Nusa Penida sits across the Badung Strait from Bali, about forty five minutes by fast boat from Sanur, and it is a completely different island. Where Bali is green, terraced and soft, Penida is limestone, dry and abrupt: cliffs dropping two hundred metres straight into the sea, almost no surface water, and a landscape that was for centuries a place Balinese kings sent criminals and where Balinese Hindus still believe powerful spirits live.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, Roman Trail earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Kelingking, the cliff shaped like a dinosaur's head above a beach, became one of the most photographed places on earth in about five years, and the island's infrastructure did not keep pace. The water is the other reason to come: Manta Point has manta rays year round and Crystal Bay gets the oceanic sunfish in season. Pack for heat, for reef, and for roads that are the single most dangerous thing here.
What Makes Nusa Penida Different to Pack For
The roads break people
This needs saying first because it is the main risk. The island's roads are narrow, steep, potholed and in places barely surfaced, and almost everyone gets around by rented scooter. Accidents involving foreign visitors are frequent enough that the clinics deal with little else, and the medical facilities on the island are minimal.
Hiring a driver with a car costs little and removes the risk entirely. If you ride, wear a helmet and do not ride the west coast roads in the wet.
A dry limestone island with no shade
Temperatures run 24°C to 32°C year round. The dry season, April to October, is properly dry and the island browns off. There is very little natural shade anywhere, the viewpoints are exposed clifftops, and water is scarce enough that it is shipped in.
A merino wool base layer for women handles days of heat and sweat without souring, which matters where laundry is slow and water is limited.
Every viewpoint is a climb
Kelingking's descent to the beach is a near vertical scramble on a bamboo handrail, and the climb back is brutal in full sun. Diamond Beach and Peguyangan have long staircases cut into cliff faces. These are not viewpoints you stroll to.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Nusa Penida Packing List
Footwear
Proper shoes with grip, which most visitors do not bring and regret. The Kelingking descent is dirt, rock and tree root at an angle that is close to climbing, and people attempt it in flip flops. Waterproof hiking shoes or a trainer with real tread is the right answer.
Reef shoes for Crystal Bay and the rocky entries, and flip flops for everything else.
Clothing
Light, quick drying, and covering for the temples and the villages. Penida is Balinese Hindu and a sarong is required at temples, including at Peguyangan where you descend a cliff staircase to a spring temple; sarongs are provided at the top.
A rash vest for snorkelling, which handles sun and stinging plankton at once.
For the water
Reef safe sunscreen. Your own mask if fit matters. A 3mm wetsuit or shorty for diving; the water is around 26°C but the Crystal Bay thermocline in mola mola season drops sharply and can be under 20°C. A dry bag for the boat.
For sun and heat
A wide brim sun hat, high factor sunscreen and far more water than you expect. There is no shade at any viewpoint and the Kelingking climb in the middle of the day is where people get into difficulty.
Practical
Cash, since ATMs on the island are few and run out. A packable rain jacket for the wet season. A helmet if you ride. Basic first aid including antiseptic, because coral cuts and road rash are the two standard injuries.
What to Wear at Key Sites
Kelingking
The cliff, the viewpoint and the beach below. The path down is steep, loose, and secured with bamboo rails of variable quality; it takes forty five minutes down and considerably longer up.
Practically: people have died at Kelingking, from falls on the descent and from the sea at the bottom, which has a strong shore break and no lifeguard. The viewpoint alone is the photograph. If you do go down, go early, carry water, and turn back if the rails look wrong. Swimming there is genuinely dangerous.
Manta Point and Crystal Bay
Manta Point has reef mantas at a cleaning station year round, snorkelled from a boat in open water. Crystal Bay is the mola mola site, where oceanic sunfish come up from deep water roughly July to October.
Practically: Manta Point can be rough and the swell makes people seasick; it is snorkelled from the boat rather than a beach. Do not touch or chase the mantas, and keep clear of the cleaning station itself. Crystal Bay currents are strong and the mola mola dives are for experienced divers.
Angel's Billabong, Broken Beach and Diamond Beach
Angel's Billabong is a natural rock pool on the edge of the sea, Broken Beach a collapsed arch next to it, and Diamond Beach is on the east coast with a staircase cut down the cliff.
