Nusa Penida: Travel Guide to the East Coast

February 03, 2022

It’s been a few years since we explored Nusa Penida (read all about that here), so we got inspired to return to this incredible island again for new island discoveries - cruising along the coconut trees, ridged coast lines, wild beaches and stunning views. This time we decided to discover some amazing sights on the East Coast of the island, since we toured West Coast last time.

Explore Nusa Penida
We got in touch with local travel company ‘Explore Nusa Penida’. A fantastic team specialized in day trips to Nusa Penida from Bali. They can organise everything for your Nusa Penida trip, including the boat trips, pick ups, transportation, accommodation (if you want to spend the night), planning all sights and activities, lunch, and more. Because planning an adventure to Nusa Penida can be a bit of work - we loved booking with them and can absolutely advise you to take them on so you can fully focus on soaking up the beauty of island life.

If you’re heading to Nusa Penida we’d recommend to spend at least 2 days on the tropical West- and East Coast of Nusa Penida. Day 1 you can spend on the West Coast, and day 2 on the East Coast. The West Coast is a bit more touristic with lots of food options, East Coast is still a bit more unspoiled.

For our Nusa Penida West Coast tips check it here, for East Coast, read along!

Boat: Bali to Nusa Penida

We took the Idola from Sanur harbour to the North/ East coast of Nusa Penida. It left 8.30am in the morning and it goes back daily to Bali at 4.30pm in the afternoon. It took about 45 minutes to arrive on Nusa Penida. When you go to the West Coast you will only have a 30 minute boat ride (from Sanur to Toyopakeh).

Transport

Explore Nusa Penida arranged everything for us. From boat till transport (we took a car with driver who brought us to our island stay and they brought a motorbike as well for us to adventure around). The roads are good but very steep and tortuous. Do note that most rented motorbikes come with no helmets, so we can only recommend that if you’re a very experienced motorbike driver or super secure about your driving skills :)

Our Stay: Tropical Glamping

We stayed at Tropical Glamping, a stunning little island home at the South East cliff of Nusa Penida - with by far the most incredible, breathtaking view. It’s a 40 min drive from the harbor. The tropical Glamping shack is located in the middle of the jungle and we reached it by a small dirt path by motorbike.

Beach hopping: Diamond Beach, Atuh Beach & Rumah Pohon

The East Coast has some incredible views. We rented a motorbike and hit the road to visit Atuh Beach, Diamond Beach and Rumah Pohon. These are all located close from each other as well close to our stay.

First stop was Diamond Beach. Only 10 min away from Tropical Glamping. On the way we stopped at a local warung “Warung Sorent” where we had delicious indo food; Nasi Goreng & Chap Chai. Enak sekali!

Diamond Beach has the most amazing view. It has a super steep cliff, with steps down to the beach. In about 20 minutes you can hike down, advised to go on low tide. Bring shoes and lots of water and snacks! At the beach you will find a swing going over the ocean in between two palmtrees. We were lucky that it wasn’t too busy, as we went on a Monday - note that during the weekends it can get very crowded and a bit hectic.

At the other side of the cliff we looked over the stunning Atuh beach. This also is a hike down, but less steep than Diamond beach.

After Atuh Beach we drove to Rumah Pohon - a tree house that went viral on Instagram thanks to it’s surreal view. Rumah Pohon (translated to English it means ‘Tree House’) is quite a tourist attraction tho, but the scenery was worth it. People use to AirBnb here, but not anymore.

Hidden gem: The Raja Lima

On the way there, we stumbled upon on a beautiful boutique hotel ‘The Raja Lima’, owned by Dutch people. If you’re planning to go to Nusa Penida, we can absolutely recommend staying here. The Raja Lima has beautiful little joglo’s, airconditioned rooms (you will really need this!), stunning styling and one of our favorite aspects: an incredibly beautiful spa. We had some food that we loved and the staff was so helpful and nice. We stayed to soak up a magical sunset and drove about 10 minutes back to our stay: Tropical Glamping.

Lunch: The Chill Penida

We had a beautiful lunch at The Chill Penida, on the way back from the harbor to Tropical Glamping. Delicious food and ocean view, it's all we need. We took a dip in the pool after and enjoyed a little coffee in the sun.

Manta Rays

To swim with the Manta Rays is a must when you’re visiting Nusa Penida. Our first experience was absolutely incredible - unfortunately this time the sea was too rough to be able to go. The boat departs from Toyopakeh a little harbour where you can take the boat to go snorkeling. There is a cute coffee spot clled Orion Bakery where we bought cappuccinos to go and sandwiches for on the way.

Best time to go is when there’s no swell (small waves) and when the tides are small. So not a big of a change in tides (very low and very high tide). Best time to go is in the morning and it will take about 15 min to Manta Bay. Make sure you’ll book a good speedboat (Explore Nusa Penida can arrange all for you!). You can also go to Manta Point but it is a lot further (1 hour by boat) and is more for diving due to the deep water.

We got home after two days, in full bliss but also tired from driving around haha We can recommend to have a chill day after your adventurous trip to Nusa Penida to recharge with some low key activities, sun soaking and pampering like a good Balinese massage.

Huge thanks to Explore Nusa Penida for arranging our trip! You can contact them here.

If you visited Nusa Penida, let us know your favorite adventures in the comments - and if you loved it as much as we do!