Our 10 Favourite Things To Do in Jimbaran, Bali (+ Map)

Connecting the Bukit peninsula to the rest of mainland Bali, the coastal fishing town of Jimbaran often flies under the radar unless you’re staying at one of the area's several luxury resorts.

But if you do decide to visit, there’s plenty to explore, including cultural attractions, beautiful beaches, and even go-karting, which are all covered in this guide to the best things to do in Jimbaran.

1. Explore the GWK Cultural Park

On the outskirts of Jimbaran, the GWK Cultural Park is one of Bali's top cultural attractions. The large park is best known for its towering Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) statue, which stands at 121 meters tall (including the base), making it the tallest statue in Indonesia and among the tallest in the world.

While you can catch a glimpse of the statue from all across Southern Bali, seeing it up close puts its incredible size into perspective. You can also head inside the statue, which houses a modern and interactive museum where you can learn about its construction and symbolism, and enjoy epic views from the 23rd floor.

Beyond the statue, the cultural park showcases Balinese arts and traditions through its many sculptures and jam-packed schedule of cultural dances, music, and other activities. You can find out more in our full GWK Cultural Park guide.

A relatively new addition to the park is their Baraong show, which takes place in a large amphitheatre at 6pm, Wednesday to Saturday. With a cast of 30 performers, the show features incredible Balinese dance, elaborate costumes, special effects, and even some audience participation. The ticket for this particular show is separate from the main park entry.

2. Visit Kedonganan Fish Market

If you’re a keen foodie who loves seafood, don't miss Jimbaran’s most famous attraction - Kedonganan Fish Market - the biggest fish and seafood market in Bali.

Open from 6am until late afternoon, you can browse the huge indoor market and find everything from freshly caught snapper and tuna to live lobsters, prawns, and shellfish. Visit early for the best selection and the freshest catches of the day.

Seeing the day’s catch at the market is one thing, but the real highlight is tasting it. One option is to visit a seafood restaurant along Jimbaran Beach, where fresh fish and seafood are served at reasonable prices.

A more unique option is to pick your own catch from the market and bring it to a local warung nearby, where they’ll cook it just the way you like. We've heard that Warung Hawaii is a good choice, right next to the market (although we've never tried this ourselves).

3. Learn about Nyepi at the SAKA Museum

Spread across three floors in a strikingly modern building, Jimbaran's brand-new SAKA Museum details the history and cultural significance of Nyepi, an important local holiday that marks the beginning of the Balinese Saka New Year.

Also known as the “Balinese day of silence," Nyepi is a unique celebration that sees the entire island completely close down for 24 hours each year, with no noise, light, work, or travel.

The fascinating museum also covers the traditions that take place in the lead-up to Nyepi, including the Melasti ceremony and the famous Ogoh Ogoh parades, which feature huge demon-like effigies.

We particularly enjoyed exploring the many Ogoh Ogohs around the museum and watching a short film that showed how these highly intricate statues are carefully crafted by local communities.

The SAKA Museum is part of the AYANA resort and is free for hotel guests. Outside visitors are also welcome to visit for 120,000 IDR ⓘ. It took us around 45 minutes to explore the entire museum, but there's a new exhibition area opening soon.

4. Go for sunset drinks at Rock Bar

Built into the rugged cliffside of Jimbaran with the waves of the Indian Ocean crashing beneath, Rock Bar is one of the island's most famous beach bars and a stunning spot for a romantic evening out in Bali.

To get to the bar, you need to take a short funicular down the cliffside and walk through a cave passageway - it’s quite the adventure, but well worth it.

As well as a fantastic wine menu and creative cocktail list, the food here is delicious, with a tempting tapas menu to pair with your drinks or more substantial Mediterranean-inspired mains.

Like the nearby SAKA Museum, Rock Bar is also part of the AYANA Resort, so we’d recommend combining these two activities into the same afternoon/ evening.

Only resort guests can make table reservations, but outside guests are welcome for walk-in tables with a minimum spend of 300,000 IDR ⓘ for drinks and tapas or 500,000 IDR ⓘ for dinner.

Without a reservation, we’d recommend arriving soon after the bar opens at 4pm. Despite having hundreds of tables, it’s an extremely popular spot and can get full. We visited during the off-season, and all of the best tables were taken by sunset.

5. Race go-karts at Karting Star

A hidden gem in Jimbaran, Karting Star is an exciting outdoor go-karting track. These aren’t the electric go-karts you find on most tourist tracks; these are old-school petrol engine go-karts that whizz around the 400m circuit packed with twists, turns, and even a bridge.

While the karts were in excellent shape and all the safety gear was provided, the powerful engines do add an element of danger, so we wouldn’t recommend them for younger children. If you want a more family-friendly go-karting experience, the indoor track at Trans Studio Bali is a better option.

