The island’s beach clubs give vationers another good reason to bask under the sun – in style and with a lot of fun
EVEN
THE MOST enthusiastic vactioners will experience this inevitable feeling at a
certain point in theier adventure-filled, adrenaline-soaked holiday: a feeling
of unbearable longing.
No,
I don’t mean a longing for home. After all, who needs to return to home when
they are already in such a homey place, such as in a huxurious resort nestled
inside a lush forest in Payangan?
It
is a longing for doing nothing.
Vacationing
is a fast-paced affair nowadays.
Travelers
ma yspend their morning jogging along Sanur’s shoreline and having a fullfilling
breakfast at the famou Men Weti food stall before hopping into an awaiting car
to Ubud.
There
they enjoy a sumptuous lunch of the world-famous sucking pig at Ibu Oka,
sampling the same dishes that awed the late Antohny Bourdain. Cultural endeavours
, ranging fro mbatk class and offering making course to traditional dance
lessons and museum tours, will keep them busy throughout the afternoon.
They
hen navigate the island’s infamous traffic jams to reqch Canggu or Seminyak,
the nexus of the island’s upscale gastronomy and nightlife establishments. They
have a fancy dinner, si pa few glasses of wine and either dance the night away
or stroll along the deserted beach of Petitenget.
It
is an intellectually enriching and physically exhausting day. The following
morning, thye awaken and feel that yearning for doing nothing.
They
need no worry. The island’s tourist industry has a potent cure for that
longing. That cure is the beach club. A rather recent addition to the island’s
landscape, beach clubs have grown in number and popularity in the last few
years.Combining
gorgeous pools, well-stocked bars, charming restaurants with easy access to a
long stretch of sandy beach,
these beach clubs are the perfect place for vacationers who wants to linger for hours without doing anything of importance.
Potato
Head in Seminyak is one of the clubs that has played a strong role in the
rising popularity of beach clubs in the island.
Itw
word-class restaurant, infinity pools and series of captivating night events,
including the annual Sunny Side Up Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival, have
drawn thousands of vacationers, foreign and domestic alike, into the
establishment.
The
wall of the gigantic structure that houses the restaurant is lined with
hundreds of used wooden windows collected from across the archipelago. It is a
visual feast that lures a constant stream of visitors searching for a unique,
instagrammable spot.
Potato
Head is till one of the best beach clubs on the island. But competition is
tight in this business as new players show up and old players elevate their
games.
For
instance, its next door neighbor, the W Bali-Seminyak, has continuously polished
the operation of its beach club. A posh resort famous for its ultra-luxurious
rooms and over-the-top Starfish Bloo beachside seafood restaurant, the
W-Bali-Seminyak employs a full-time music curator to ensure that quality music
is the signature ambience of its Woobar beach club.
SPF,
an annual summer party with a mesmerizing fireworks and light show, is Woobar’s
answer to Potato Head’s Sunny Side Up. The SPF in late Jully featured Derrick
Carter, one of key players of Chichago’s 1990’s house music wave, and Tensnake,
a German Dj and producer praised by the The New York Times of having delievered
“highly precises modern disco”.
Throughout
this August, Woobar has lined up scores of well-know foreign artist, including
Livia Dawn and Sebastian Leger, to light up its night.
As
the beach clubs in Seminyak and Canggu are locked in the competition to come up
with the best pary might ever, a beach club in Ungasan is quietly rising to be one
of the must-visit beach clubs on the island.
Karma
Kandara, a compound of gorgeous villas and a stunning infinity pool, perches
atop a hill overlooking the Indian Ocean. The view is simply breathtaking. Its beach
club lies 100 meters below the cliff and can only accessed by a private cable
car, giving it an aura of exclusiveness no other beach club on the island
offer.
Karma
beach club sits literary on a stretch of “private” beach with a magnificent
sunset. One can spend the whole day there, sipping cocktails while reading a
book under the grass-roofed bamboo pavilion or having a picnic by the beach.
The
rising popularity of beach clubs has spurred old players to elevate their
games. Conrad Bali, which lies in the island’s water sports capital of Tanjung
Benoa, has carried out a complete renovation of its beach club. Its Azure beach
club is expected to open its gates in late August.
The
rising popularity has also enticed the entrance of new players. One of them is
Artotel Beach Club (ABC) in Sanur. Unlike it sisters in Seminyak and Canggu,
which put a premium value on large-scale night events. ABC apparently chose a
quieter path. After all, Sanur has always been known as the quieter among Bali’s
top tourist destinations.
Yet,
Sanur offers something that Seminyak, Canggu, and Ungasan cannot match: an
active fishermen community. Visitors to ABC, therefore, have an ample
opportunity to not only sip cocktails and dip in the pools, but also to
converse leisurely with the local fishermen.
For
those travelers whose energy has been drained by the prepackaged, fast-paced
and commodified tourist attractions, a genuine conversation with the locals
might be precisely the thing that can refresh their day. {Words by : I Wayan
Juniarta}