Northeast Bali
Northeast Bali brings North and East Bali together: Lovina, Sidemen, Candidasa and Amed. It is a very different story from the south and west. Tourism here is small-scale and there is little pressure on the local environment. Here I describe where the area stands, what positive and negative social impact your choice has when you buy or build there. The choice stays with you. I want you to know what comes with it.
- Development phase
- Involvement–Development
- Tourist intensity
- Limited, small-scale
- Space
- A lot of open landscape
- From the airport
- About 2–3 hours
These four areas share a scale, not a reason to visit. Choose an area to read more.
Click a pin to open that location.
Growing
Lovina, Sidemen, Candidasa and Amed. Each draws people for something different: dolphins and snorkelling, nature and rice fields, the coast, and diving.
The meter
Each meter runs between two neutral end points. No judgement is attached. The filled dot is where the area stands now, the hollow dot is what is possible in the future if the airport in the north is built.
Tourism
Small-scale, could riseTourism here is small-scale, more so than in the south. In Lovina it is about the dolphins and the snorkelling, in Sidemen about the nature and the rice fields, in Candidasa more about the coast, and in Amed about diving. If the airport in the north is built, tourism could rise considerably.
Economy
Depends on tourismThe local economy depends mainly on tourism. Lovina depends on dolphin tourism and Amed on dive tourism, and in other places people come to see the rice fields and the nature. People here are very dependent on it. An airport may be coming in the north. A number of parties, among them large developers and investors from Jakarta, have bought land there, and there is speculation about it. Whether it will be built is the question. If it is, the economy could grow.
Living environment
Little pressure nowThere is little pressure on the open landscape now, and not many negative effects yet. If the airport is built and tourism rises as a result, that could change.
Infrastructure
Fairly good, little pressureThe infrastructure is fairly good, and there is not much pressure on it in this area. There is a two-lane road and the roads are good. At Padang Bai there is a harbour with boats to the Gili Islands and Lombok, among other places, and from there the road continues east. I don't expect infrastructure to become a problem in the long term, provided it is planned well.
Local interests
Little pressure on residentsThe pressure on the local population is not great, and local interests are well served. That is a completely different perspective from what we see in the west and south of Bali.
Social impact
Positive social impact
- For local residentsYou support the local population by drawing tourism to these areas. People here live from it.
Negative social impact
- For the surroundingsDrawing tourism to an area that has little pressure now also changes that area. Open landscape and small scale are not guaranteed if tourism grows, as happened in the south and west of Bali.
- For the surroundingsIn Candidasa the effects of unregulated coastal development have been visible for decades, in the form of erosion.
My view
Here tourism is small-scale and the pressure on the local environment is low. If you draw tourism to these areas, you support the local population. At the same time you change the area, and what an airport in the north would do is still uncertain.
I don't want to tell you what to do. I want to inform you. Know what your choice means, positive as well as negative, and then make the choice yourself.
This area profile provides information, not investment advice. The meters are qualitative estimates, not measurements.