Practically: Angel's Billabong floods with waves without warning and people have been swept out of it; the sensible position is to look rather than get in. The Diamond Beach staircase is long, exposed and steep.
Peguyangan and the temples
A blue staircase of several hundred steps down a cliff face to a spring temple with bathing pools, used by Balinese pilgrims. Sarong required.
Practically: the staircase is exposed with a handrail and a long drop. Not for anyone uneasy with heights. Modest dress and quiet behaviour; this is an active place of worship rather than an attraction.
Nusa Lembongan and Ceningan
The two smaller islands next door, connected to each other by a narrow yellow bridge, quieter and flatter, with mangroves and surf breaks.
What Not to Bring
Leave flip flops as your only footwear. Leave the assumption that a famous viewpoint has infrastructure. Leave chemical sunscreen.
Leave the scooter if you are not an experienced rider, which is the single best decision available to you here. Leave any intention of swimming at Kelingking or getting into Angel's Billabong.
Essential Resources for Women on Nusa Penida
Emergency numbers in Indonesia: 112 is the national emergency number. Police 110, ambulance 118 or 119, fire 113. On Penida the practical emergency service is your accommodation and the boat to Bali.
Tourist support: Indonesia operates a tourist information line on 1500 015. There is a police post at Sampalan. A stolen passport needs a police report before the embassy can issue a replacement, and the consular office is in Bali.
US Embassy and consulate: the embassy is in Jakarta at Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan 3-5, telephone +62 21 5083 1000, at id.usembassy.gov, with a consular agency in Denpasar, Bali, which is the relevant office and a boat ride away. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: there are small clinics on the island handling scooter injuries and there is a public health centre at Sampalan, but there is no hospital and no decompression chamber. The chamber for diving emergencies is at Sanglah hospital in Denpasar, which means a boat crossing that does not run at night and stops in rough seas. That gap is the reason dive operators here are conservative and the reason a scooter accident at nine in the evening is a serious situation. Travel insurance covering diving and motorcycle use is essential, and note that most policies void motorcycle claims without a valid licence.
Official health authority: the Indonesian Ministry of Health at kemkes.go.id.
US State Department travel advisory for Indonesia: current advisory level and detail. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for Indonesia: entry requirements, safety and health guidance, which carries specific warnings about scooter hire and about the fast boats between Bali and the Nusa islands.
Official tourism authority: Wonderful Indonesia at indonesia.travel.
Solo women safety assessment: Nusa Penida is straightforward for a woman travelling alone in social terms. The island has a large independent traveller and dive community, guesthouses are family run, and harassment is uncommon; the Balinese Hindu culture here is the same as Bali's and equally used to visitors. Petty theft is low, though rooms are often basic with weak locks. Dress modestly at temples and in villages. The dangers here are physical and they are serious enough that this post leads with them. Road accidents are by a very wide margin the most likely thing to hurt you: the roads are genuinely bad, the scooter hire is casual, helmets are often an afterthought, and the island's medical capacity is a clinic. Hire a driver. The cliffs are the second: Kelingking, Diamond Beach and Peguyangan all involve steep exposed descents with improvised handrails, and people have died falling. The sea is the third: Kelingking's beach has a violent shore break, Angel's Billabong floods without warning and has swept people out, and there are no lifeguards anywhere. The fast boats from Sanur are the fourth, and the FCDO comments on them specifically: standards vary, they are overloaded at times, and they run in swell. Choose an operator with visible life jackets and do not take the last boat in rough weather.
Reading On
Nusa Penida is worth two or three nights rather than the day trip most people give it, and the water is a better reason to come than the cliff everyone photographs. The Bali travel guide for women is the regional parent and covers the island you will arrive through, with the South Bali travel guide for women covering Sanur, where the boats leave from, and the Ubud travel guide for women the interior. The Indonesia travel guide for women is the parent for the country and the Indonesia packing list for women covers a multi island trip. East, the Lombok travel guide for women and the Kuta Lombok packing list for women continue the chain, and for the best reefs in the country the Raja Ampat packing list for women and the Bunaken packing list for women. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why merino works on a hot dry island where water is shipped in and laundry is slow, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
