quicksilver and all others contributing to the legendary “surfing mania” of Bali. Visiting nearby Pasifika Musem is a brilliant chance to check on Indonesia’s cultural diversity. Eleven exhibition rooms are displaying interesting masterpieces of Asia – Pacific arts. By the end of the day, relaxing dinner time in our hotel room, or on a balcony, was a moment to reflect on all daily adventures.

Before relaxation in our room, ordering some truly local food, in one of the nearby town street “warungs”, was always a story for itself. Being on the street in Nusa Dua town, was something totally different than any area around the beach. Here, one can feel real vibe of Balinese life. I always remember tricky struggle on the narrowest side walks in the world, whenever walking down the streets.  Vendors are offering their souvenirs, being proud on beautifully lit up Hindu Temples, while positively chaotic traffic, usually jams on every roundabout. Moreover, all of that seemed so natural, normal and funny. We accepted it, loved it, and in every moment we felt safe and warmly welcomed. Owners of tiny, take away restaurants were quite shocked, but happy, seeing me ordering, for me absolutely normal food portions. For the local standards, those were huge portions and I probably looked like a European Shrek. At the end we always enjoyed different vegetables and chicken with sambal sauce wrapped in a paper cone. Three big portions for 6.50$! What a treat it was. An old lady from a small grocery shop, always asked if we are celebrating something, whenever we bought 4-5 large bottles of domestic, Bintang beer for 2.50$ each. Due to high taxes on alcohol in Indonesia, even local beer seems quite unaffordable for local population.