Pandawa Beach

Until the early 2010s Pandawa was a hidden fishing and seaweed-farming beach belonging to Kutuh village, cut off from the plateau by sheer limestone cliffs and nicknamed “Secret Beach”. Then a road was carved down through the cliff, and the beach became one of the busiest on the Bukit Peninsula, especially with Indonesian visitors at weekends and on holidays.

The road itself is part of the attraction. Niches cut into the exposed rock hold large statues of the five Pandawa brothers of the Mahabharata, Yudhistira, Bima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadewa, together with their mother Kunti, and the views down to the turquoise water from the bends are some of the best on this coast.

Below, a long, flat beach of white sand is lined with warungs, sunbeds and parking areas. A reef offshore keeps the water fairly calm, and the inshore lagoon is used for kayaking and paddling. Swimming is best around high tide, as low tide exposes rock and reef. Seaweed is still farmed in the shallows, and paragliders launched from the cliffs at nearby Timbis can sometimes be seen drifting overhead.

There is no public transport. Drive or ride south from Jimbaran or Nusa Dua toward Ungasan and follow the signs for Pandawa and Kutuh; the village runs the car parks at the bottom of the cliff road.