The Ultimate Nusa Penida Itinerary
When most people picture Bali, what they don’t realize is that most of the iconic views they conjure in their heads are actually on a completely different island.
While technically still a part of Bali, Nusa Penida is actually another island off the eastern coast, and the landscapes are OUT OF THIS WORLD unreal. Every little corner of this island is picturesque, so much so that we nicknamed it “Instagram Island”. The amount of photos I have from our short time there is outrageous.
Most people who come to Bali choose to visit Nusa Penida on a day trip from Canggu or Ubud, but I headed straight there from the Gili Islands and was able to spend two glorious nights there. We got in pretty late the first day (me quaking, CRAWLING up the beach after getting off the worst ferry ride of my life) so our Nusa Penida itinerary mainly consisted of a day and a half.
Let me just say: if you have the wiggle room in you Bali Itinerary, stay the night on Nusa Penida. It’s worth having a full, full day there and not be constricted by ferry timetables. There’s also so much to do on this island, so if you miss something the first day, you can get it done the next morning and still take the afternoon ferry back to the main island of Bali.
Not to brag, but I think we managed to craft the ultimate Nusa Penida Itinerary. If anything, I would’ve loved even just one more day so that I could’ve hiked down to more beaches (the hikes are brutal and time consuming - I won’t lie), but we managed to pack so much into the little time that we had.
How to get to Nusa Penida
All islands off the east coast of Bali are accessible from the port on the east coast called Padang Bai. Transportation is a little chaotic in Bali, but you can typically get everything sorted through either something like Viator or your hotel/hostel reception desk!
Don’t worry about it too much, the locals always know how to get you where you’re trying to go. It seems like a mess while it’s happening, but you just have to be patient and trust the process.
I booked through my hostel reception, and they chartered a mini bus that took us to the port. Once they dropped us off at Padang Bai, our driver took care of our tickets and gave us stickers to wear on our shirts so that the ferry operators can spot you and get you where you need to go.
Same thing goes whether you’re traveling to Nusa Penida from mainland Bali or from the Gili Islands!
Where to stay in Nusa Penida
One thing to note: Nusa Penida is actually a much bigger island than you might think - you can’t simply circumnavigate it in a day.
Well, I suppose you could, but if you want to make the most of your time, I recommend staying on the northwest side of the island. There are gorgeous, cheaper resorts on the east side, but they’re so far away from all the famous spots on the island, and since you probably are running on limited time on the island, staying on as close to the west side would be in your best interests!
I stayed at a little villa called WK Gamat Creative Resort that I split with my friends! It was farther north, but it was one of the cheapest we could find. After four weeks of hostel living, that queen bed was the greatest thing I ever felt.
How to Get Around Nusa Penida
I know every other blog post you’ve read has told you to not take on the roads in Nusa Penida by yourself, either in a car or on a motorbike. Everyone suggests that you hire a driver for the day, even though it’s much more expensive.
I say this as someone who will literally do anything to save money: Hire a freaking driver.
You can find them in Facebook groups or book through your hotel or villa reception (Let me tell you - booking through hostel reception is an underutilized resource. So many people feel the need to have everything planned and ready to go way in advance, but honestly this is the easiest way to do things.)
The roads on Nusa Penida are HARROWING. Hairpin turns, single lane roads that are supposed to accommodate traffic going both directions, cliffs, hidden parking lots and confusing google maps directions are not something you want to worry about during your limited time on this magical island.
Plus, you get air conditioning, a little nap between locations, and you don’t have to worry about getting lost or parking in the right spot. Halfway through our tour, we came across a closed road, but our driver knew the backroads and still managed to get us where we needed to be! If we had been on our own, that would’ve been a major road block. (No pun intended).
And here’s the deal - you’ve come all the way to Bali, don’t let a closed road or a motorbike spill prevent you from seeing everything you came here for. I have a friend who fell of her bike on Nusa Penida on her way to her first stop of the day - and didn’t get to see ANYTHING. The driver is worth it, especially in a once-in-a-lifetime place like this.
You can typically negotiate an all day price - and we gave our driver a list of everything we wanted to see, *********all revolving around being at Angels Billabong for low tide. We checked the tide schedule online, as the tide obviously changes every day. We told our driver we absolutely needed to be at Angels Billabong at 3 O’clock, and he did all the rest.
