Uluwatu day trip – the place dreams are made of
We loved Uluwatu, it was such a nice day trip and seriously just the most beautiful place. The beach is so lovely and watching the surfers from the top of the cliff while sipping cocktails as the sun goes down is what dreams are made of.
Hiring a driver for a day in Bali is one of the things you can do, it’s definitely the most economical way to travel. Drivers wait in the streets and yell out to you as you walk past “Driver! Driver!?” “Yes, Driver!”, they shake their piece of laminated paper that has all the attractions printed on it and make steering wheel gestures at you “Yes, Yes!”. Everyday. They’re constantly out the front of your hotel. Everyday. We paid $50 to $65 for a full day trip, you either book half day or full day. Friends paid $40 to $45 for a half day trip. We paid $60 for this day trip and we were picked up at midday and dropped home at like 10pm due to 3 hours of traffic.
Hiring a driver and a baby car seat
I had booked a driver with a car seat so it was that little bit more expensive, I didnt want to hold Thad in the car on the big trips, especially when you end up doing speeds of more than 80km. But the car seat was tied to the front and back head rest and basically acting like a hammock, so I decided against using it. The knots were too excessively tied for me to undo them and correct the car seat, so Thad got a journey on my lap. The time before this we went to Ubud and he was in the car seat, I thought it was in properly, but as I was getting out I realised that the back latch was just tied around the head rest as well. So after two failed attempts at a car seat, I eventually gave into the Bali ways and held him on car trips.
You can pre book drivers or you can just find one at the time you want to go, one morning at about 7am we asked our security if they knew a driver and they called one for us. So there is always someone nearby who is willing to take your money and be your tour guide. One of our drivers asked for 200k Rupiah ($20 AUD) straight into the trip cause he needed petrol, I think after covid a lot of the locals are quiet desperate for money. One cab driver told us he hadn’t worked for two years due to covid and was working 24 hours a day now to catch up. Surprisingly, he kept nodding off, but we luckily only had a short trip with him and lived to tell the tale!
We left for Uluwatu at midday, purely because we have our baby and it’s too hot being out in the sun in the middle of the day. So we went for a leisurely breakfast and then got in the car for the hottest part of the day. We also wanted to go and see the big Vishnu statue, which I thought was just going to be a statue you drive around and look at but I was very wrong. It’s inside the GWK Park and a pretty cool spot.
Our tour guide was annoying me because he kept suggesting that we go to Jimbaran instead of Uluwatu as the traffic was going to be bad coming back after sunset. He showed us some other beach that was nice, I told him time and time again we were going to Uluwatu and he finally gave up after we finished at the Uluwatu Temple. I didn’t hire him again because it was just annoying.
GWK Park and Vishnu Statue
The GWK Park is 15km from Legian depending on traffic, it took us about 30 minutes to get there. You cant fly your drone at the park which is disappointing because drone shots of this place would be awesome. The park is child friendly, plenty for the kids to look at.
We drove to the GWK Park first to have a look at the big statue of Vishnu and Garuda, I thought we would just be driving around this for a literal look but turns out its a whole big park and tourist attraction. From the parking section there is a free shuttle bus to the entrance. There are some nice statues just inside the entrance, one of Bhagawan Kashyapa and his wives (he had two). Bhagawan Kashyapa is the father of Garuda and known as “The father of All Beings”. One wife, Kadru was the mother of 1000 dragons and the other; Winata, was the mother of Garuda.
We paid $12.50 AUD each to enter the park and another $4 each to catch a golf buggy from the entry to the statue, which is about 3km and well worth the $4 to not have to walk that far in the heat. There was also an option to pay $30 each to go to the 26th floor of the statue which had a museum and views of the whole park and out to the ocean. We wanted to do this but the tour wasn’t going for another hour and a half and we didnt want to wait around for it. We had a look inside the statue, got some gelato and took some pics outside the statue and then left again on the buggy. The buggy then drops you back at the entrance, where you can look at these massive limestone blocks that they have created – we couldnt see why they built them how they did and no one seemed to know if there was any significance to them, other than the just being a tourist attraction. They do look cool and it’s nice to walk through them as they create a lot of shade.
There is a big state of Garuda and a big nest with his eggs in it close to the entrance so nice to have a little wander around before leaving. There is a big gift shop at the entrance so you can buy another magnet for the fridge or something more extravagant if you wish. We got the shuttle bus back to the parking where our driver was waiting for us. There is a couple of little local restaurants here, if you want to buy a drink on the way out. We spent an hour at the park, the buggy came super regularly to drop you up and back so we weren’t waiting long.
