Visiting Nusa Dua for the first time in 2003

On this day in 2003 I paid my first visit to Nusa Dua. Located on the eastern side of the Bukit, Nusa Dua is a ‘man-made’ resort park, that was planned and built to contain high end hotels. For the first time visitor its a surprise, kind of feels like Beverley Hills, with all the manicured lawns and long driveways.

When I visited on April 25th 2003, I hiked to the end of one of the points of land that form Nusa Dua. Nusa Dua has a reef and in the wet season is a prime surfing location, with Sri Lanka right there too. The reef means that those people on the beach can enjoy easy swimming, free from currents and waves.

Nusa Dua is a good little spot to take the family on the weekend and the area at Pantai Geger has a good beach and a restaurant or 2.

For those people planning their first trip to Bali, don’t stay at Nusa Dua. Its isolated, its expensive, there’s no nightlife and its as far removed form Balinese culture as you can get. Go to Kuta, Seminyak, Kerobokan, Ubud, Sanur, anywhere, but don’t stay in a ‘retirement home’ for 2 weeks in Nusa Dua. If you do decided that absolute isolation from the ambient culture is what you need, try the Conrad, a damn good hotel if I say so myself. If you carry on north from Nusa Dua you come to Tanjung (cape) Benoa. Tanjung Benoa has its own share of fancy hotels, and also a small selection of cheap accommodation.

Nusa Dua is 25 minutes from Kuta.