text by James Carys & Frankie Miller
images by Foued Kadachi, James Carys & Jan Dekker

High season in Bali means the most popular beaches are the most overcrowded. Here are five of Bali's most beautiful and less-discovered stretches of sand and four sublime beach retreats dotted around the island. Sunscreen, surfboards and shades at the ready for a totally tropical beach trip.

1A private beach but open to outside guests of the extremely funky Nammos beach bar and grill is the private stretch of sand at the base of the Karma Kandara cliffs. It is the ultimate in refined seclusion. Soak up the rays in style then retire for sundown cocktails, gourmet pizzas and ocean fresh barbeque offerings from what is Bali's most luxurious and downright cool beach bars. Expect some pretty raucous all night beach parties down this end of the island pretty soon…

2 More popular with the surf community than with sun seekers but nevertheless a must visit beach, Padang Padang is a tiny cove accessible through a steep path carved into the towering rocks just below the temple. The beach sellers can sometimes be a nuisance but it's worth tolerating the touts for a day spent splashing around in what is one of the Bukit's rare offerings – a sandy cove perfect for a swim. Head here when there are some seriously pumping waves to witness the best surfing in Bali.

3 One of Bali's holiest beaches is also one of the island's hidden treasures. Next door to Dreamland is a stretch of the finest white sand, devoid of much development activity and certainly nowhere near as ruined as its more famous cousin. It's picture perfect stuff down at Balangan with only a handful of huts and mercifully very few beach hawkers. The downside is that the reef prevents any swimming activity unless you're there at high tide but the surf out back of the bay can sometimes be epic.

4 If the very notion of being hassled on Kuta beach has you running for the hotel pool then try heading a little further up Jl Legian to Padma street, park at the end of the road, turn right and here you'll find a stretch of beach much cleaner than anywhere else in the Kuta and Seminyak areas. Take it easy in the water as the rips can be treacherous.

5 Padang Bai isn't the first place that springs to mind when searching for a clean and secluded patch of sand but if you're up here head into the town centre, take a right and head over the hill. A tiny yet totally stunning beach will be yours for the day but be quick as right behind the cove there's evidence of major development work. A little hard to find but go seek it out for yourselves as it's a white sand pearl on the black sand coast.