East Bali: Lipah beach

East Bali is probably the closest thing a tourist will got to the ‘real Bali’. To be honest, tourists aren’t looking for the ‘real Bali’ anymore than they would want a ‘deserted beach’. We’re looking for postcard landscapes, with elegant locals…and enough creature comforts to keep us happy. East Bali has all these and the Amed area, locateon the far SE coast is a very laid back, tranquil area.

Name: Lipah beach
Location: East Bali, far south east coast
Travelling time from Kuta: 4 hours
Accommodation: Budget & boutique
Restaurants: Budget / mid range
Nightlife: None to speak of except the occasion joged dance.
Activities: Snorkeling / diving
Internet access: Yes. Slow.
Closest big town: Amlapura
Closest western location: Candi Dasa

Lipah beach is the most developed beach in the area (although still very peaceful), located around 10km from Culik. There’s accommodation at Hidden Paradise and slightly after this, Coral View. Both places have large, well-furnished bungalows in lush gardens with pools next to the beach.

There are a couple of restaurants nearby, both with attached accommodation: Tiying Petung has plain tiled rooms with attached bathroom, while next door Wawa Weve (wawaweve@hotmail.com), has slightly better verandas in front of the rooms. Both have similar inexpensive to moderately priced menus, offering the usual Indonesian and western food, in relaxed surroundings. Its about 100m to the beach from these places. There’s reasonable snorkeling just off the coast here and, for divers, Lipah Bay is the site of the wreck of a small freighter at 6-12m depth, which is now covered with coral, and other marine life. The reef nearby is rich and diverse.