Seminyak and Kerobokan in Bali

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Seminyak is what Kuta grew into once it acquired money. It runs north from Legian along the beach, with two commercial spines — Jalan Kayu Aya (still widely called Eat Street) and Jalan Petitenget — and villa complexes filling in behind them. Kerobokan sits inland and to the north, less polished, cheaper, and where a lot of the people who work in Seminyak live. Together they are the island's centre of gravity for restaurants, boutiques and the beach-club format that Bali exported to the rest of Asia.

Eating and drinking

Seminyak has the highest restaurant density on Bali and probably the highest quality-per-square-kilometre. Merah Putih does refined Indonesian in a soaring bamboo room; Sarong and Mama San are the long-running pan-Asian pair; Motel Mexicola is a technicolour Mexican party that turns into a nightclub. Revolver hides down an alley off Kayu Aya and pours the best coffee on the strip. The beach clubs — Potato Head, Ku De Ta, Mrs Sippy — are the originals of the format. Reservations are worth making for anywhere with a reputation, particularly July to September.

Shopping

This is the best shopping on the island by a distance. Jalan Kayu Aya and Jalan Laksmana carry Bali's own designers — resortwear, leather, jewellery and homewares, much of it made on the island — at prices well below what the same goods fetch in Sydney or Singapore. Seminyak Village and Seminyak Square are the mall-format versions. Jalan Raya Kerobokan is the furniture and homeware run, where the teak and rattan that fills half the world's beach houses is actually made. Fixed prices in boutiques, negotiable in markets and furniture workshops.

The beach

Seminyak beach is a long, wide, grey-sand stretch with a strong break and a serious rip current. It is a sunset beach and a beach-club beach rather than a swimming beach: swim between the flags where they are set, and take the lifeguards seriously. The sand is at its cleanest May to September; during the January–February rains the rivers wash debris down and the beach genuinely suffers. Beanbag bars line the sand from Ku De Ta north, and La Plancha's rainbow umbrellas at the southern end are the most photographed spot on the strip.

Staying here

Seminyak is villa country: private-pool one-bedrooms from around 1.5 million rupiah a night, larger family villas from three, and a strong hotel line-up along the beach. The trade-off against Canggu is atmosphere versus polish, and against Ubud it is coast versus culture. The practical case for Seminyak is location — twenty-five minutes from the airport, forty from Canggu, an hour to Ubud, ninety minutes to Uluwatu — which makes it the easiest single base for a first trip that wants to see several parts of the island.

Seminyak and Kerobokan at a glance

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