Uluwatu Temple
The temple is 25km from Legian but I would expect it to take about an hour to drive to. You can’t take a drone into the temple but the temple is family friendly.
Uluwatu Temple is a gorgeous ocean side Hindu temple full of monkeys trying to steal your glasses and anything sparkly you may have. Our driver came through the temple with us as our “tour guide”, we didnt ask him to, he just came with us. I have since read that you can hire a local tour guide at the start of the temple who will tell you all about the history of the place as you go through, it generally says allow two to three hours for a visit. We were through there in about half an hour, our driver didn’t tell us anything other than two spots for us to stand for a photo. Once again, I was not a fan of our driver, it was like he didn’t want to be there and was trying to rush the day.
The temple is beautiful and definitely worth a visit, the coastal views are fabulous and the monkeys are fun. They provide sarongs at the entrance to wear if you are not dressed appropriately. There was a 50k Rupiah ($5 AUD) entry fee.
Uluwatu – Blue Point Beach
Blue Point Beach is the beautiful Uluwatu beach that is on the edge of a cliff, it’s such a great place even with so many people visiting daily. This was another 2.4km from the temple and so only took us about 5 minutes to drive there. To get to the beach you walk down the cliff side, which has a sweet path adorned with restaurants, bars, surf board repair shops and markets. I found Uluwatu to be drone friendly and saw many drones flying in the time we spent there. The area is also family friendly, however, it’s a pretty steep climb down and the railings are not that secure, so I would just make sure your kids are being careful. Usually I would say Uluwatu is one to one and half hours from Legian, depending on the traffic, this was true for our drive over, but our drive home took three hours.
Blue Point Beach is the spot where the surfers catch the waves into sunset, there was a constant line of surfers coming down the stairs to the beach while we were there. At the top of the cliff is Single Fin, which is an iconic bar where you can sit over looking the water and the sun setting, it’s a beautiful spot. There are plenty of other restaurants that give good views of the sunset so it seems easy to find a spot to be.
We got to Uluwatu about 3:30pm, it was a nice time to explore for a bit as once you get down to the beach, it is shaded and cool. We had a beer half way down the cliff at the very end cafe, Island Brewing. They had an upstairs section beside the bar where they allowed us to fly the drone which was great. Any of the cafes and bars along the cliff face are lovely for watching the surfers catch some waves. It’s such a beautiful spot, even if you aren’t into surfing, you cant beat having a drink on the edge of a cliff and watching the waves roll below the cliffs.
We went down and explored the beach, the stair case down is pretty steep and there is a hand rail fashioned out of poly pipe that screams safety, but it was easy enough to get down with the baby in the carrier. There was about 100 people down there and so many constantly coming and going, it’s a popular spot and very easy to see why. You can get massages down on the beach and buy drinks from people with esky’s set up. It’s a happening area!
We wanted to get high up the cliff for sunset, so we made our way back up, shopping at some of the markets on the way up. We settled in at Single Fin for dinner and sunset cocktails. Beautiful spot, food and cocktails were great, would recommend. Each spot where you sit along the edge had a minimum spend, we sat in some chairs right on the seafront and I think our minimum spend was like $15 AUD each. We got to Single Fin about 5:30pm and this was perfect timing cause by 6pm the place was full and there was not a seat in sight. The sun set at about 6:30pm, I would recommend being here from 5:30pm to 7pm if you want to see sunset.
We left close to 7pm to head back to Legian, our driver took us through Nusa Dua and lots of back streets as he was trying to avoid traffic. Like I said it took us three hours to get home due to all the traffic. Apparently it was the start of the Indonesian school holidays (23rd Dec) and so for the following two weeks, traffic would be hectic, it’s apparently the worst time of year for traffic as all the Indonesians from Jakarta and around travel to Bali to holiday. We experienced many out of town drivers stuck in awkward positions in little back streets, having a very hard time!
You literally go to Uluwatu to watch the sun set so I have no advice for avoiding traffic, you just have to run with it. Make sure you pick a driver with a nice car and good aircon so you at least have a comfortable trip. But all in all, Uluwatu is a great spot for a day trip. The last time i was at Uluwatu would have been 2018, you can see how it has changed, more shops in the streets leading to Blue Point Beach and becoming more built up. We said next time we head to Bali we will spend a week there, would be nice to spend every afternoon watching that sunset and the surfers.
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