Travel Guide for the Couple Slowpacker : 7 Days in Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan

If you are planning to go to Indonesia and looking for another breathtaking place beside Bali, this post may be your guideline. Bali is one of the top paradise islands in the world. It is located in the east of Java that allows you to hop the islands for 45 minutes by ferry. It is super easy and super cheap. I have done that before and posted it here (Indonesian language alert). Maybe that's one of the reason why Bali is super hectic with either local or foreign tourists. If you are not into the party and traffic sound, probably Nusa Lembongan can be the alternative.

Nusa Lembongan is a small 8km² in size island off the southeast coast of Bali. Nusa Lembongan is also a part of three-islands group : Nusa Penida and Nusa Ceningan. From Nusa Lembongan to Nusa Penida, it takes about 20-30 minutes by speedboat ride, but from Nusa Lembongan to Nusa Ceningan, you can use the Yellow Bridge which means if you stay in Nusa Lembongan, you can get two islands at once. 

There are several ways to go to Nusa Lembongan from Bali. You can take the public boat. fast boat, or even cruise. However, we chose the normal one, which is public fast boat. Before we go to Nusa Lembongan, we stop by Nusa Penida for several hours and the heading to Nusa Lembongan after that. Luckily we are going together with my local friends, so we only pay 45.000 IDR (March 2018) per person even though Matze is foreigner. That was amazing that we still can pay the local price for Matze. People usually went from Sanur, probably because it is the nearest, but the price is higher. Since we rented the car, so we started from Tribuana Klungkung Port. The port were full of local people. Matze was the only foreigner. This port is usually used by local people to go praying, that´s why it´s not common for the tourists.

Arriving in Nusa Penida was totally smooth and fun. I was expecting to puke after being sick before, but it was totally fine even though the boat was totally full. I even had a plastic bag on my hand in case I am puking. Hihi. We booked the car for exploring Nusa Penida for 500.000 IDR. The road condition was totally amazing, like you are having a disco. So for you who decided to take the scooter for exploring the places, please be extra careful especially if you are not so good at riding the scooter, please don´t. Don´t hurt yourself!

We planned to visit several places but unfortunatelly Matze was sick due to the extream heat, so we only went to Broken Beach and Angel´s Bilabong. We are lucky that the water was clear and the weather was good even though the sun was totally beating us.

After bouncing really hard in the car, finally we arrived. The Malta was welcoming us!

Matze and Me after several hours travelling from Bali

From the parking slot, we need to walk several minutes to reach the destination. It was totally tiring, a little bit hiking, and the heat. We arrived in the first destination, Angel´s Bilabong. It was full of tourists. At the moment we were going, the water in Angel´s Bilabong is not so deep. We allowed to go down and took the pictures.

We are in Angel´s Bilabong! Thanks to Pande for capturing the picture.

After we finished exploring Angel´s Bilabong and suffered to climb up, we continue our trip to the next destination which is only 15 minutes walking from here, the famous "Broken Beach". That fifteen minutes was actually really hard for us, especially Matze. We were burned by the sun. After waiting half an hour, Matze was not getting better. So we decided to stop exploring Nusa Penida and went to Nusa Lembongan. It was sad for us that we can´t explore more beautiful places, probably we can come back again next time!

Broken Beach Nusa Penida

We took the fast boat to Nusa Lembongan from Nusa Penida.

I got the local price for 20.000 IDR and Matze got scam price for 50.000 IDR. It was really sad hearing what they said when I asked why they charge Matze more. They said,"Kan itu bule, gapapa dong!" (He is foreigner, so it´s okay!). Typical Indonesian scam!

After we arrived in Yellow Bridge, Nusa Lembongan, we decided to take the pick-up car since there are no online transportation here. They charged us 90.000 IDR. Too much, totally too much for 7 minutes driving. We had no choice, we were tired and Matze was sick.

Place to Stay

We booked Dream Beach Inn because the place is near the beach, but not too near so we will not bother by the wave´s sound during the night. It only takes several minutes walking to the beach.

Dream Beach Inn source here

Our bed with traditional touch source here

The breakfast

We were very happy staying in this hotel. The hotel is just like we expected. It is big and clean. It is quite hot when we entered the room, luckily the room has air conditioner. The room provides the private authentic-outside-design toilet which is very interesting. They can provide the hairdryer. The staffs were friendly and helpful. They did the cleaning every single day even when we don't ask them to do so. The pool is pretty clean and deep (for me hihi). Around 1,6 - 2 meters. Dont worry they provide the kids pool too. There are 2 options of breakfast : Omelet or Pancake. Both are good. They  also offer the tea, coffee, water, or orange juice. You can also rent the scooter in here.

