Uluwatu has been growing in popularity as a holiday destination in Bali over the last few years, and it’s often considered to be the top spot for professional and very experienced surfers to try out their skills.
It’s also home to the Uluwatu Surf Villas and their resident beach club, Mana Uluwatu. So, our team was quite happy to learn they could leave their surfboards at home and go and spend a day in luxury working out what this beach club has to offer.
And this is what they found.
Introduction – Getting To Mana Uluwatu
Firstly, Mana Uluwatu is on the island of Bali, which is part of the Republic of Indonesia and one of the more than 18,000 islands that make up the Indonesian archipelago.
Getting to Bali can be very easy if you’re flying from anywhere in Southeast Asia or from Australia, as this lovely spot in the Indian Ocean is probably no more than a four-hour flight from these places.
However, if you’re coming from Europe or North America, it’s likely to be a longer trip. This isn’t the end of the world, mind you, Bali is so much cheaper than Miami, Tulum, Ibiza, St. Tropez, etc., that you can often pay for the flights with savings made elsewhere on your trip.
Once you arrive in Bali, Uluwatu is on the Bukit Peninsula, the Southernmost Tip of the island, and it’s a fairly short drive from the airport, Nusa Dua, Ungasan, and Jimbaran. It’s also within reasonable driving distance of Ubud, Canggu, Seminyak and Sanur, the other major tourist towns.
This is a hotel beach club, it’s part off the Uluwatu Surf Villas, and as such you can get parking at the resort’s car park (which is security controlled) easily and if you come by the rideshare (Grab and Gojek are the top apps in Bali) you can be dropped off at the front door without a problem.
Then, once you arrive, the staff will be only too happy to direct you to your seat at Mana.
Where Is Mana Uluwatu? Pantai Suluban St, Pecatu, South Kuta, Badung Regency, Bali 80361
Online: Uluwatu Surf Villas
Opening Hours: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, except Nyepi (the Balinese Day of Silence, a holiday on which every business in Bali is required to close down for the day – it happens once a year in either March or April).
What’s Available At Mana Uluwatu?
This beach club has a dramatic cliff-top infinity pool with a lovely view over the ocean. It also has bar and restaurant facilities. As you’d expect from a beach club, it also offers a range of seating areas, including comfortable sunbeds (or daybeds as they’re known in the beach club industry).
However, it is absolutely not a party venue and there’s no DJ, entertainment or even a dance floor, so make sure you’re prepared for a chill-out day when you visit.
Our Detailed Review Of Mana Uluwatu
We apply a standardised evaluation process to every beach club to treat owners, management, and staff fairly and to ensure our reviews follow a consistent structure for easy comparison between venues.
The process is outlined as follows:
- A team is selected to review the venue.
- All members must visit the beach club, but they are not required to visit together or on the same day.
- During their visit, each reviewer completes a scorecard, assigning the club a score from 1 (least impressive) to 5 (most impressive) across designated categories, while also recording their observations.
- After everyone has submitted their scorecards, the team meets to discuss their experiences and finalise category scores.
- A designated member then composes the review, incorporating the team’s discussions and final scores, before it is posted on our website.
Reservation and Booking Process
In 2025, we feel that it defies both belief and explanation that beach clubs can’t sort out a simple, straightforward and secure process for booking a seat.
This is a very expensive beach club at a top-end resort. Yet, try and book at the beach club and you end up being redirected to one of two other websites!
Yes, both Chope and Tablecheck are legitimate, but visitors to the island may not know that. It’s also a poor way to take bookings, you can’t choose where you sit, and you can’t pay a deposit.
This means that the beach club has no incentive to save your seats for you beyond about 15 minutes after you are meant to arrive. There’s nothing like dealing with Bali traffic for hours to arrive and find your seat has been given to someone else, is there?
Ambience and Atmosphere
This beach club is all about relaxed, refined chilling, and there’s no doubt that the spot high above the ocean with epic views is tailored to exactly that.
You won’t find much in the way of social opportunities here; people come with their own groups and then tend to spend their time together.
That’s fine, and if you know what to expect, it’s perfectly lovely. After all, it means you can take advantage of this place for a romantic date or a night of conversation.
However, the absence of any kind of party vibe, even in the evenings, is often very noticeable once you spend a few hours here.
Location And Accessibility
The Bukit Peninsula is reasonably accessible from the rest of Bali’s top tourist spots, though you may find that the traffic drags your journey out.
Once you arrive, this is a very accessible location, and there’s no doubt that even those with mobility issues are going to find they can enjoy the Mana Uluwatu’s services.
It’s also perfectly placed for a great sunset view, which the clifftop perch is amazing for getting the most of.
But, unfortunately, the one downside of this location is that it’s not best placed for the ride-share services, and if you need to be picked up once the day is over, you may find yourself waiting a long while for a ride.
