kelingking beach is a beach in the Bali province of Indonesia and I was always dreaming to visit this beach once in my life. Finally I was able to visit this pristine beach last month and now i am finally happy doing it.
I am more of an adventure traveller. I like visiting unexplored, difficult to reach places rather than just doing a packaged tour. May be that is why i was so eager to visit this beach that it end up becoming my first international trip.
All of you may be thinking what is so special about this beach, right??
The very first thing that makes it so special for me is that a small hike is required to access this beach and very few actually does it. Every day thousands of tourists visit this famous beach from all over the world but very few of them dares to do the hike down to reach the beach. In fact most of the tourists who do the hike returns from halfway after clicking some pictures. So the one who goes to the endpoint has the beach all for himself most of the time with only 10-20 people sitting in the beach while hundreds of others will be in the up of the cliff looking down and wanting to come down to see the beach but cant!!Exciting right!!
Secondly, kelingking beach is ranked #19 in Travellers' choice awards 2019 from top 25 best beaches in the world and #2 in Asia. ( The #1 is Radhanagar beach of Havelock island, India and yeeh i have visited that beach too. I will share about it in another blog).
Description of the beach-
Kelingking beach is situated in the south-west region of Nusa-penida Island.
This beach is the most famous and most visited attractions in the island. This beach is surrounded by steep cliff and it provides a great view of the cliff with deep blue water and powdery white sand from the viewpoint.
The main reason that hundreds of tourists visit this place is because the cliff takes the shape of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The word "kelingking" in english means "pinkie" which represents the little finger in the hand.
In order to access the beach, you have to do a 400 m hike down by the side of the cliff.
The hike to access the beach--
It needs 30 min- 1 hour depending on your speed and stamina to reach the beach. The stairs and handhold railings in the pathway are made up of only sticks and bamboos, so you should be very careful while climbing down the hill. Before stepping on the rock or holding the railing, you should make sure that they are strong enough to hold your weight.
A good shoe is recommended but not compulsory along with lots of drinking water. you will also get to buy water bottles down the beach but their price will be triple the actual price. I remember buying a 500 ml of water bottle at the rate of 25000 IDR ( 120 indian rupees). The overprice of water bottles down the beach is totally understandable as the locals had to carry bags of bottles on their back and hike down the cliff in early morning before the tourists arrive.
After spending 2-3 hours in the beach, you will need another minimum 1 hour to climb up the hill. But if you are an experienced trekker, then you can easily climb up the hill in 30 minutes.
The beach-
Depending on the tide conditions, the waters are swimmable. There is a local life-guard in the beach too. Most of the time the water currents will be so heavy that the life-guard will not allow anyone to swim in the water. But trust me the currents will be so heavy , you would not dare to swim in it even if the life-guard allows you to swim.
However, in spite of being able to swim or not, the beach is worth visiting. With its shiny white sand and turquoise blue water, you will surely fell in love with it.
I myself had a fall there after being hit by the waves-
Best time to visit the place-
This beach can be visited all round the year. Still i would advise you to avoid the rainy seasons. In the rainy season , the pathway down the beach becomes too slippery and dangerous. You have take extra precaution to do the hike.
But if you donot want to do the hike and only want to take pictures of the T-Rex shaped cliff for your instagram, then you can visit it any time of the year.
pro-tip: Try to visit the beach before 9 A.M. as by the afternoon , hundreds of tourists will reach the spot and you wouldnot get any chance to take that perfect picture in that perfect place. Also by the afternoon, it becomes too hot to do the hike.
How to reach the Kelingking beach viewpoint ( the hike down the beach starts from this point)
From Bali airport, you have to go to sanur beach in taxi. From sanur beach book your ferry tickets to the Nusa-penida island. The ferry ride will take about 45 minutes to reach the island if it is a fast boat. I would advise to take the fast boat though little expensive from the low cost, slower government ferries.It is worth paying the extra rupees in order to reach the island soon.
After reaching the Island, you can directly hire a car from the harbour for the whole day to reach the kelingking beach. Scooters can also be rented from there as well.
For solo/adventure/budget travellers, it is better to rent a scooter and explore the island. Scooters can be rented at the rate of 700-800 indian rupees. Also the cost of petrol is cheap over there which is only 50 indian rupees per litre. so riding and exploring the island in scooter will be thrilling as well as economical too.Besides there is good internet connection all over the island, so it would be very easy to use google maps as well.
However, most of the roads to the kelingking beach is uneven and rocky. Riding could be somewhat tiring. For those who do not want to ride a scooter and want a less tiring journey, can rent a car from the harbour or hotel as well.
In the entrance gate, a fee of 1000o IDR has to be paid which includes parking as well.
Total cost to reach the Kelingking beach-
I explored the island for 2 days in a scooter.Below i am giving my cost details only to reach the kelingking beach from Bali airport. (I will share the cost for the whole trip in my another blog). So i have not considered by accomodation cost for 2 days in the hotel-
1) Bali airport to sanur beach in taxi- 129000 IDR
2) Ferry tickets from sanur to Nusa-penida and
back to sanur- 350000 IDR
3) scooter rent- 170000 IDR
4) petrol- 25000 IDR
5) Entrance fees- 10000 IDR
6) food and water- 95000 IDR
so my total cost only to reach kelingking beach becomes - 779000 IDR
( nearly 4000 indian rupees)
