Top five things to do & see in beautiful Nusa Penida

Nusa Penida is an island southeast of Indonesia’s island Bali and is the neighbouring small island of the more well-known Nusa Lembongan.

Relatively undeveloped but with the natural beauty that keeps tourists flocking, it’s definitely worth visiting for a few days!

Here are our top five things to do in Nusa Penida!

Watch the sunset from kitchen steak over Mount Agung

So being a budding photographer Steffan is always on the lookout for ‘that shot’. And as his devoted girlfriend, I am required to be on duty checking out of car windows or scanning in every direction as we tour around for potential shoot locations.

We got lucky with this place and honestly, if you want an amazing sunset view over Mount Agung you will be pushed to get a better view than here!

They have indoor seats and a few benches outdoors and serve anything from a simple coffee if you want to get the shot and keep moving, all the way up to rice dishes and smoothies if you want something more substantial!

Get a scooter escort down to Tembeling Beach & Forest

We hadn’t heard much about Tembeling Beach before we visited Nusa Penida, but as chance had it, we saw a photograph on the back of our menu in our little hotel and we were intrigued!

It is an absolute gem of a hidden bay which is found at the end of a crazy motorbike ride down through the forest. This could be why it is not frequented as much as its safer and more easily accessible tourist spots on the island. Because let me tell you, that motorbike ride down is easily in the top 5 most terrifying experiences of my life! I was terrified.

The bad news is that there is no other way to get down unless you want a very lengthy and steep walk. Cars are too big and we saw many tourists try and make their way down themselves on their motorbikes, only to turn around and come back 5 minutes later!

The good news is there is a group of friendly guys that have made a business out of the fact it’s a nightmare to get down to and you can pay them to take you down there on the back of their bikes! And both drivers we had were very safe and knew what they were doing….. but that didn’t change the fact I was literally as stiff as a board and felt like crying the entire way down!

At the bottom you will find Tembeling Beach, natural pools and a forest…. just google it, this place is beautiful and was super quiet when we visited so you may get lucky and have it all to yourself!

Get your snorkel on and swim with Manta rays

Swimming with Manta Rays has been on my bucket list since the day dot. (whatever that means…basically a long long time!) So, when I discovered Manta Rays were a big thing in Nusa Penida our entire trip revolved around this fact and I booked a snorkel trip straight away!

We booked through Nusa Penida watersports via email and we cannot recommend them enough. Great team, super friendly, and they were really helpful in getting suitable snorkel equipment as ours leaked! The cost even included pick up and drop off and lunch which was amazing after a few hours of snorkelling!

Unfortunately for us, whilst we did get to see a Manta ray there were groups that were chasing the rays to get photographs and so we didn’t get the experience we were hoping for, but that’s a reason to return, right?

The famous T Rex – Kelingking Beach

Kelingking Beach was a completely expected favourite and a stunningly beautiful spot on Nusa Penida as the views are insane! No matter how many photographs you have seen of this place on Instagram, I can guarantee that they do not do it justice!

The views from the treehouses are just as stunning as from the cliffs above the famously T Rex-shaped section of land that reaches out to sea! Breathtaking!

You can take the walk down to the secluded beach below but it is not easy. Not that we know from experience because, after the walk down what felt like a million steps to the treehouses, we caved and decided that nothing was worth doing it all over again with even more intensity.

It was hot. We were tired. And we can be lazy.

The beautiful Broken Beach

Broken Beach surprised us.

Found on the west coast of Nusa Penida and within walking distance from the famous Angels Billabong, its a beautiful little cove and overlooks the glistening sea that is Manta-Ray Viewpoint!

What did we love about it?

The views were again, out of this world! We were lucky enough to stand and watch three or four manta rays below, swimming and frolicking in the clear blue sea. The waves crashing against the rocks were incredible to watch and the sound of crashing waves has its own allure don’t you think? We arrived there at 8am and it was really quiet which we would recommend as apparently it gets extremely busy later in the day.

To read our top things to see and do in Ubud click here