Aesthetic And Design
It’s quite a compact beach club, but there’s no doubt that Mana Uluwatu is extremely attractive, and the design is memorable and exciting.
From the drama of the clifftop infinity pool, to the beautiful lounging areas above the tree top canopy below, this is a place that is going to look awesome in your Instagram snaps.
The rest of the resort is also very attractive, and you may find you can grab a few shots on your way to and from the beach club.
Staff Friendliness and Professionalism (Service Standard)
One thing you can depend on in Bali is that if you visit a 5-star hotel property that the service will be flawless.
The island has an amazing reputation for hospitality in the first place, and this is always polished and refined by a resort’s training team.
And that’s exactly what you get here, friendly, professional, kind, warm staff that make you feel that you made the perfect decision in life by choosing to spend time at Mana Beach Club.
Service Speed and Efficiency
We also found their staff to be very good at seeing when you might need attention, being there almost before you knew you needed them and then at getting things done once your order is placed.
We never found ourselves waiting very long for anything, which the small, intimate size of this beach club surely helps with.
Even the check was delivered speedily and graciously when we asked for it, something that many beach clubs neglect, in our experience.
Food Quality and Variety
Mana’s food is quite pricey, though it’s not out of line with the other beach clubs on the Bukit Peninsula, where charging more than the rest of Bali seems to be the done thing.
However, while there’s not quite as much variety as we’d like on the menu here, what there is is of first-rate quality.
We’d skip the steaks, which are excessively priced, and focus on the other dishes, which are decent, though not spectacular, value for money.
Beverage Selection and Creativity
The drinks list was a decent size, and there’s no doubt that this small beach club offers enough choice to keep you interested for the few hours you will spend here.
Though we suspect repeat visitors might get a little bored with the list after a while, there could be a few more choices.
We would note that we thought the beers were excessively expensive, but that the cocktails, wines and spirits were otherwise in keeping with the Bukit’s beach clubs’ pricing standards.
The cocktails were also nicely presented, strong enough and tasty.
Cleanliness and Hygiene
We found that the beach club, the pool area and the toilets and changing rooms were all kept spotless, and we had full confidence in the general hygiene of this beach club.
To be fair, this is exactly what we’d expect at a 5-star hotel facility, and if we hadn’t thought that they’d deserved full marks in this category, we’d probably have been complaining to their management.
Comfort of Seating and Lounging Areas
There are some wonderfully comfortable seating areas in this beach club, and the platform above the trees is great, as are the daybeds around the pool.
However, we weren’t huge fans of the seating in the bar and restaurant areas, which seemed a touch uncomfortable and not really designed for taller people.
Overall, though the furniture is also aesthetically pleasing, so, we understand it’s trying to get the balance right for two different jobs.
Music and Entertainment
This is a place for bland, inoffensive music that never gets any louder or changes pace. While we don’t object to this as a backdrop for conversation, it certainly won’t win any prizes for music.
And there is no entertainment of any kind at this venue, it’s just not that sort of place. So, if you want to spend the evening watching dancers, light shows, etc., you might be better off at FINNS Beach Club in Canggu, instead.
Seasonality
This is Bali, and it’s in the tropics. There is no real seasonality on the island apart from a “dry” season and a “wet season”, but even in the rainiest months in Bali, they get on average 8 hours of sunshine a day and, more importantly, it rarely rains for days on end, unlike in say, Thailand or Goa.
Then, there’s only one day a year that businesses are required to close for, Nyepi, the Balinese day of silence. Otherwise, the beach clubs are open 364 out of 365 days of the year, and there’s never a bad time to enjoy Bali.
Pricing and Value for Money
The Bukit Peninsula in Bali is, in our opinion, overpriced. We’re not sure why it costs 20-25% more to eat, drink, and party on this part of the island against places like Canggu, Seminyak, Kuta and Ubud, but it does.
And we have to take that into account for our pricing and value for money score. We don’t think that this beach club is bad value for the Bukit Peninsula, but it’s not great value for Bali as a whole.
Beach Access and Quality
The beach below is one of Bali’s most popular surfing spots, but there’s absolutely no access to this popular beach from this clifftop club.
This is probably a bigger deal if you have kids, as they could be having fun playing in the sand, but overall, the view and the infinity pool are pretty good compensation for the lack of a beach here.
Sustainability Practices
This beach club certainly has implemented some sustainable practices, though they don’t, as yet, provide detailed sustainability reporting.
They use local sourcing for food and flavour. They have a ban on single-use plastics. They use waste separation and reduction techniques and built the villas of the resort using earth bags, reclaimed wood and bamboo to reduce their environmental impact.
There’s still a way to go at this beach club, but there’s no doubt that it’s heading in the right direction.
Exclusive Perks for Guests
You get a towel and a sunbed as long as you’re a paying customer here which is fair enough and very standard for Bali. It’s better value than many of the world’s other beach clubs, where you have to pay to sit down, for example.
