Nusa Penida: Day Trip or Stay the Night? The Honest Trade-off

Nusa Penida can be done as a day trip from Bali, and most people do it that way: early pickup, the boat, a van around the west side, the boat back, home by dark. It works. It is also the most tiring day most visitors spend in Bali, and it sees the island's best places at their worst hour.

From the south coast, a 6am pickup, Sanur by seven, on the island by eight, and a van to Kelingking, Broken Beach, Angel's Billabong and Crystal Bay with lunch somewhere in between. Back on a late-afternoon boat, in the hotel by six or seven. From Ubud or Canggu, add an hour each way.

You arrive at Kelingking with everyone else who took the early boat and leave Crystal Bay before the light gets good. It is a lot of van. For a first look, it is fine, and the tours listed here do it with the boat and pickup included so the logistics are not yours.

Staying one night, arriving on a midday boat and leaving the following afternoon, changes the trip. You do the west side in the late afternoon when the vans are leaving, sleep, and are at Kelingking before eight the next morning with the cliff to yourself. Then the east side, or the mantas, before the boat home. The crossing in the middle of the day is calmer than the afternoon return the day-trippers take.

Two nights adds the snorkelling and removes the rush entirely.

The north coast around Toya Pakeh and Sampalan has most of the guesthouses and is closest to the harbours and the good warungs. The west, near Crystal Bay and on the cliffs above Kelingking, has the views and the sunsets and longer drives to everything else. Accommodation is simpler and cheaper than Bali; a clean guesthouse with a view is the norm rather than a resort.