A Seaside indulgence

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}