Eline and I planned to go to Nusa Penida for the weekend. With quite a few solo experiences under the belt already, I was looking forward to sharing the experience with someone else. But there must be a curse on us, because due to various things, it ended up being a solo trip for me, while Eline stayed behind and helped a friend through some boyfriend troubles.

Nusa Penida is a small rocky island. I set off in the morning, hopped on a Grab, and got dropped off at the harbor in Sanur. From Sanur it’s 45 minutes by speedboat. At the harbor on Nusa Penida I’m met by a storm of sellers. All sorts of tours and driving services get shouted at us as we come off the speedboat. It’s a mystery to me how it actually works to storm tourists that way. It gives the feeling of a fish market where a fresh catch has just come in. We’re just the catch. Out of pure defiance I walk through the crowd. Even then, two of them follow me and keep an eye on me after I sit down in the shade on a bench. I don’t like being hunted like that, especially when I’m not clear on my options. It also ends with me taking a way-too-expensive taxi to the hostel. It just makes for a bad first impression.

The roads are narrow and have big, deep potholes. The scooters zigzag around on the road to avoid the holes, and the trucks slow right down and crawl when the holes get too big. We reach a max of 40 km/h on a fairly straight stretch, but the rest of the way we drive very slowly. It makes the short 7 km ride somewhat longer, but it also sets expectations for what it’s like to get around the island.

We drive along the coast. Sandy beach and turquoise sea. My driver points out a couple of good places to eat and watch the sunset as we ride along. My driver is quite a character. In one moment he’s got a family to feed, and in the next he’s hooting over all the beautiful girls at the hostel I’m staying at.

The hostel itself sits up on a hillside, about 50 meters above the water’s surface. It’s a series of large concrete platforms, with a view out over the sea and Bali on the horizon. By the pool area there are lots of young people sunbathing. Generally the age range is early to mid-20s. There are plenty of beautiful people, but after traveling around and staying at a lot of hostels, I’m also getting fairly used to the company by now. I relax by the pool from noon to afternoon, where I try and fail to get a tan. My factor 50 sunscreen takes away all the color except at the edge of my shorts on my thigh, where I didn’t get it rubbed in properly, so there’s just a neat red line marking where my swim shorts end.

One of the reasons I took scooter lessons in Canggu was because I wanted to rent a scooter and ride around Nusa Penida. There’s much less traffic here, so I basically just have to keep to the roads.
You can rent a scooter at the hostel. I was handed one for 35 kr. and filled it up for 10 kr. It’s a well-used scooter, but it drives straight and brakes fine. The problem is with my phone. I use my smartphone for navigation, but it barely fits in the phone mount on the handlebars.

From the hostel down to the coast it’s 100-200 meters, but it goes steeply downhill. The road is narrow and winds around big trees and bushes, so you can’t quite see oncoming traffic. Carefully I make it down and come out onto the main road along the north coast. Here you just follow the traffic. If I position myself behind a scooter with an Indonesian on it, then they know where all the potholes are, and I can just follow them.

I enjoy the sunset the first evening at a small restaurant called Penida Colada. It’s happy hour, so I get a couple of cheap mocktails and a snack as the sun goes down. Live music is being set up, and the musicians are chatting away with various guests and friends who stop by. The vibe is very relaxed, and the view out over the water with Bali in the background is beautiful. I don’t stay for the live music though. I’ve promised myself not to ride after dark, so I slip back to the hostel and have a quiet evening in the room.

The next day I’m out on the scooter again. This time it’s to the east coast of Nusa Penida, where there are big cliffs you can walk down the side of to reach the crystal blue sand beaches everyone dreams of when they see pictures from the tropics.

It’s a long ride, but also incredibly beautiful. The first stretch is along the coast, where it starts to go up and down as the coastline rises and turns into cliffs. The roads go from straight and flat to winding and steep. After a good stretch of coastal riding, the road turns in towards the middle of the island, where it really starts to become a hilly experience. The little scooter runs at high revs as I take one hairpin turn after another. This is where the potholes start getting genuinely dangerous, because if you hit them at the wrong angle while taking a turn, you have to fight to keep control. Sometimes the holes are placed right in the shade of the palm trees, so they’re almost invisible.

What should have been a 50-minute ride turns into 90 minutes, but I make it there safely. The place is called Diamond Beach. Luckily I have cash on me, since there’s an entry fee. Once I’m inside, I come across both a zipline and a big swing. There’s a narrow walkway built along the top of the cliff ridge, leading out to a rocky point standing out in the water with a small pagoda, a small shed, and some grazing cows. Along the walkway there’s a small two-story café where you can sit and get something to drink while enjoying the view.
It’s a long way down to the coast. On each side of the walkway there are uneven stairs down to small coves with sandy beaches and crystal blue water. The stairs are carved out of the cliffside and fairly steep, with only a thin rope on the outer edge. If there weren’t a steady stream of people moving up and down the stairs, I might have gone down to look at the water. Instead I go up to the pagoda and find a spot in the shade, where I can just sit, drink some water, and enjoy the view.

While I’m up at the top of the cliff, I have a view of one of the staircases. It’s not so much a stream of people as it is a long row of photo studios, with people blocking the fairly small stairs by standing and posing for a camera. It doesn’t really look like a particularly great experience at all. It’s also high tide, so down where the stairs end, the water washes in, and it’s not really possible to get down onto the sand beach without getting wet.

With a view over the cliffs and the beach I have a short call with Eline. I show her the view, and she tells me about the situation in Canggu. We agree it was fair that the plans had to change, but also the right choice given the situation.

After hanging out at the cliffs for a while, I head back to the hostel and recharge for the next day, when I’m leaving Nusa Penida, but not before going on a snorkeling trip. The snorkeling trip is its own chapter, which you’ll get another time, but it was an absolutely fantastic trip.

The original plan was to be on Nusa Penida for 4 days, but after 3 days I was ready to leave the island. It’s a beautiful island, and I could definitely have seen more absolutely fantastic beaches, waterfalls, temples, and viewpoints. There’s a good distance between them though, with a poor road network, and a lot of tourists. There’s only a small amount of town to experience and it’s far from the hostel, so going out in the evening is more involved. So if the hostel doesn’t catch your interest, the options run out quickly.

Then again, maybe I didn’t give Nusa Penida a proper chance. There’s clearly also an element of the plans taking a turn. What was supposed to be a shared experience turned into a solo trip. So maybe the island deserves another chance some other time.

Want to support the journey? Read more here.