Move over, Ibiza: beach clubs in Bali have gone from ‘a little slice of heaven’ in the middle of nowhere to world beaters

Bali has overtaken Ibiza as the beach-club capital of the world, and there are dozens of over-the-top venues to choose from on the Indonesian holiday island

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In 2000, Ku De Ta (pictured) in Bali set off a trend of the Indonesian island hosting beach clubs. It is not, however, the only place in Southeast Asia with a thriving beach club scene. Photo: Facebook/Ku De Ta

Published: 12:38pm, 9 Mar 2024Updated: 3:43pm, 11 Mar 2024

In the year 2000, a triumvirate of investors from Australia, Indonesia and Britain opened Ku De Ta, a Mediterranean-style beach club in Seminyak, which in those days was just a cluster of rice paddies and fishing hamlets on the southwest coast of Bali in Indonesia.

“Back then, all the action in Bali was in Kuta near the airport,” says former Ku De Ta operations manager Justin Smyth. “Whenever someone said, ‘Let’s go to Ku De Ta,’ people would say, ‘That’s miles away, you have to go down dirt roads and ride through the rice fields.’

“But the investors’ vision of a little slice of heaven at the end of the rainbow struck a chord with the Eurocentric crowd.”

That year, 1.4 million international visitors landed in Bali. Last year, the number hit 5.2 million. Add to that 9.7 million domestic tourists, and the island has developed at breakneck speed to accommodate demand.

Along with thousands of new hotels, restaurants and attractions, Bali has overtaken the Spanish resort island of Ibiza, home to Café Del Mar – one of the world’s first beach clubs – to become the beach-club capital of the world.

A sunset seen from Cafe Del Mar Bali. Photo: Cafe Del Mar

There are dozens of over-the-top venues to choose from on the island, including the 13th instalment of the Ibizan brand – Café Del Mar Bali, a whitewashed pleasure palace on the Seminyak beachfront with a domed amphitheatre and a 1,000 square metre infinity pool.