Kuta

Saturday, September 23, 2006

The "Kuta" Area

THE "KUTA" AREA

Everybody looking for some action and fun in the evening goes to "Kuta" which nowadays means the area extending about 4 miles or 7 kilometers North from the original village of Kuta and includes now 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 such as CASABLANCA etc. – down-market open-air pubs and very noisy discos full of stoned Aussies courting Javanese "Kupu Kupu Malams". PEANUTS Discotheque on Jalan Raya Legian at the Jalan Melasti corner (about the border between Kuta and Legian) has been re-opened very soon after it was gutted by a fire. The huge (air-conditioned) dance floor is often crowded, guests are a mix of locals and younger foreign visitors.
Closer to the center of Kuta you find the BOUNTY SHIP with a noisy, over-air-conditioned disco in the basement and the re-built PADDY'S RELOADED not far from the original PADDY'S. 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 the bar at either 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, at the re-built MACCARONI CLUB in Kuta, at MADE'S WARUNG in Basangkasa (see BALI - Restaurants to Enjoy), or at the trendy HU'U Bar & Lounge near the Petitenget temple, LA LUCIOLA and THE LIVING ROOM.
Something more outrageous and only for open-minded people is 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" with drag shows starting at 11:00 p.m. three times per week. The performances are actually kind of funny!


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, 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 features also live music and attracts many Indonesian customers who don't mind the chilling air-conditioning and the sometimes horrible bands and singers.


Seminyak's best place to have a drink and some fun at night is nowadays probably SANTA FEE Bar & Grill, Jalan Abimanyu No. 11 (also known as Gado Gado Road or Jalan Dhyana Pura). Life 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 and the friendly service attract many visitors until the early hours. If you feel too hot downstairs, you can move to the small air-conditioned "Wine Lounge" upstairs where you find also a rather good choice of wines to take home.
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 walk down the road and check them out !The open-air AINA Bali at the beginning of Jalan Oberoi (next to "Bintang Lima") calls itself "The Ultimate Fully Unconditioned Cocktail Bar". It's not as unique as the Austrian owner/manageress would like you to believe but they attract on some evenings quite a number of regular guests and they serve decent drinks. (Open until 2:00 am, closed on Mondays.) Regrettably this is not always the case in the stylish HU'U bar and restaurant next to the LIVING ROOM: on our last visit three out of five drinks were not drinkable at all because of old canned orange and lime juice used.


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 4:30 a.m. or so. (The legendary GADO GADO Disco has been re-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.

Kuta


Kuta is a town in southern Bali, Indonesia. A former fishing village, it was one of the first towns on Bali to see substantial tourist development, and as a beach resort remains one of Indonesia's major tourist destinations. It is known internationally for its long sandy beach, varied accommodation, many restaurants and bars, and convenience to Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport.
Kuta was the site of the October 12, 2002 Bali Bombing (202 killed) and the October, 1 - 2005 Bali bombing (26 killed).
Kuta is now the center of an extensive tourist-oriented urban area that merges into the neighboring towns. Legian, to the north, is the commercial hub of Kuta and the site of many restaurants and entertainment spots. Most of the area's big beachfront hotels are in the southern section of Tuban.
Legian and Seminyak, are northern extensions of Kuta along Jl. Legian and Jl. Basangkasa. They are somewhat quieter villages with cottage-style accommodations, where many of the emigrated designers and tourists live. Also to the north are Petitenget, Berawa, Canggu, and Seseh - new and quieter continuations of Kuta's beach. They are easy to reach through Abian Timbul or Denpasar and Kerobokan. Several large hotels are located in this area: the Oberoi Bali, the Intan Bali Village, the Legian in Petitenget, the Dewata Beach and the Bali Sani Suites in Berawa.
To the south, Kuta Beach extends beyond the airport into Jimbaran.
The Balinese Provincial Government have taken the view that the preservation of the Balinese culture, natural resources and wild life are of primary importance in the development of the island. To this end they have limited tourist development to the peninsula on the extreme southern aspect of the island; Kuta beach is on the western side of this peninsula and Sanur is on the east. To the north of the peninsula no tourist development is permitted