Balangan beach is one of my favourite spots in Bali, and I wanted to show my adventure buddy Georgina why. Apparently, “living the dream” at a surf paradise is something she was open to trying! We also did it on a budget, because we believe that if the location is worth it, then “basic” will do just fine. The “ideal” situation then, is a place where you can check the surf from your room, and be in the sea within minutes. In this sense, Balangan was perfect. We found a place right on the beach, in a little bamboo warung run a lovely Balinese family. It was cheap, easy to meet people and a good surf break.
The accommodation can’t be found on the internet and this we liked as it was kind of like a hidden gem we had found. On the beach of Balangan there are a number of Balinese families that have houses and warungs (food places) where you can rent a room. They’re a bit like homestays but very basic. SO, there were ten places to choose from on the beach. We stayed at Suzuki (name of the warung). It was $10 nz a night.
The views from the bedroom were pretty awesome of the surf.
There were 5 rooms and we all shared two toilet/shower rooms between the five of us, the Balinese family who lived on site, and all the surfers who came to hang-out there during the day. The toilets and showers were not in the best condition but we were keen to “rough it”. From my room it was only 11 steps and I was on the beach. We were stoked. The family also ran a surfboard hire and lessons business from the warung. This spot has it all.
The beach itself has a left-hand point break on the left-hand side and on the right, was a fast left hand break. Both these breaks are reef breaks so over high tide they are fine to surf and some of the more experienced surfers surf on low tide. I definitely always wear booties and surf it around high tide. The reef break was best on waves 4-10 foot if it was smaller the waves seemed to break fast and close out. If the waves were getting super big (6ft+) this was sometimes too big for us and we would go around to Dreamland (15 min scooter drive from Balangan). This is a great break but only good on a big swell, and it breaks best on low tide. It hardly breaks at all on high tide. This is a bit of a more mellow take off and better for intermediate surfers.
The Balinese family have a food menu too. You can buy food for prices like $2.50 – $5 NZD per meal, and a beer was pretty cheap at $2.50 per bottle. A scooter for the day was cheap to at $4-$5 a day and petrol $3 a week.
We met some awesome people at the warung; Juan Carlos from Peru had lived in Bali for 5 months and is a surf photographer. Another photographer we met was Hambalko Balint from Hungry who was also living in Bali, near Uluwatu. They both shot surfers from in the water which was cool. Hambalko got some good shots of Georgina, which was exciting because she had never had any taken before (see below).
Another guy who I met at the warung was James he was a lovely guy from South Africa he was passionate about surfing and was super keen to find a job where he could work online and live in Bali or anywhere in the world he chose. Georgina and I loved Balangan. To me, it feels like a second home. I stayed for 3 weeks and Georgina stayed for 10 days, before heading to India to do Yoga Teacher Training.
We would definitely recommend people to stay here as it was super-friendly, easy to meet people a great place to learn to surf. It has crystal clear water, great local food, and its a great experience to live with the locals. This place reminds me that simplicity is the key to life. Get your priorities straight, and you don’t need much to feel happy. Surf, sun, good company and a roof over your head… As we would say in NZ, it was “Sweet as”.