Jimbaran is just south of Kuta. Up until fairly recently it was just a village of fishermen, but is now home to a couple of five-star beach resorts and seaside grilled seafood restaurants are now they are a major tourist draw, as are the beautiful sunsets. Jimbaran is known as the seafood capital of Indonesia with its many seafood restaurants located right on the beach.

Jimbaran has little shopping or night-life of its own, but has the advantage of being closer to Kuta and Seminyak (and the cultural highlights of central Bali) than Nusa Dua. Each year more shops, galleries and boutiques open, and is becoming to be a trendy shopping area, but on a smaller scale than the area of Seminyak, to the north of Kuta.

The beach is mostly calm, so it's suitable for swimming, but not for motorized water sports. Infants and young children can play in the shallow water, which stretches out a long way.

Jimbaran is home tmany grilled seafood restaurants, packed together all in a row along a stretch of beach. Usually the restaurants are traditionally thatched structures, but as the area moves more upmarket, these are making way for less traditional looking buildings. The tables are set up right on the sand, and if you sit in the lowest tables near high tide, you can find your feet getting wet. The sea breeze is cool, and the sunsets are beautiful. The area is lit by flaming lamterns after dark.

The restaurants all serve essentially the same menu with one basic dining format: fire-grilled seafood (your choice of various fish, crab, squid, shrimp, lobster, and shellfish); a local vegetable known loosely as water spinach, steamed with garlic; rice; and local sauces. You can go up to the seafood tanks near the kitchen and choose the number and type of creatures you want to eat, paying by wieght, or just order from the menu and they will serve up a typical amount.

As there are more restaurants than diners you should inspect the fish for freshness and the prices before ordering. The dishes are cooked over coconut husks and are both tasty and reasonable if you stay away from lobster.

Prices are reasonable. Dinner for two, with local Bintang beer or soft drinks, costs in the range of Rp 120,000 - 250,000 depending on quantity and type of seafood selected. The crab and red snapper are especially good. Even though eating in Jimbaran can be more expensive than eating in a restaurant in Kuta, the atmosphere is just superb. Dining in the cool ocean breezes with the gentle lapping sound of the water. If you arrive before sunset, you can enjoy Bali's famous sunsets drinking a famous Indonesian beer, Bintang.

The combination of atmosphere and good food make this a memorable and delightful place to spend an evening. A wonderful place to watch the sunset and the procession of planes bringing a new influx of pink-faced visitors or returning tanned ones to their home countries.

Jimbaran was the site of a terrorist bombing in 2005, but the sand and airy construction of the restaurants kept casualties much lower than in the previous Kuta attack.

At the airport end are hundreds of fishing boats and an interesting fish market and it is all only 25 minutes from the bright lights of Kuta.

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