Pemuteran rewards slow travel. The reef starts at the beach, the national park at the end of the road, and within an hour or two you can be at a hot spring, a sea temple guarded by monkeys, or a waterfall in the cool highlands. These are the thirteen places we would build a stay around, each with its own guide covering what to do, how to get there and which tours cover it.
Things to Do in & Around Pemuteran
Thirteen places that turn a few days by the reef into a real journey through Bali’s wild north-west.
Pemuteran village & reef
Pemuteran village & reef Pemuteran Beach
A calm, dark-sand bay with the reef at your feet
A long curve of grey volcanic sand on a sheltered bay, backed by the hills of West Bali National Park. The sea is flat for most of the year, fishing boats are drawn up on the sand, and the Biorock reef lies just offshore — this is a beach for snorkelling and sunsets rather than sunbathing.
Pemuteran village & reef Biorock Reef
One of the world’s largest coral restoration projects
Since 2000 the village has grown new reef on dozens of steel structures charged with a safe, low-voltage current, which helps coral grow faster and survive heat stress. Today the structures are covered in coral and fish, and you can snorkel over them straight from the beach.
Pemuteran village & reef Underwater Temple Garden
Statues and shrines on the sea floor
Off Pemuteran, Balinese-style statues and temple gates have been sunk as artificial reefs. The deeper garden is a dive site; newer statues set among the Biorock structures sit in shallow water, where snorkellers can see them grow a skin of coral and sponges.
Pemuteran village & reef Turtle Hatchery
Release a hatchling into the sea
A small, long-running conservation project on the beach in Pemuteran that buys turtle eggs from local people instead of letting them be eaten or sold, incubates them and releases the hatchlings. Visitors can see young turtles in the tanks and, for a donation, release one at sunset.
Pemuteran village & reef Pura Pulaki
A sea temple guarded by monkeys
A major temple built against a cliff above the coast road a few kilometres east of Pemuteran, linked to the 16th-century priest Dang Hyang Nirartha. Hundreds of long-tailed macaques live around it, and nearby temples such as Pura Melanting make a short, atmospheric circuit.
Menjangan & West Bali National Park
Menjangan & West Bali National Park Menjangan Island
Bali’s best snorkelling and wall diving
A small, uninhabited island inside West Bali National Park, 30–45 minutes by boat from Pemuteran. Its protected reefs drop away in steep walls covered in sea fans and soft corals, the water is usually calm and clear, and the island is named after the deer that roam its dry forest.
Menjangan & West Bali National Park West Bali National Park
Savanna, monsoon forest and the rarest bird in Bali
Taman Nasional Bali Barat covers the far west of the island: dry savanna, monsoon forest, mangroves and coral reefs, including Menjangan. It is the last wild home of the critically endangered Bali starling, and deer, macaques, monitor lizards and hornbills are common.
Menjangan & West Bali National Park Banyuwedang Hot Springs
A holy hot spring by the mangroves
On the shore of Banyuwedang Bay, ten minutes west of Pemuteran, warm spring water rises beside a small Hindu temple and is channelled into bathing pools used by local people for healing and purification. The bay is also the closest harbour to Menjangan and lined with mangroves.
North Bali & across the strait
North Bali & across the strait Lovina & the Dolphins
Dolphins at dawn off the north coast
Lovina is the collective name for a string of relaxed beach villages west of Singaraja, about an hour east of Pemuteran. Its fame is the dawn boat trip: dozens of outrigger boats head out at first light to find the pods of spinner dolphins that feed offshore.
North Bali & across the strait Banjar Hot Springs
Warm pools and dragon-head spouts in the jungle
Air Panas Banjar is a set of stone bathing pools in a tropical garden in the hills behind Lovina, fed by naturally warm, sulphurous water that pours from carved naga (dragon) heads. Close by is Brahma Vihara Arama, Bali’s largest Buddhist monastery.
North Bali & across the strait Gitgit & Sekumpul Waterfalls
The great waterfalls of the north
The hills above Singaraja hide Bali’s most spectacular waterfalls. Gitgit is the easy one, a single tall cascade a short walk from the road; Sekumpul is a cluster of falls plunging into a deep green gorge, reached by steep steps and often called the most beautiful waterfall on the island.
North Bali & across the strait Munduk & the Twin Lakes
Cool highlands, coffee and crater lakes
A hill village at around 800 metres surrounded by coffee, clove and rice terraces, above the twin crater lakes of Buyan and Tamblingan. Munduk is the perfect place to break the long drive to Pemuteran, with waterfall walks and the lake temple of Ulun Danu Bratan nearby.
North Bali & across the strait Ijen Crater (Java)
Blue fire and a turquoise acid lake across the strait
Across the Bali Strait in East Java, the Ijen volcano holds a vivid turquoise acid lake and a sulphur mine where, before dawn, burning gas creates the famous blue flames. From Pemuteran, tours leave around midnight via the Gilimanuk ferry and are back by early afternoon.
A sensible five days: Day one, arrive and snorkel the Biorock reef at sunset. Day two, Menjangan in the morning. Day three, Pura Pulaki, the turtle hatchery and the Banyuwedang hot spring. Day four, dolphins at Lovina and the waterfalls or Munduk. Day five, a dive, a cooking class or a mangrove kayak — or the midnight trip to Ijen.
Plan your days in Bali’s quiet north-west
Turn a few days in Pemuteran into the trip of a lifetime
Snorkel the walls of Menjangan Island, dive the Biorock reef, watch dolphins at sunrise and hike to Ijen’s blue fire. Compare the best-rated experiences and book in a couple of taps.