It only takes around 7-10 minutes from the hotel walking to the dream beach and devil tears. Many restaurants around so you don´t have to worry. 

One minus thing that we had was the mosquitos and the bed lice. Matze had the serious bites all over the body but I was fine. Probably his skin was too sensitive. The staff was helping us by changing the bed sheet everyday. It was a little bit helpful. Anyway, we totally recomend the hotel!

Place to Eat

1. Dhipa Warung and Shop

Jl. Dream Beach, Jungutbutu, Nusapenida, Jungutbatu, Nusapenida, Kabupaten Klungkung, Bali 80771, Indonesia

We went here a lot because it is easy to reach from our hotel (and Matze is in love with the chicken crispy). The price is cheaper compare to other restaurants in Nusa Lembongan around 25.000 IDR. The food are totally tasty. The owners are the couple with 1 daughter. Again, the people here are so friendly. Not like most of people in Bali touristic area who are trying to scam. We met them several times during the way in the island, and we were greeting each other like friends. Another thing I like from this restaurant is the interior design. It was semi outdoor. We talked a lot with the owner, he said that he designed and built it by himself. He also planned to open the guest house this year. We wish him luck!

Our favorite chicken crispy

Burger and pasta

2. Cookies coffee shop and foods

Nusa Lembongan, Jungutbatu, Nusapenida, Kabupaten Klungkung, Bali 80771, Indonesia

This is another place that we went more than 3 times. It is located in front of the way to our hotel. The owner is a woman, married to a man whose dad owned the small warong in the corner located in the way to Dream beach and the hotel hut behind the warong. I don´t know why I explain about her family history here, but as you can see, people are friendly. I know the history of the family by accident when we stop by in her father in law warong. Anyway, the food! The food are amazing although it was quite long to wait. We can totally understand since it is only the woman who takes care of everything. They also provide the scooter here! 

Chicken Curry and Nasi Goreng with Chicken Satay

Chicken Burger

Fun fact : If you are wondering why there are not much menu from Cow in Bali or the islands around Bali, it is because the majority of people are Hindu (about 83% people). They don´t eat cow meat.

We went to several places too but we don´t take the picture. If you want to explore more, you can open tripadvisor : https://www.tripadvisor.de/Restaurants-g1137831-Nusa_Lembongan_Bali.html 

Place to Go in Nusa Lembongan

Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan are small. I think 2 or 3 days are enough to explore. We rented the scooter and end up don´t know where to go because we already explored all.

1. Dream Beach

Jungutbatu, Nusapenida, Jungutbatu, Nusapenida, Kabupaten Klungkung, Bali 80771, Indonesia

Dream beach is located in the southwestern coast of lembongan with about 155 meters stretch of white sand. It is near our hotel so we can esily reach it by walk. If you stay far from this beach, you can easily rent the scooter to get here. The way to reach the beach is not so difficult since Nusa Lembongan is really small. There are several board signs around to help you or you can ask the local people. You can swim in here but the wave is quite big. We went there once when the water were down and we spotted so many sea urchins hiding under the rock. Eversince that, Matze stop asking me to swim there. (I told him before, he didn´t believe me until he saw himself.) You can also enjoying this beach by hanging out in the nearest bar since they offer the happy hour too.

                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                     

2. Devil´s Tear                                                                                                                                        
Jungutbatu, Nusapenida, Jungutbatu, Nusapenida, Kabupaten Klungkung, Bali 80771, Indonesia

Taking around 5-10 minutes walking from Dream Beach, you can easily reach this destination. It is well-known as the best sunset spot in Nusa Lembongan because it is located in the cliff which faces directly to the sunset horizon. Besides that, it is also famous with the masive waves crashing the side of small cave of the cliff. It pushes the wave back and boom! Big spreaying water! If you want to take the picture near the edge of the cliff, you should be really carefull. There are so many cases about the tourists get knocked clean by the huge wave crashing over the edge.

The calm side of Devil´s Tear

The masive splash

Short timelapse about the Sunset in Devil´s Tear

3. Mushroom Beach aka Mushroom Bay

Jl. Tanjung Sanghyang, Mushroom Beach, Nusa Lembongan, Jungutbatu, Nusapenida, Klungkung, Bali 80771 

This destination is very crowded since it is the port as well. It is the home for many parking boats. There are several cafe and also accomodation around. This beach has two colors of sand, black and white which is really interesting. Too bad when we were here, it was too crowded, too many tourists come and back, and it was suddenly raining. We end up chilling in the bar waiting the rain to stop.

