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Bali's Premier Surfing Information Site |
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| Where to Party in Bali Night life
in Bali starts late, which usually means around midnight. Many
visitors wonder where the crowds of expats suddenly come from after
midnight. The pub and club areas may be very quiet for most of the
evening and suddenly the 'in' places become crowded after 10pm.
There's a simple explanation. During the early part of the evening
many of Bali's 'party people' are either still working, visiting
friends for dinner or simply sleeping. Most of them arrive at the
pubs, bars or discos in the early morning hours and party to the wee
hours of the morning. So if you plan a party night out don't start
your dinner too early. Between 9:00pm & midnight there are not many
pubs and clubs that can be recommended.
Visitors looking for company don't have to worry as wherever you go,
day or night, in Bali there are always many other single travelers
looking for company. In Bali's discos you'll meet many "kupu kupu
malams" ("night butterflies" or working girls) as well as young boys
who compete with the females. All taxi drivers know the more popular
clubs, pubs, karaoke bars and massage parlours as well as the
various "Houses of ill Repute" in Sanur's narrow back lanes. But be
warned AIDS and HIV are very much on the increase throughout
Indonesia and especially Bali.
Sanur & Nusa Dua
Some quite popular places in Sanur are the Borneo Pub (Jalan Danau
Tamblingan) and the Trophy Pub in front of the Sanur Beach Hotel.
Both close around 1:00 a.m.
The Jazz Grille, located at the Komplek Pertokoan Sanur Raya No.
15/16 on the By-Pass opposite the Radisson hotel, was opened in
February 1999 and attracts tourists and locals alike with live bands
(from 9:30 to 12:00 p.m.), a smallish menu, and a billiard table
upstairs. Kafe Wayang in the same building has live music with a
good local band and jam sessions with foreign guests every Friday
which is one of the reasons it's very popular with many residents.
Olaf, who began the famous Koki Restaurant in Sanur, has now moved
to his new Sports Arena Restaurant on the By Pass just near
McDonalds. Try it out for a hearty while you enjoy a variety of
sports being played continually on the big screen - lots of local
atmosphere. Janger is currently the only disco in Sanur. Most
tourists and even the expats living in Sanur prefer to go to "Kuta"
if they are looking for some fun and a long night of partying.
The discos and pubs in Nusa Dua's 5-star hotels are often rather
empty. They are mostly frequented by those visitors who stay
in-house and are too tired to make the 30 minutes drive to Kuta.
There are no late night pubs, clubs or discos outside the hotel
complexes and most restaurants are closed by 11pm.
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Kuta Area
Everybody looking for some action and fun in the evening goes to
"Kuta" which nowadays means the area extending for about 7
kilometers north from the original village of Kuta through Legian,
Seminyak and even Basangkasa. Here are most of the better
entertainment places offering everything single male or female
visitors as well as couples might be looking for.
There are several places like Casablanca, which are down market
open-air pubs and very noisy discos full of Aussies courting
Javanese "Kupu Kupu Malams". Peanuts Discotheque on Jalan Raya
Legian at the Jalan Melasti corner has a huge (air-conditioned)
dance floor which is often crowded with guests that are usually a
mix of locals and younger foreign visitors. Closer to the center of
Kuta you find the Bounty Ship with a noisy, air-conditioned disco in
the basement and the re-built Paddy's Reloaded not far from the
original Paddy's. Of course there is still the very well known
Double Six in the Legian Area. When most places close around 2.00 or
3.00 in the morning, night owls of all kinds continue drinking at
nearby Mama's until sunrise.
For a somewhat more civilized evening out, you can have dinner and a
couple of drinks at a bar such as TJ's or Kori in Kuta, at Poco Loco
in Legian, at the open street side bar at Nero Bali right opposite
Aromas Restaurant in Kuta, or at the re-built Maccaroni Club in
Kuta, at Made's Warung in Basangkasa, or at the trendy Hu'u Bar &
Lounge near the Petitenget temple as well as La Luciola and The
Living Room in the Seminyak area. If you feel like something more
outrageous (and only for open-minded people) try the Hulu Cafe
between Jalan Padma and Jalan Melasti in Kuta/Legian, a place which
calls itself the "only real gay bar in all of Bali". They have drag
shows starting at 11:00pm. three times a week and performances are
actually quite a lot of fun.
You'll find a large and quite popular Hard Rock Cafe right at the
beginning of Kuta's beach road with live music from 11 p.m. to 2
a.m. Expect to find many singles of all kinds here looking for
company. If you think this is too noisy and too crowded, or the
air-conditioning too cold for you, try the Center Stage at the Hard
Rock Resort located in the back of the CAFE. As the name implies,
the band performs on a raised stage in the middle of the huge round
lobby bar until 11:00 p.m. Both Hard Rock outlets are expensive by
Bali standards. The Jaya Pub on the main road in Seminyak also
features live music and attracts many Indonesian customers who don't
mind the chilly air-conditioning and the sometimes not-so-good bands
and singers. Seminyak's best place to have a drink and some fun at
night nowadays is probably the Santa Fe Bar & Grill, Jalan Abimanyu
No. 11 (also known as Gado Gado Road or Jalan Dhyana Pura). Live
music, reasonably priced cocktails, a surprisingly good wine list
(you have to ask for it, but the prices are very low for Bali
standards), and a menu offering local, Mexican, and Japanese dishes
as well as a choice of pizzas around the clock. The friendly service
attracts many visitors until the early hours. If you feel too hot
downstairs, you can move upstairs to the small air-conditioned "Wine
Lounge". Other popular night spots nearby in the same street are Spy
Bar, Liquid, Q Bar ("for the alternative lifestyle"), Antique Bar,
Space, The Globe and "A" Bar. New bars and 'Chill-Out Lounges' are
opening all the time, and most of them feature DJ's and/or live
music on certain nights. Just take a walk down the road and check
them out!
Later, from 2:00 a.m., it's party time at the Paparazzi Lounge and
Double Six, a large open-air disco with several bars, big dance
floor, and many tables. Both are located next to each other on the
beach in Seminyak and charge an entrance fee of 30,000 to 100,000
Rupiah (depending on the day) for which you get a voucher for a free
drink. Here you'll find most of Bali's night owls drinking and
dancing the night away until 4:30am or so. (The legendary Gado Gado
Disco has now been converted into a restaurant.)
Also, watch out for notices and small posters in Kuta and Seminyak
announcing special events such as Full Moon Parties, House Warming
Parties, Body Painting Parties, etc, etc. If these "parties" are
announced to the public (even if only by word-of-mouth), they are
open for everybody. You'll have to pay for your drinks, therefore,
don't be shy.
Ubud
Don't expect too much information on this one as there isn't one of
us that's an expert on 'Ubud after Dark', and it is fairly quiet up
there at night, but names heard frequently mentioned include Putra
Bar on Jl. Monkey Forest (live music every night ranging from Reggae
to rock), Magic Bar also on Jl. Monkey Forest (live music), Jazz
Cafe, Jl. Tebesaya (live music and jam sessions on different
nights), Exile Bar (Saturday nights only, great music), and Funky
Monkey (early hours cafe).
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