Bali
Bali, Indonesia
An island about 145 kilometres across, built of volcanoes in the middle and wrapped in a single coast road, where the cliffs face the surf in the south and the water goes flat and black-sanded in the north. Most of what the brochures show is now behind a gate and a sarong desk, so these challenges run on the ground that is still open: the beaches, the market streets, the town squares and the roadside viewpoints that nobody sells a ticket for.
7 challenges · 40 stops
STARTERSunrise on the Sanur Boardwalk
≈ 4,000 steps2.0 mi · about 2 hoursStarter · 3 stops · 500 credStart where you live.Bali faces east here, so this is the side of the island where the day starts. Three beaches strung along a flat, car-free path, about three kilometres end to end. Be on the sand by half past five and walk south as the light comes up.
STARTERUbud Before the Heat
≈ 2,000 steps1.0 mi · about 2 hoursStarter · 3 stops · 500 credStart where you live.Ubud sells tickets to almost everything now, so this walk stays on the parts that are still free: a grass ridge between two rivers, a lotus pond, and the courtyard of the house the royal family still lives in. Start at six, finish before the coaches arrive. Two hours, all on foot.
STANDARDCliffs and Fish Smoke
20 mi by carabout 5 hoursStandard · 5 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.The limestone peninsula in the far south, taken from the surf beaches at the bottom of the cliffs up to the fish market on the bay. Four of the five need a staircase or a scramble down; wear something you can climb in. Half a day, ending where the grills are lit at sunset.
STANDARDThe Canggu Sunset Line
≈ 6,500 steps3.0 mi · about 4 hoursStandard · 4 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.Four black-sand beaches in a row on the west-facing coast north of the airport, each one a river mouth apart. You can walk the whole line at low tide or ride the lanes between them. Go from three in the afternoon so the last stop lands on sunset. Parking is a few thousand rupiah; the sand is free.
ADVANCEDAround the Far Side
143 mi by car4 days or moreAdvanced III · 11 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.The half of the island nobody flies in for: the west coast surf points, the ferry town at the Java strait, the black-sand north, and the lake road back over the mountains. Eleven stops, two nights, roughly 350 kilometres of driving. Do it between April and October; the west coast road floods in the wet, and the mountain viewpoints sit in cloud after ten in the morning.
ADVANCEDThe City Bali Lives In
21 mi by carabout 7 hoursAdvanced · 6 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.Denpasar is where nine hundred thousand Balinese actually live, and almost no visitor sees it. Six stops from the kite beach and the market at dawn to the fountains at Lumintang after dark, with the square where the Badung royal house walked into Dutch rifles in 1906 in the middle of it. A full day, with a driver or a scooter between the last two.
ADVANCEDThe East Coast Road
45 mi by car2 days or more · + 1 stretch not routedAdvanced II · 8 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.Two days up the eastern shore from the ferry port at Padangbai to the wreck beach at Tulamben, with one inland climb to a grass hill that looks straight at Gunung Agung. Eight stops, a car or a scooter, and a night in Amed. Start the second morning before five if you want the volcano clear.
Counted between stops; you'll walk more at each one.
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