However, there’s no elevated VIP experiences available for a little extra cash and we think that’s a shame and a missed opportunity for both their guests and the beach club.
Safety and Security
Your vehicle will be searched before it’s allowed onto the premises and there will be a brief search at the reception area too.
This is a good thing as it helps to ensure that beach clubs remain a safe environment for all guests in Bali.
Event Hosting Capabilities
It’s quite a small beach club so there’s a limit to the size of events they can host but this beach club does allow for the hosting of private events and the Uluwatu Surf Villas are a top destination for wedding parties on the island seeking a great clifftop backdrop for the big day.
Their events team can help with bespoke menus, decor, etc. and help to remove many of the planning headaches from a big day.
Consistency of Experience
We’ve been here a few times, we know many more who’ve visited and we’ve read their online reviews, and we think it’s clear that this beach club delivers a dependable experience for its guests.
However, it’s also clear that experience rarely evolves or innovates to try and improve itself.
Additional Amenities and Facilities
There are all the basic beach club facilities you could need at this beach club and if you need anything else, it’s a short drive away from the resort in Uluwatu or Jimbaran.
Summary
This is a pleasant hotel beach club with amazing views out over the Indian Ocean. For us, it’s a bit expensive for a regular day out, but it’s a solid treat if you’re on holiday and fancy a relaxed day and an epic sunset.
We wouldn’t travel across the island for this experience, but if we were in the vicinity, we’d always be tempted to spend some time at Mana Uluwatu.
FAQs
Can You Go Swimming At Mana Uluwatu?
Yes, there’s a lovely clifftop infinity pool for the guests of Mana Uluwatu to use and for many people who come to this beach club, it’s the top reason for going; you’re going to get some amazing Instagram snaps here.
You must be a customer of the Mana Restaurant to use the swimming pool, though you can’t just walk in, take a dip and leave. Towels will be provided on request after you’ve ordered something; you cannot bring in towels from outside of the venue.
It’s a lovely pool, and it’s as clean and well-maintained as it looks in the shots on their social media and website. However, because it’s so pretty, it can get very crowded, and it draws a lot of would-be influencers seeking to make their first videos.
One thing you should know is that, because this is a clifftop beach club, while you can see the beach from up above, you most certainly can’t access it while you’re at the beach club.
This isn’t really a big deal, as the beach below is a surfer’s beach and not very good for swimming anyway.
What Is There To Do At Mana Uluwatu?
Mana is a place that you go with friends and/or family for some upmarket food, cold drinks in the Bali Sun and a swim in the infinity pool.
Alternatively, you might like to bring a book and spend the day lying in the sun reading the latest thriller or romance novel.
But it’s most definitely not a party spot, and there’s no dance floor or entertainment, and you won’t find them cranking up the tunes around sunset.
Is Mana Uluwatu A Child-Friendly Venue?
Yes, the Mana Uluwatu Beach Club is completely family-friendly. In fact, the Uluwatu Surf Villas in their entirety are a haven for children and their families.
This resort operates a program called the “Mana Ocean Confidence for Kids” at various points during the year, and it’s aimed at children between 8 and 12.
This is an excellent way to give your kids confidence in the water; it teaches breathing exercises, some survival skills, and how to put up with some discomfort in order to get the right end result.
If your children attend this program, then you will be given a rate reduction on accommodation, food, beverages and daybeds at the beach club.
While we do think this is a kid-friendly facility, we should point out that they don’t have any special facilities for children at the beach club, so they will need to make their own entertainment.
Parents must keep an eye on their kids and ensure they don’t annoy any other guests of the facility.
Interestingly, this is one of the few “pet-friendly” beach clubs in Bali, though your pet must be left in the special pet zone and not be brought into the pool or restaurant zones.
You should also know that laptops are banned in this beach club after 5 p.m.,. and they don’t tolerate smoking anywhere in this venue.
Who Is The Owner Of Mana Uluwatu?
The Mana Uluwatu Beach Club is part of the Uluwatu Surf Villas, which is a resort. This resort is then owned by a company called “Bali Villas”. This company’s owner is a guy called Tim Russo, who is from the United States (Maryland, to be precise).
Final Thoughts On The Review Of Mana Uluwatu
The views from the clifftop at Mana Uluwatu are without parallel at any beach club in Bali, and there’s no doubt that you can get some amazing views of the surfing below, which is some of the best you can witness on the island.
However, this place is very expensive for Bali, and it’s not the sort of spot that most visitors are going to want to choose for a casual day out.
We’d say that if you’re in or around Uluwatu and you’re ready to splash out some cash to make your day special, it’s probably worth coming to Mana Uluwatu.
But… we doubt that a two-hour drive in the Bali traffic from other parts of the island to spend time in the pool here is going to feel like a good use of your time. There are plenty of other beach clubs in Bali, and they all have something going for them.
