Amed and Tulamben in Bali
Part of the Bali travel guide — see every topic in All Bali Guides.
Amed is not one village but a string of seven or eight black-sand bays running along Bali's dry north-east coast under Mount Agung, joined by a single winding road. Tulamben is fifteen minutes further north. Together they are the island's diving centre and the quietest developed part of Bali: no clubs, no traffic, a handful of small hotels on the hillside, jukung outrigger fishing boats pulled up on every beach, and a coral wall or a wreck within swimming distance of the sand.
The USAT Liberty
A 120-metre American cargo ship torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1942, beached at Tulamben, and pushed off the shore into the water by the 1963 eruption of Mount Agung. It now lies parallel to the beach between five and thirty metres down, thirty metres from the shore, entirely covered in coral and home to a resident school of bumphead parrotfish that arrives at dawn. Shore entry over black pebbles in booties. It is one of the most accessible wrecks in the world, which is why it is busy from nine — the answer is a six a.m. first dive.
Amed's own diving and snorkelling
Amed's bays each have their own site. Jemeluk has a coral wall a short swim off the beach and an underwater postbox that has become a novelty. Lipah has the Japanese wreck — a small patrol boat in six to twelve metres, ideal for snorkellers. Bunutan and Selang have sloping reef and good macro. All are shore dives, all are calm in the morning, and the snorkelling is genuinely as good as the diving in several of them. The coral gardens here were badly damaged by bleaching and dynamite decades ago and have been substantially rebuilt through local restoration projects.
The village and the salt
Amed still works. The jukung boats go out before dawn and come back mid-morning, and the beach at Jemeluk is a working landing. Traditional sea-salt production continues along this coast: seawater is carried up the beach, poured onto sand beds to evaporate, then filtered and boiled in troughs made from hollowed palm trunks. A few families still do it and will show you the process. Bali's east-coast salt has protected geographical status and is genuinely different from industrial salt — a good thing to carry home.
Practicalities
Amed is two and a half to three hours from the airport and about two from Ubud, on winding roads. It is much drier and hotter than the south. Accommodation runs 250,000–900,000 rupiah for guesthouses and small hotels, with a handful of higher-end places on the ridge; the hillside rooms have the view and the beachfront ones have the convenience. A scooter is essential, as the bays are spread over ten kilometres. There is little nightlife and that is the point. Sunrise over the water and Agung behind you is the daily set piece.
Amed and Tulamben at a glance
| USAT Liberty | 120 m wreck, 30 m from shore, 5–30 m depth |
|---|---|
| Best dive time | 6am — the wreck is busy from 9 |
| Amed sites | Jemeluk wall, Lipah's Japanese wreck, Bunutan, Selang |
| Distance | 2.5–3 h from the airport; ~2 h from Ubud |
| Accommodation | IDR 250,000–900,000; hillside for the view |
| Local product | Traditional palm-trough sea salt, protected origin |