He was a king. Love him.
The Ultimate Nusa Penida Itinerary:
When you first get in, you’ll probably need a good, hearty meal to settle your stomach if you get as seasick on ferries as I do. Even if you don’t, we found a local Warung that was one of the best meals I had during my entire time in Bali.
Luckily, it was within walking distance of our little villa that we booked, so we were able to eat here almost every night. It’s called Jungle Warung, and I would die to eat there just one more time. The seafood special came with SO much food, the Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng were top tier, we ordered Gado Gado, calamari, and even a massive banana chocolate pancake to finish us off.
I’ve never felt so full. It was incredible. If you have the opportunity to go, you won’t regret it! The only regret I have was eating before I took a picture for you guys :’) You’re gonna have to take my word for it.
The Ultimate Nusa Penida Itinerary: Day 1
Once you arrange your driver and tour for the next day, go for a swim in the pool at your villa and grab an early night. You’ll be up bright and early.
Typically, these tours start right at 8 O’clock to make the most of your day. You hire the driver for the whole day, so you might as well get your money's worth!
For our specific itinerary (once again, centering around low tide at Angel’s Billabong - which is at a different time every day), we decided to start by seeing Diamond Beach.
One of the most iconic views in all of Nusa Penida, Diamond Beach is spectacular. The amount of pictures I have of the SAME FREAKING view as we hiked down to the beach is actually ridiculous. Out of all the beaches, we chose to hike down to Diamond Beach, as it was the first stop and we knew it was as cool as it was going to get.
Still, it was a HARROWING journey down. I’m talking ropes, rock climbing, clinging to the cliff face, and a system where a few people come up before letting a few people come down. Not for the faint of heart.
Unfortunately, at most of the beaches on the island, you won’t be doing much swimming. The rocks are extremely dangerous and the waves are massive. We splashed around in the shallows to cool off once we got down, and because of the intense hike, we had the beach mostly to ourselves! Absolutely unheard of in Bali.
We only stayed for about thirty minutes or so, as we still had lots more to see.
Quick shoutout to my British instagram bfs that I met in the Gili Islands - they understood the assignment. Sometimes it’s so nice to meet other people who love to take photos; as a solo traveler, you can often feel like a burden or embarrassed if you’re constantly asking for pictures - which was never the case with Tom and George.
Next on our list of instagram spots to see was Thousand Islands Viewpoint. It’s best to hit this directly before or after Diamond Beach, as it is simply the same beach - just a viewpoint from the opposite side!
There’s no way to hike down to the beach from this side, it’s all about the view. There are several different viewpoints you can snag photos at here, including the Insta-famous treehouse view.
What instagram doesn’t tell you, however, is that the fee to take a photo is 50,000 IDR (4ish USD), and that the wait is sometime hours long. When we went, fairly early in the morning, the wait was going to be 45 minutes just to take a staged picture.
Without a doubt, those pictures are stunning. I totally wish that I had that picture - but at the end of the day, experiences are more important. And if waiting 45 minutes to an hour for that photo took away from the rest of what we had planned, it was simply not going to happen.
Obviously we all have different priorities - and if this is one of yours, maybe try coming here before hiking down to diamond beach - the wait may be much shorter earlier in the morning!
Anyways, we got some sick photos at a sandy little spot on a hill that were free ninety free - and we hopped back in with our awesome driver and jetted off to our next destination.
Well, destinationS.
Luckily, our next stop is a two-in-one. When you pull into the parking lot, you have two options: left, or right.
The left path will take you to broken beach, and the right will take you to Angel’s Billabong. We opted to go to the left first while we were still in dry clothes!
Broken beach is absolutely stunning. While swimming here is not an option, it does have a little walking trail that goes over the iconic arch and all the way back around. There are lots of spots to take photos, but outside of that, there’s not much to do here.
You’re probably understanding now why we lovingly nicknamed Nusa Penida “The Instagram Island”.
After 15 minutes of walking around Broken Beach, we headed over to Angel’s Billabong.