There’s very little information about this activity online, but we’ve done it ourselves and can verify that it's legit (and super fun!). Simply turn up, pay 200,000 IDR ⓘ per person by cash or card, put on the safety gear, and you’re good to go.

The staff went above and beyond to capture every possible angle on camera (free of charge) so we could stay fully focused on the race at hand.

6. Grab dinner on Jimbaran Beach

Jimbaran Beach is a long stretch of white sand that continues for more than 4km (if you include the connecting Kedonganan and Kelan Beaches).

During the day, the enormous beach is fairly peaceful, which is a rarity for such a beautiful spot in southern Bali. The waves are a little calmer than elsewhere on the Bukit, although it still wouldn’t be our top pick for swimming when compared to the likes of Melasti Beach.

Thanks to its west-facing location, the beach offers a stunning view of the sunset if you get there early enough. But it’s after dark that Jimbaran Beach really comes alive, with numerous restaurants serving up tasty seafood (fresh from Kedonganan Fish Market) at candlelit tables right on the sand.

We’re not big fish eaters ourselves, but we've visited with friends who love seafood, and they’ve confirmed that the dishes here are fresh, flavorful, and worth ordering. Most restaurants also serve simple Balinese dishes like nasi goreng and grilled vegetables for non-seafood eaters, but don't expect anything too extravagant.

Many of the restaurants also have live music or traditional dance performances in the evening. Our go-to is New Moon Café, but there are plenty to choose from.

7. Relax at Locca Sea House

Sitting on a clifftop in Jimbaran, Locca Sea House is a huge yet lesser-known beach club that blends a quirky nautical theme with the laid-back bohemian vibe you'd expect to find in Bali.

The club’s massive infinity pool looks out across the ocean, with various seating areas ranging from restaurant tables to poolside daybeds ideal for lounging all afternoon. Stick around until sunset to watch the sky turn a multitude of colours over the water.

The beach club is still somewhat of a hidden gem (we only discovered it when driving past), so it was fairly quiet inside during our last visit. With its gorgeous setting, we wouldn’t be surprised if it gets more popular soon.

The staff at Locca are incredibly friendly and were even kind enough to upgrade us to a day bed (with no minimum spend) as the club was quiet when we visited. Despite a DJ kicking off a great set, the crowd quickly thinned out after dark, so we’d recommend it more as a laid-back daytime spot.

8. Watch cultural performances at Samasta Lifestyle Village

Samasta Lifestyle Village is basically a mini mall that's connected to the neighbouring Mövenpick Resort. It’s home to a handful of shops, restaurants, and spas, designed to mimic the layout of a Balinese village.

The mall often runs family activities, weekend markets, and regular cultural shows. You can watch Barong dance performances (at 5.30pm and 7pm, last we checked) and a Kecak fire dance on Sundays at 8pm. On other days, they have live music. Check their Instagram for a full schedule.

We'd recommend visiting in the evening for dinner and the free performances. If you want a restaurant recommendation, we love the ribs at Waroeng Wahaha – this is a chain across Bali that’s super popular among locals, so you know it’s good!

9. Enjoy a movie night at X.O. Burger Bali

If you’re looking for a fun way to spend a casual evening in Jimbaran, we love X.O. Burger Bali – a burger restaurant that doubles up as an open-air cinema, showing movies every night of the week, sometimes even two screenings.

With a carpet of artificial grass, fairy lights strung overhead, and plenty of bean bags to cosy up on, the charming venue is perfect for a romantic movie night or casual evening with friends.

Movie genres vary each day, with a mix of the latest blockbusters and all-time classics. We watched Oppenheimer here and were only joined by a couple of other people. Check their Instagram for the latest listings.

And what better to accompany a movie than some delicious comfort food? The casual eatery features a selection of delicious burgers, as well as hot dogs, sandwiches, and no less than six different types of fries (we went for curly)!

The food prices are a little higher than other burger restaurants, but given that the movies are free to watch, we still thought it was great value for money.

10. Visit the lesser-known Balangan Beach

While Jimbaran Beach is the go-to evening spot, one of our favourite beaches in this area is Balangan Beach, which straddles the border between Uluwatu and Jimbaran.

Remaining somewhat of a hidden gem, the soft white sand beach is much quieter than others nearby, with only a few small rustic cafes and surf schools lining the back of the beach.

Balangan isn’t ideal for swimming due to the exposed reef close to the shore. But at high tide, it is a fantastic surf spot, with waves suitable for beginners and more advanced surfers.

Our favourite spot to hang out here is Jimmy Beach Café, which sits just above the sand and serves delicious food with a great view of the surfers just offshore - perfect if you're a people watcher.

The beach is really easy to access, with two parking areas just a short walk from the sand. It doesn’t really matter which one you park in to get to the beach.