Bali South

South Bali holds the largest number of beachfront hotels, and also has the widest variety of beaches on the island. This is the area in which one can find a true beachfront resort, have easy access to the best dining, shopping and nightlife areas and also make day trips into the cultural centres higher up Bali's colourful mountain interior.

The teardrop that seems ready to fall off the bottom of the island into the Indian Ocean, The Bukit, holds the beaches with the most beautiful, soft white sand. Nusa Dua has the most stunning sandy beaches in Bali, and distinctly up-market beachfront resorts. Tanjong Benoa's many beach hotels are generally a step down in star rating and price. The Bukit also has dramatic slivers of sandy beach at the base of towering cliffs, at Ungasan and Uluwatu.

Jimbaran is a quiet beach famed for seafood restaurants, dramatic sunsets, and romantic restaurants out on the sand, under the stars. A short distance away is Tuban and Kuta, close to the nightlife, shopping and restaurant centres – though Kuta itself has few hotels on the beach.

At Saminyak Beach, further along the coast from Kuta, the road moves away from the beach and the hotels return, with lots of style. Here are famous 5-star spa resorts, stylish hotels and beach restaurants. The sand is now grey, fine and it packs harder.

Last, but certainly not least, Sanur is an older, more traditional beach with many 3-star and 4-star resorts on a white sand beach. This gives the closest access to the interior mountains and Ubud. Our maps show all of the beachfront accommodations here, with beach photos of all of the areas shown.