Let me tell you, I feel like this is the most underrated thing to do in Nusa Penida. All the blog posts I read while I was researching this trip focused on Diamond Beach and Keling Keling Beach, while treating Angel’s Billabong similarly to Broken Beach - something to merely look at.
While it is beautiful to see - a completely natural infinity pool - it becomes a million times better when you decide to swim there. The waves are too strong and dangerous during high tide (people have died!) - which is why we were so adamant about getting there for low tide.
We noticed that lots of people there weren’t even wearing bathing suits - so definitely wear one if you plan on swimming at Angel’s Billabong. There were loads of people on the rocks surrounding the Billabong admiring the view, but absolutely no one in the water.
George and I excitedly shed our coverups and T-shirts, entrusting Tom with the task of taking some pictures. We had the whole thing to ourselves, and we swam to our hearts content.
…Until the waves started coming over the edge and the security guards cleared the area and closed the steps until the next low tide rolled around.
It was an absolute highlight of our Nusa Penida itinerary, and I’ve never seen something quite like that. It was absolutely gorgeous.
After a quick power nap in the frigid aircon of our driver’s minivan, we pulled up to the most famous viewpoint in all of Bali: Keling Keling beach.
Quick sidebar: we pulled into the parking lot just as my BeReal went off. I had told George and Tom about the app, and all they knew was that we had two minutes to get the most epic picture ever (no one tell them that you can post late, okay?). George grabbed my phone and took off running - and the viewpoint isn’t exactly close to the parking lot.
He got there with 1 second to go, got the picture, and failed to realize that the BeReal app takes a picture with the front and back camera. Behold: My favorite BeReal to ever exist:
Now at this point in the ultimate Nusa Penida Itinerary, you have two choices. You can either make the harrowing climb down to yet another beach and watch the sunset, or you can snag a few photos, and head back to a pool club for drinks.
While I really wanted to hike down, we had friends we were meeting back at the pool club I reluctantly hopped back in the minivan with the others.
This is why you need to stay on the island for two nights - the initial night when you get off the ferry, and then one more to spend swimming an infinity pool, sipping mango daiquiris, and taking photos by the imitation Heaven’s Gate - if you want the iconic Bali photo that’s two hours out of the way that you have to wait in line hours for - but don’t want the hassle, just come to GreenKubu.
Also a convenient 5 minute walk from our Villa, we came to GreenKubu for sunset our second day on Nusa Penida - and although we had a rather disappointing sunset, we still had such an amazing time that we came back for lunch the next day.
It does close rather early - and there’s not much of a nightlife scene on the island, but as we’re up early again for the last half day of our Nusa Penida Itinerary, it’s probably for the best. Go home, get a good nights sleep, and prepare for your last day on the island.
Day 2
After you’ve packed up and left your bags at your villa’s reception, head to Sunny Cafe for a western breakfast. Brunch is something Bali has absolutely perfected, and I would be REMISS if I didn’t give you a brunch option for every location in Bali I’ve written about so far.
We got Coffees, smoothie bowls, and avocado toasts before setting off to the beach.
But surprise, we’re not having a beach day! We’re getting on a boat.
One of the things Nusa Penida is known for is it’s constant population of manta rays.
I have ALWAYS dreamed of seeing a manta rays in the wild, and in Nusa Penida you can either go on a snorkeling tour or with a dive group.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t scuba certified at the time, so we wrangled the other girls staying in our villa into splitting the price of a snorkel tour with us.
There were three snorkel stops, and although we saw sea turtles and gorgeous reefs and all sorts of fish, there were no manta rays to be found:( Didn’t quite get to check it off the bucket list.
My friend went the next day, however, and saw quite a few! So it’s worth a shot, even if all you get out of the day was a few hours on a boat and some gorgeous snorkeling.
After the tour ended, we had a big lunch at GreenKubu, and then rushed down to the ferry port and sorted out our tickets back to Padang Bai. Once again, this is super easily coordinated through hotel reception or Viator - and minivan transport to the main cities in Bali is typically included - which makes getting from one hotel to the next a piece of cake.
That concludes the Ultimate Nusa Penida Itinerary!
While I was so sad to leave Nusa Penida and Bali behind, I was so excited for the next leg of my Southeast Asia tour to begin - I was flying to Bangkok the next day!
Stay tuned….
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