Medewi

Medewi is a beach village in West Bali. This is a tiny village in one of the least visited areas of Bali. It is very much a surfing hot spot, and most visitors who do stay here stay for that reason alone. For non-surfers, it does offer a glimpse of what so much of Bali was like before the growth of mass tourism in the 1970s, and is a great place to relax.

Understand
This community extends up the broad valley for 10 km, as farmland with paddy fields and straggling settlement, before ending at the steeper uncultivable terrain. The area used to be forested with many Ketket or thorny trees. In Balinese, thorny forest is Alas Meduwi so the place became called Medewi. The hills beyond the farmland are an uninhabited protected forest, with no roads, and no access to West Bali National Park. So the only part of interest to travellers is the strip of coastal main highway and the beach itself. Medewi is part of Pekutatan district, and is adjacent to Pekutatan village just east, so those facilities are also included here.

Get in
Medewi is about 75 km west of Denpasar on the main south coast road, about 34 km further west than the town of Tabanan. Anyone who travelling from the south of Bali by road to the west coast port town of Gilimanuk will pass by here. The road becomes narrower and at times winding starting from Tabanan until you get out to the coast near Pantai Soka, and the traffic is often heavy on the entire route, including many trucks and buses. Use extra caution if self-driving, especially a motorbike, and bring all the necessary documents, including the original STNK (vehicle registration card) - as this is the main route for the traffic going across to Java, potentially including stolen vehicles, roadblocks are commonplace, and, unlike in the tourist areas of South Bali, the police will not accept a photocopy.

Get around
This is a great place for walking. If you want to hire a motorbike your hotel should be able to oblige and expect to pay around Rp 70,000-100,000 per day.

See

 * The beach is very rocky with some large flat grey stone boulders interspersed with pebbles and black sand. Not the best beach for sunbathing or lounging, but good for long quiet strolls.
 * The sunset is over the Indian Ocean here which is quite magnificent.
 * One km east along the main highway is Pekutatan, where a lane hairpins up the hills to Pupuan and eventually the north coast. 5 km along at Bunut Bolong the lane tunnels through a tree! There's a viewpoint and a monastery, where perhaps they pray that anything wider than a motorbike or bemo will have the sense to use the swerve-around lane.
 * For Rambut Siwi Temple 5 km west see West Bali.

Do

 * Go surfing where the long left hand wave at Medewi Beach rolls all year and is popular with surfers for that reason. The largest waves tend to be in July and August. There is also right-hand break less than 100 metres away around the northern point. When the surf is small there is also a beach break, working mid-tide, over the river mouth about 250 m to the south south.  There are several other surf breaks nearby, including Balian Beach (30 minute drive east). For updates on conditions it is worth checking Medewi surf forecasts.
 * Relax in the very quiet coastal village which nothing really is going on besides the bar, the surfing, and the local fisherman doing their business.

Eat

 * Warungs line the coast highway.
 * All of the local bungalows and hotels have restaurants.



Drink
A beer on the beach for sunset is very much the order of the day.

Go next

 * The town of Negara is about 15 km further west from here and then on to Gilimanuk, West Bali National Park, and ferries to Java beyond that.