During my visit to Bali, I decided to go for a day trip to this beautiful Island – Nusa Lembongan. The Island is big enough to stay overnight and the best way to explore the island is on a motorbike. It is a part of a group of 3 Islands that make up Nusa Penida. The Island is a major tourist attraction, and you can find a lot of boat services from Bali to Nusa Lembongan Islands. The Island offers a lot of activities to do for a day or two. Staying overnight is a good option, but since I was running short of time, I decided to do a day trip.
I was traveling with a friend. We decided to wake up early and catch the 9:30 am a ferry to the Nusa Island. We were staying in the Kuta area. We took a local cab to the Sanur Beach. Most of the ferries to Nusa Lembongan start from Sanur beach. The cab took around 30 mins and 100000 IDR from Kuta to Sanur beach. We found a booking office on the beach itself and for 350000 IDR, I bought a return ferry ticket to the Island. The return was planned at 4:30 pm, the last ferry from the Island.
Nusa Lembongan must visit places
- Mangrove forest small boat ride – Near the Lighthouse, you can see the Mangrove forest, as you enter the area of mangrove forest you can see a lot of people offering services of the small boat ride in mangroves or snorkeling. We decided to go for a 30 mins ride through the mangroves and it cost us 200000 IDR for two people. The guide took us to a place from where the ride starts. The experience through the mangroves forest was scintillating, really nice views and a peaceful experience with nature. I think the price was pretty cheap as well, although I got this price after some bargaining.
- Yellow Bridge – After spending time relaxing near mangroves and clicking a lot of pictures on the beaches near the lighthouse we decided to go to another small island called Ceningan Island. Connected to Nusa Lembongan with a beautiful yellow bridge. If you have a motorbike, it is pretty easy to go there, just see google maps and drive far enough 😉
- Mushroom Beach – We ended our day at the mushroom beach, it is a beautiful beach, with some good restaurants to eat around. Our return ferry was from this point.
Some more activities to do that I missed out
- Devil’s tears: This a really good place to spend some time, you can witness waves splashing the rocks and feel the energy in waves. A great place to watch the sunset as well according to locals. Since I had a single day trip, I have to miss this one.
- Snorkeling: You can go snorkeling at a pretty cheap price here on this beautiful Island. There are some pretty good spots to snorkel in the Island. Just make sure that you book it early in the day.
Money Matters
The total expenses for a single day trip to and from Bali are:
- Return ferry ride from Bali: The ferry ride from Sanur to Jungut Batu village cost me 350000 IDR, this was the cheapest ferry ride available there. you can go for a better ferry at a higher price as well.
- Bike rent: Bike rent was 200000 IDR per person including the petrol. We dropped the bike at Mushroom bay while coming back to Bali.
- Mangrove forest boat: For a single person it cost 100000 IDR.
- Food was a decent price as well, almost similar to Bali. So, add another 100000 IDR for the food
Total Cost: 750000 IDR (around 50 dollars)
The Indian Backpacker 