Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Padangbai
 Padang Bai is a delightful fishing village and port situated on the East coast of Bali about one and a half hours by car from Bali airport.
Despite being an extremely popular holiday destination and world renowned dive base it remains a very traditional Balinese village. This makes Padang Bai a unique location in Bali.
White sand beaches, amazing snorkeling and dive sites plus, some of the most beautiful countryside in Bali makes Padang Bai an ideal base to explore East Bali and experience Balinese culture.
History:
The location of Padangbai is in a rural and isolated bay named Padang, which has been used as a harbour since years ago. The name of Padangbai was taken from this bay and by the influence of the Dutch language, the frase Padang Bay turned into Padangbai.
Location:
This tourist object is located at Padangbai village, Manggis district, about 53 km from Amlapura. Except being famous for its tourist attractions, Padangbai is the gateway to enter this island.
Facility:
Food stalls, small restaurants and small hotels are available here, besides other facilities needed by visitors to enjoy their visit.
Description:
Padangbai is a harbour where small and big ships drop their anchors. This area develops as a tourist object for some attractions it has, such as white sand, the beautiful surroundings and the amazing underwater panorama. Besides, the daily life of the traditional fishermen and the busy crowd in the harbour becomes another plus point of this area.
This tourist object is also known for its sacred temples, Silayukti temple and Tanjung Sari temple. Silayukti was built by Empu Kuturan. Besides these two temples, there is also Penataran Agung Temple, that is located on the west side of Padangbai.
 author notes
Padangbai is a small fishing village in East Bali. Complete with 3 white sand beaches, in Padangbai that might take your fancy.
Predominantly a fishing village, Padang Bai still has enough tourism aspirations to qualify as a great alternative to Kuta – it has plenty of budget accommodations, restaurants, internet cafes (although slow and a little unreliable), beaches and all the other things travellers need…but at least in the off season it can seem more like a working town. It is also the home of the ferry for Lombok, and very occasionally cruise ships drop anchor and disgorge passengers for a brief visit. From Kuta you can reach here by Perama bus in ~4 hours (~35,000 rupiah) with a short pause in Ubud, and you’ll find it to be a small town with only about 2.5 streets that you’ll never get lost in.
If you arrive by bus, you will be met by a small throng of locals pitching their guesthouse/hotel/homestay/losmen/bungalow, ranging from a little lower in price than you will see in Kuta to a maximum of just moderate in price – I find that talking to them can be a good way to start looking for a place, at least until you settle in and can look more closely. Padang Bai has only a few dozen small accomodations and they are mostly in the “budget” category.
Padangbai can be accessed from Kuta, via Bypass Sanur, to Bypass Kusamba, turning off before Candi Dasa. Driving time 2 hours. No need to book accommodation, as there are plenty of budget places on the main beach. These days Padangbai has seen a bit of a revival, with the Topi Inn ( the large A-frame place at the end of the main beach popular with backpackers and other developments including a large villa site on the hill overlooking Blue Lagoon.
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