Pandawa beach in the south of Bali, near Uluwatu is different to most of the other beaches in Bali.

Access to Pandawa is via a big road that goes down through huge limestone cliffs and it makes for a spectacular sight as you drive in.

Unlike a lot of Bali beaches, they properly planned and built up the development of Pandawa therefore as you drive past the cliffs there’s a big Pandawa sign and statues displayed in alcoves.

If you’ve heard Pandawa described as a secret beach or hidden beach sadly those days are gone but it is still a great place to go for a day trip and it’s interesting seeing a travel spot in Bali that’s filled with local tourists rather than foreign ones.

Pandawa Beach Bali

Getting There | Entrance Fee | The Beach & Activities | Surf | Restaurants | Beach Clubs | Where to stay | Where Next

 

How to Get to Pandawa Beach

The easiest way to get around Bali is by driving a scooter. If you have one it’ll take you about an hour from Canggu, 45 minutes from Seminyak or only 15-20 odd minutes if you’re at some of the other beaches around the Bukit Peninsula (the bobble bit at the bottom of Bali) like Balangan or Padang Padang.

The location of Pandawa, in the Kutuh village area, is perfect if you want to ride your scooter to a couple of beaches that day and explore the south of Bali.

At the bottom of the big road that takes you to Pandawa beach there’s an option to go left or right. If you go left you’ll park up at the least touristy spot of the beach by the local restaurants and closest to the surf breaks.

If you go to the right you’ll head towards the main tourist area of the beach.

Because of the large road down there a lot of tour busses and locals visiting from other islands go to this beach.

 

Pandawa Beach Entrance Fee

For foreigners it costs 30,000 per person to enter pandawa.

 

Pandawa Beach Activities

Most Bali beaches consist of sitting chilling on the beach wandering into the water and going for a surf if that floats your boat. There aren’t a lot of other activities.

Pandawa beach (Pantai Pandawa in Indonesian) however actually has water sports with kayaks you can rent. The only other places around that do as well are Nusa Dua beach and Sundays beach club (Nusa Dua has the most extensive range of activities with rafting and tubing, paragliding and stand up paddleboarding).

If you like your beach time to be more vegetative however fear not, Pandawa’s still a great beach just to sit, chill and read a book on. Or you can even get yourself a massage on the beach at Pandawa Spa for just 100,000 IDR (about $8 USD).

 

Pandawa Beach Surf

Pandawa beach is a great surf spot. It’s not one for beginner lessons but if you’re intermediate to advanced, and if the waves are small around the rest of Bali, it’s the perfect place to go. It’s also one of the breaks that works well when it’s rainy season as it doesn’t tend to get as much offshore wind.

There are two breaks and the lineups are quieter than you’d find in a lot of west coast spots like Canggu, Seminyak and Balangan even.

 

Pandawa Beach Restaurants

Oka Warung Pandawa

On the other end of the restaurant spectrum is the local restaurant, Oka Warung Pandawa, that’s on the left when you get down to the beach.

It’s the most local of all the restaurants I’ve been to on the beach and while ones further down on the right sell similar dishes they’re unlikely to be as cheap.

Oka Warung Pandawa, is a typical Indonesian beach restaurant. You’ll find similar ones all along Balangan too.

They sell Nasi Goreng (fried rice), Mie Goreng (fried noodles) and other local dishes that will set you back about 30,000 IDR (about $2 USD).

 

Pandawa Breeze

I personally think Pandawa Breeze is the cutest of the restaurants along Pandawa beach and as you have your snack or juice they have a little bar on the path you can sit at and watch the water from

 

Iga Pandawa Restaurant

Just past Pandawa Breeze, Iga Pandawa Restaurant is one of the biggest ones on the beach and serves a range of local and western food.

They have more space to sit in the restaurant that’s right on the beach as a result too.

 

Pandawa Beach Clubs

Roosterfish

Roosterfish is the only beach club right down on Pandawa Beach. It’s about a quarter of the way along the main beachfront. You’ll spot it easily with the swimming pool and grassy area visible from the beach walk.

It’s one of my favorite beach clubs in Bali as it feels very chilled out and relaxed with little to no pretention.

Everything about it looks more in keeping with usual Indonesian architecture too, although attached to a nice hotel and filled mostly with foreigners, it has a more local feel to it.

It’s one of the more reasonably priced beach clubs too and we found when we were there that each member of staff gave us a different price too. Lots of room for negotiation!

They serve seafood fare like oysters there, poke bowls, Indonesian food and western food like burgers and pizza too.

The cocktails are delicious and for those trying to find the elusive craft beer in Bali, they have a small selection here too.

If you fancy an adventure after handing out at Pandawa Beach you’re really not far from Omnia, Sundays and Palmilla beach clubs too.

 

Where to Stay

Budget

Ady homestay has cute little budget rooms just on the road before getting to Pandawa. They are literally just rooms though so don’t stay there if you don’t have an easy means of getting to and from the property for food etc. Although you can always order GoJek (everyone’s saviour for lazy dining in Bali). It’s about 185,000 IDR ($13 USD) a night.

 

Mid Range

Luz_Ita Sunshine – This is one of my favorite hotels in the area and it’s to close to Pandawa and Greenbowl beaches. The rooms are all big with their own kitchens and sofas in.

Plus the pool is relaxed with views out over the sea at the bottom of the garden.

Rooms by the night are about 695,000 IDR ($51 USD). You can even stay here by the month if you’ll be in Bali a while.

I love the location too as you can easily get back to the main road that runs down past Bingin and Padang Padang from there too where most of the bars and restaurants are (Pro Tip: There’s a place called El Merkat there which sells some of the cheapest wine and cheese I’ve ever found in Bali).

If you’d prefer to be even closer to Pandawa Beach you could stay at Pandawa Hill Resort which is also lovely and just at the entrance to Pandawa beach. It’s 450,000 IDR (about $30) a night.

Luxury

If you’re going to go luxury then you won’t go too wrong staying at Renaissance Bali Uluwatu Resort and Spa attached to Roosterfish. It is a bit further away from Pandawa beach than other options but they have shuttle down to the beach club every day if you want to go there or you can chill at the hotel and see the surrounding area too there easily which I think helps give a bit of balance. And changes of scenery. It’s 2,000,000 IDR ($145 USD a night).

Or you could try Indigo Dream Surf and Holiday Retreat perched just at the top of Pandawa cliff for 1,200,000 a night (about $90 USD).

 

Where Next?

From Pandawa beach you’re really close to a lot of the other best places to visit in the Bukit Peninsula.

You can really easily swing by Green Bowl beach, Melasti or Uluwatu or even go round to the East Coast to Nusa Dua. From there you can always head up to Padang Bai to get the fast boat and do some snorkeling in the Gili islands.. 

The area is packed with beach clubs and surf too so if you’re looking for either of these you will have plenty of options.

The easiest way to get around is to hire a scooter (that’s true of all of Bali but even more important in the south as you can’t get Grab taxis, the Indonesian version Uber there).

There’s plenty of healthy cafes (or less healthy ones if you just wanna eat all the pizza) and spots for nights out like Hatch which is just one of the most beautiful bars I’ve ever seen.

 

What did you think of Pandawa Beach? Let me know in the comments below.