You will find Bali located three miles off the west coast of Java with a relatively little land area of just over 5,000km ; Bali could fit into Australia over 1,200 times. From the top on a Map of Bali in the north to the tip of the island in the south is only 55miles and east to west it’s only ninety miles, so getting round the island is fairly simple and the longest drive that you’d need to do in order to get to any resort would be 2 hours at the most.
The most well liked Bali Hotels are situated in the south of the island with a few others along the west and east coast. Nusa Dua is the most southern resort that is favored by travellers, although you’ll find other less known ones a bit further south. The roads round the coast of Bali are generally in fine condition, it is when you leave the main stretch that you’ll find that the roads are very rarely maintained to any standard and are generally just dust tracks frequently impassible by 2 automobiles and you want to be cautious about people and animals that use not only these side roads but the main roads to stroll on.
Heading along the west coast from Nusa Dua you’ll come to Jimbaran another extremely popular and busy holiday maker resort. Maybe 10 minutes further along you may pass by Ngurah Rai International airport that’s used as a gateway for the rest of Indonesia. Kuta and South Kuta are perhaps another twenty minutes drive from here and this is where you will find the most exploited area of Bali. Not only are the hotels built to accommodate many tourists, but the leisure facilities and the shopping areas very tourist orientated.
The drive from here to the tip of the west coast will take you past some of the more up market holiday maker destinations of Bali. Legian and Seminyak are situated along the west coast and offer more magnificent accommodation including private beaches, gardens and swimming pools. The rest of the drive up the west coast will take you past many places to remain, but they aren’t the well known or well-liked resorts or hotels. For the tourist who favors secluded areas there’ll be plenty of places to stay along this western section of Bali without all the trappings and crowds of the big visitor places.
From here you might head inland in an easterly direction and you will come to Ubud which is situated in the mountainous region of Bali. The landscape is worlds apart compared to the seaside resorts. Here you will be encircled by lush tropical rain forests with stunning views of the mountains and volcanoes. Driving further east you’ll shortly come to the eastern shore, where there are a few popular resorts. As with the resorts further up the west coast you will find these are more expensive than the southern areas due to the fantastic diving locations around this area. The widely known resorts on the east coast are Candi Dasa and Sanur. Once you get to Sanur you can take a detour inland and come to Denspanar, the capital of Bali. Though this is not really a preferred holiday maker destination due to its absence of beaches, night life and shopping malls, it remains worth taking time out to explore.
From Denspanar you would drive south again and before you get to Nusa Dua where you started from, you’ll pass Tanjung Benoa a very popular, but very up market area. Tanjung Benoa is located on the tip of the peninsula and has striking views of the sea.
As far as the most visited and popular places in Bali go, those are the better known ones, but Bali offers so much more. There are such a lot of more Bali hotels situated all around the island and on some of the smaller islands just round the coast. Bali is definitely an island to be explored and taking one of the Bali Tours to one of the lesser know towns will give you a much better comprehension of the real Balinese lifestyle .