Why Lovina, Bali?
Of all corners of Bali Island, northern Bali was the part that I really wanted to go one day. I have been to southern part of Bali numerous time, even i travelled from west Java starting from Jakarta all the way to Bali Island by train, bus and ferry back in my heyday of backpacking.
Lovina is Bali’s main northern beach town to the west of Singaraja, the once capital of Bali. It is a layback part of Bali, less crowded and is actually really worth a visit! It is a nice place to escape the crowd from Kuta, Legian, Canggu, Seminyak, or Denpasar. Lovina has a nice black volcanic sand beach that stretches for a couple of kilometers. Along the beach, you can find plenty of accommodation, restaurant. This part is usually get visited by families, couples, and people that want to experience some more laid-back places in Bali. For us this trip was a birthday trip for one of us without our son coming together.
How to get to Lovina, Bali?
You can easily get to Lovina by bus, but keep in mind it will be a long ride. Getting there by car with driver is a much easier way to get to the North. In our case we prebooked airport shuttle from Ngurah Rai Airport to our villa that took us 4 hours ! Imagine how long it would be if you take a bus or a scooter ? The minivan took the shortest route but I still feel its really far and winding over narrow village roads, hillside to lakes and waterfall. This is the reason why we didn’t bring our son together because we knew the journey would be such a hassle for a small family trip. The usual route probably the one our driver took us passing a mountain and 2 lakes. It was a bit scary when we passed sharp corners along the hilly narrow road when incoming cars and bus were just feet a way from us.
Where to stay ?
Katala Villa Sanur, Bali. An exquisute villa at affordable price.
I still couldn’t get over with our previous trip to Bali in 2018 , we stayed for 3 nights at Katala Villa Sanur (picture above) . Our private villa comes with private plunge pool, that trip was fantastic we had to drag ourselves to leave. So, before this trip I googled to find somewhere similar or better villa in Lovina but it was non-existent or too pricey. The one we could find within our budget was Twin Villa Lovina. We arrived at the villa after hours of journey and I wasn’t impressed. The pool was too small and wasn’t as lush and extravagant as to most villa in the south. The villa situated about 500 meter inside from the mainroad, very quite area but we had noisy guest at night - the geckos. There are many resort type accommodation from 3 to 5 star rating along the coast. There are also abandoned resort, probably the travel trend has changed to small boutique type of hotel, the big one couldn’t survive.
What to do in Lovina, Bali?
There are plenty of nice activities you can do in Lovina, Bali. What we did :
(Don’t) Go dolphin watching in Lovina, Bali
The iconic landmark of Lovina is a dolphin. This is not a surprise, because the dolphins are the main inhabitants and attraction of this coast town. Lovina is well known for the early-morning boat trips off the coast to see the dolphins. When you like dolphins, you can take one of the trips, but I advice you not to head out on a boat for dolphin watching. It is and remains a mass tourist attraction, even though the fishers from the tourist boats and the tour operators don’t say so. You have to imagine hundreds of small fisher boats chasing after the dolphins. Don’t believe it when you are told the dolphins are not disturbed as they come back every day!
Go bike riding in Lovina, Bali
Lovina is a flat area and perfect for riding bicycle. Bikes are available to hire at several places for about 30,000 rupiah per day. We had our bicycle provided by the villa. The noon after we arrived we rode our bicycle to Lovina Square at the coast about 600meter from the villa.
Hire a scooter and explore Lovina
Another way to explore Lovina and its surrounding is by scooter. A scooter costs around 50,000 IDR a day (not including fuel). We rent a scooter from our villa. A scooter will give you access to the entire coastline, town and hidden spots, just waiting to be explored.
Daytrip to Brahmavihara Arama buddhist temple.
This Buddhist monastery is one of the most popular tourist attraction if you coming to Lovina. Its about 10km from our villa, took us 20minits by sccoter.
Day trip from Lovina to Singaraja
About 11 km from lovina beach, A day trip from Lovina to Singaraja is doable. We used our scooter about 20 minutes ride the traffic was a bit heavy going tobtown. Singaraja is the former capital of Bali and is known for an amazing Chinese temple and the old storage houses and buildings that are built with a particular architecture from the Dutch colonialism.
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