Once a poor fishing village with a black history of lepers and witches, Kuta became a key point on the sea route from India through Southeast Asia to Australia.
Originally, this beach was discovered by tourists as a surfing paradise and today tends to be a popular stop for backpackers. Australian visitors seem to be the most common set of tourists, seeing that Bali is as close to Australia as Mauritius is to South Africa.
It can come across as the 3c’s – overcrowded, congested, and chaotic and has a bad infrastructure with a ton of horrible drivers but I can argue that it is one the prettiest beach fronts I visited while traveling in Bali. It is also one of my favorites for capturing the Balinese sunsets, and you can see by these images why this beach is notorious for them.
The beach is 5km long, safe, and well-maintained. By day, the main beach is crowded with sunbathers, beach vendors, and surfers offering a really nice “holiday” vibe.
The northern parts of the beach (Legian & Seminyak) is a lot quieter and this is where I spent a lot of time capturing the traditional outrigger fishing boats silhouetted against the sunset.
The traditional Balinese fishing canoes silhouetted against the sunset offers photographers the perfect opportunity for landscape photography.
Party up a storm
Once the sun goes down, Kuta becomes the party zone of Bali with its wealth of bars, clubs, and international restaurants. During the day, Be sure to collect a few “free drink vouchers” & “buy one get one free voucher” that bar staff can be found handing out. I bar hopped with these and ended my evening at the Hard Rock Café on Jalan Pantai Kuta Street.