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Kuta beach

Overview: Kuta, just a short drive from the airport in southern Bali, has become the island's most popular and most crowded holiday resort, blessed as it is with a lovely sweep of golden sand, crashing surf and spectacular sunsets. The natural attractions have now been complemented by the tourist trappings, and Kuta is bursting with hotels, shops, restaurants and an energetic nightlife. It is also teeming with touts and vendors offering everything from sarongs and 'Rolex' watches to hair-braiding and tattoos.

Kuta's atmosphere is relaxed, cheerful and friendly, where holiday visitors find it easy to wear a smile and enjoy excellent accommodation with good food. A holiday must for every visitor in Kuta is a visit to the nearby Temple of Tanah Lot, Bali's most holy place and a magical experience when viewed at sunset, perched on a wave-lashed rocky islet.

Shopping: Kuta is swarming with shops and holiday shoppers, with clusters of stores and stalls all selling much the same goods, waiting for customers to barter on the prices. Accessed either from the beach or Kuta Square is the vast, fun market area where you can buy anything from CDs to kites, sarongs to shoes, and fake brand name clothing. Local handcrafts, jewellery and custom-made leather goods are good buys. Visitors are usually assailed by pushy street hawkers selling goods like fake watches, and are expected to haggle on prices, which are often quoted in US Dollars.

Kuta is also well supplied with department stores and shopping centres where prices are fixed, like the new Discovery Mall on Jalan Kartika Plaza. Around Kuta Square you can have a spending spree at dozens of brand name stores where goods (the real thing) are sold at amazingly low prices. Those who are keen to buy local crafts, hand-made jewellery or traditional wood and stone carvings will do well by taking excursions into surrounding villages where these arts are practised.

Restaurants: On holiday in Kuta, you can find anything from Japanese sushi to Wiener schnitzel, pizza to paella, and enchiladas to espedata. Sometimes the taste is not quite original because these international favourites have been adapted to suit local tastes and ingredients. If you want to play it safe stick to McDonald's or Pizza Hut!

Some visitors like to brave the rather primitive little roadside foodstalls, 'Warungs', to sample local cuisine, or pick a 'padang', which is a 24-hour diner displaying a dozen or so different dishes in a glass box at the door where you can sample them all for just a few US dollars. Be warned that wherever you dine, wine (and beer) is very expensive; try locally produced versions which are better value than the familiar imports often enjoyed by tourists.

Nightlife: Whatever your choice for after-dark entertainment, you will find it in Kuta. Evenings start with witnessing spectacular sunsets over cocktails, progress through a leisurely dinner and then around midnight the partying starts, either with a pub crawl, club rave, a rhythmic Balinese dance show or a 'Wayang Kulit' shadow puppet performance. Cafés, pubs and discos line the streets of Kuta, but nothing gets going very early.

Most party animals will be found dancing the night away at the Paparazzi Lounge or Double Six, side by side on the beach at Seminyak, where the action kicks off after 2am. The Bounty on Legian Road is a mock galleon where dancing is the order of the night. Peanuts at Legian rocks with its huge open-air disco and two dance floors. There are also often special events, like beach full moon parties, or body-painting parties, which are announced by way of flyers handed out around town.

Activities: Most visitors on holiday in Kuta come for pure leisure and pleasure, drawn by Bali's laid-back atmosphere and the stretch of sandy beach, which at Kuta is somewhat dangerous for swimming because of an extremely strong undertow. However the area is renowned for its surfing, the several mile long beach break between Kuta and Petitenget offering a range of waves. Scuba diving and game fishing excursions are also sought after and freely available.

Kuta also offers bungy jumping on the beach, and boasts a beautifully landscaped waterpark full of thrilling rides and slides. Horse-riding along the beach at sunset is a popular pastime. Most hotels and resorts in and around Kuta encompass spas, which offer massages and beauty treatments. The larger hotels usually also offer a variety of sports facilities which can be used by non-residents.

Day cruises to off-coast islands are also available. Some other holiday activities offered by private operators include paragliding, submarine tours, white-water rafting, paintball war games and guided bird-watching expeditions.

Negatives: Currents and a strong undertow make Kuta's beach dangerous for swimming. The beach can also be over-crowded, and flooded with vendors hawking all manner of goods.