Penida Island — Local services in Nusa Penida Subdistrict

the island is really overrated and overcrowded .. not worth at all .. In my opinion this pleasant but generally unremarkable island is being destroyed by ecologically unsustainable over-tourism on completely inadequate infrastructure. I'm no eco-warrior but felt terribly guilty for being one of those creating a tourism hell here, as well as feeling completely duped into coming here.

If you're thinking of going there you might want to take a few minutes to read this first.

The reviews of Nusa Penida made it sound relatively unspoilt. The photos of some of the beaches and headlands look spectacular and peaceful.

There are fast comfortable boats there from Sanur taking about 45 mins or so - just note that the boarding zone at Sanur is pretty chaotic and even with a mild chop in the harbour you'll get wet walking through the water to the boat, and you need to clamber over the rough stones of the seawall to get to the water (not for the unstable).

Nusa Penida is a pleasantly lush volcanic island with very basic roads and tracks that are in very poor condition. Unfortunately there's no restrictions on how many vehicles can be on the roads of Nusa Penida and as a result of the great marketing photos of two or three quite pretty places the place is overwhelmed.

The roads between the main sites are completely clogged with people mover vans and because of the constant traffic jams and terrible road conditions it takes hour to get between the main attractions. When you get to them they're overrun by throngs of tourists to an extent I've rarely seen anywhere (in proportion to the capacity of the infrastructure to deal with them).

In between, the sides of the roads are strewn with refuse and dust from the constant stream of vehicles.

Even the main sites are are somewhat disappointing. Except for Kelingking Beach, that is, which is truly spectacular but utterly overrun with visitors. We did not have time to walk down there, unfortunately. If we had spent our time doing that rather than yet more hours in a cramped car going to other average locations it would have been more enjoyable.

Finally our drivers delivered us to the beguiling sounding Crystal Beach. You'd have reasonably high expectations with that name and the lure of snorkelling. Well, any we had were dashed. It's a small crowded beach of dirty sand with damaged coral just off the beach and a few fish visible in the cloudy water (it was a calm day).

Basically this was a wasted day and I'd avoid going unless there's an off season at any time when there would be fewer cars on the road. We spent a total of about 4 hours in a car there with 30 mins at two sites and 1.5 hour at the epically misnamed Crystal Bay.

Be warned.

would also like to appologise to the people living there,they are very poor and my comment will not help them either. Nusa Peninda is not what you see in videos,there are 3 locations that look amazing still wild and "untouched" by human but to get there you have to arrive to a filty beach full of stones,rotten wood or coconuts,plastic and other debris washed by the ocean, piles of garbage that the locals dont feel to remove it.

If the car will not brake untill you arrive there the locals will welcome you with more taxes,for the entry,for the parking and for the pictures...yes you have to pay to get a good picture... Those nice places vilas are barely standing,the food is with a high risk of gatric problems and dont expect to find a clean toilet you will pay to use it but they dont bother to wash it.

We planned to stay there for 2 days but after seeing what was really there we return to Bali in the same day.

Hope my comment will be useful and once again would like to appologize i mean no harm just want other people to know what to expect not to be tricked by...

As a constant contributor to and user of ratings for places, I've seldom been so misled as by the reviews for Nusa Penida. In my opinion this pleasant but generally unremarkable island is being destroyed by ecologically unsustainable over-tourism on completely inadequate infrastructure. I'm no eco-warrior but felt terribly guilty for being one of those creating a tourism hell here, as well as feeling completely duped into coming here.

If you're thinking of going there you might want to take a few minutes to read this first.

Spending a week in Bali around Ubud (which we love), we thought that we'd get away from the crowds a bit and the reviews of Nusa Penida made it sound relatively unspoilt. The photos of some of the beaches and headlands look spectacular and peaceful.

There are fast comfortable boats there from Sanur taking about 45 mins or so - just note that the boarding zone at Sanur is pretty chaotic and even with a mild chop in the harbour you'll get wet walking through the water to the boat, and you need to clamber over the rough stones of the seawall to get to the water (not for the unstable).

Nusa Penida is a pleasantly lush volcanic island with very basic roads and tracks that are in very poor condition. Having spent 7 months travelling through Africa on rough tracks many years ago, we're pretty used to bad road conditions. Choose the right vehicle and you're fine.

Unfortunately there's no restrictions on how many vehicles can be on the roads of Nusa Penida and as a result of the great marketing photos of two or three quite pretty places the place is overwhelmed.

The roads between the main sites are completely clogged with people mover vans and because of the constant traffic jams and terrible road conditions it takes hours to get between the main attractions. When you get to them they're overrun by throngs of tourists to an extent I've rarely seen anywhere (in proportion to the capacity of the infrastructure to deal with them).

In between, the sides of the roads are strewn with refuse and dust from the constant stream of vehicles.

Even the main sites are are somewhat disappointing (although perhaps I'm spoilt by Australia's magnificent coastline). Except for Kelingking Beach, that is, which is truly spectacular but utterly overrun with visitors. We did not have time to walk down there, unfortunately. If we had spent our time doing that rather than yet more hours in a cramped car going to other average locations it would have been more enjoyable.

Finally our drivers delivered us to the beguiling sounding Crystal Beach. You'd have reasonably high expectations with that name and the lure of snorkelling. Well, any we had were dashed. It's a small crowded beach of dirty sand with damaged coral just off the beach and a few fish visible in the cloudy water (it was a calm day).

Basically this was a wasted day and I'd avoid going unless there's an off season at any time when there would be fewer cars on the road. We spent a total of about 4 hours in a car there with 30 mins at two sites and 1 hour at the epically misnamed Crystal...

After visiting Ubud, Padang Bai, the Gili Islands and a part of Lombok, we arrived to Nusa Penida. We stayed there for only two nights although we had booked for more. This island was the worst part of our trip: the food is bad, expensive and comes in incredibly small portions everywhere we went, we tried several different warungs and restaurants all over the island. There is no effort in their cooking(e.g. they don't make peanut sauce on the moment, but rather use premade mixes which taste awful, all vegetables are frozen, etc). There are 3 or 4 nice beaches, but they are not worth it: absolutely packed like no other place in Indonesia, often dirty and roads to get there are in awful conditions, putting you in hughe risks if you are driving a motorbike, as locals told us there are no good hospitals and any serious injuries need to be treated in Bali. Very little English is spoken, even by waiters or receptionists in accomodations, so it's a struggle when you need to ask questions. Besides, with all due respect, locals (specially men) have a very dishonest approach to tourists: constantly trying to rip you off, charge you extra, etc. For example, in all beaches they will charge you mandatory "donations" just for parking your bike or even walking into the beach, meanwhile they chill in the shadow, making nasty comments about female tourists or sleeping. With all due respect, is quite an embarrassing existence that of those guys. Another unfair thing is that locals pay half (sometimes even less) than tourists for the fast boat that takes you there from Kusamba harbour. The boat is the same and they don't know how to queue or they don't want to do it, so you will get the worse Sears and probably be split from your family/partner. To put it short: if you want to enjoy beach, good food and friendly and honest local people, don't come to Nusa Penida, which is a handbook tourist trap. Gili Islands or even Padang Bai were SO MUCH nicer. If you want to be treated like a cash cow and deal with masses of people in any of the landmarks, this is...