Mushroom Bay port

Black Sand

The end of the beach

4. Panorama Point

Jungutbatu, Nusapenida, Klungkung Regency, Bali 80771, Indonesia

This destination is the view point of Mushroom Beach and Jungut Batu Beach. From this place you can see the wide blue ocean matches with the blue sky. If you are lucky you can spot the Mount Agung from here. The best way to enjoy the spot is by stopping to the cafe to enjoy the food and drinks.

5. Mangrove Forest

Nusa Lembongan, Jungutbatu, Nusapenida, Kabupaten Klungkung, Bali 80771, Indonesia

Besides the beautiful beaches that Nusa Lembongan offers to you, you can also enjoy another exciting activity here by taking the tour in Mangrove forest. Arriving in here, we were welcomed by the woman named Nala, we called it Bu Nala (Bu is the call for the woman). She was offering the cheap tour for 100.000 IDR for both of us. I asked Matze if he wants it or not and he answered, "I know you want it!" Hihi, so we took it. We were exploring the forest by the small boat that manually operated by her alone by using a bamboo. Matze was asking her if she ever fall down because of the heavy tourists and she said no. What a strong woman! She also told us the story about this tour. She said, long time ago, the livelihoods of the people living around the mangrove forest were the seaweed farmers. However, due to several factors such as the plant disease, sea polution, and shrinking area because of the growth of the building, they finally stop farming. People said, the idea of mangrove forest tour was from the tourist who was seeing the potential of the place. So right now, the main job of the people there are the tour guide.

The water in the forest is slightly getting clear once we start goint deeper. You can see some sea creatures like the small crab, small fish, and many other things including the small crocodile. We like the atmosphere of the forest. It was really quiet so you can really hear the forest itself. We were lucky because there is only 1 more boat exploring with us at that time.

6. Mahagiri Beach

This place is located in the way to mangrove forest, so you can save the time by going to two place at once. The beach is very clean and it has the wide white sand. The water is clear like the crystal blue big pool. On the coast, there are many coconut trees that adding the plus point of the view. You can also find many beautiful sheels in this beach.

7. Yellow Bridge

This place is not only the connector between Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. This bridge becomes one of the touristic area due to the beautiful color  and design. It is one of the picture spot in Nusa Lembongan. This bridge was broken on October 2016 and being built again on February 2017.

The beach near the bridge is also used by the local for the praying.

Place to Go in Nusa Ceningan

Nusa Ceningan is the smallest island between the three beatiful islands (Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan). There are not so many spots here. Mostly inhabited by the local people. So you better stay in Nusa Lembongan.

1. The Blue Lagoon

It is the famous place for people challenging their adrenaline in cliff jumping. But we are not that brave since we both are afraid of height. The view here matches the name. You will be amazed by how baby blue the water can be real. You don´t even need the filter because it´s so real.

We walked a bit from the blue lagoon and reach the cliff

2. Secret Beach

As the name said, this beach is located in a small bay. Both sides of the beach are surrounded by green forests above solid rock cliffs. It gives the visitor more private vibes and exclusive impression. Some people said you need to spend at least 35.000 IDR to use the beach, but we spent nothing. 

That all the places we have been visited in Nusa Ceningan. It is small and we are not the cliff jumper and chill-on-the-cafe-bar type so Nusa Ceningan is not so attractive for us to stay longer.

Budget Estimation

1. Hotel

You can choose so many variation of the hotel such us the hut, normal room, or the backpacker style. The price starts from 120.000 IDR - Million.

2. Food Price

For small restaurant you could spend around 25.000 IDR, for the fancy cafe and restaurant, a meal can be around 50.000 IDR per person. They also provide the beer.

3. Scooter Rental

Starting from 50.000 IDR - 80.000 IDR per day

4. Tourist Attraction

Free

5. ATM

Since there are only 3 ATM here and mostly they have the trouble, I suggest you to bring enough cash. 

Both me and Matze are happy that we decided to spend the time in Nusa Lembongan. The island is small but really convinient. We both feel comfortable. We like it so  much. It is one of our best vacation. So if you want to relax yourself from Bali, you can simply jump to Nusa Lembongan. You will love it!