There is a reason why Bali is such a popular destination for a boys’ trip—beautiful beaches, a thriving party scene, great food, and a myriad of outdoor activities to keep the adrenaline pumping and up those testosterone levels. Also, the abundance of bikini-laden holidaying females generally adds a little bit of excitement amongst holidaying males.
The endless options for male-bonding activities means that there is no reason for the groom to be glum and envious while his bride is getting pampered from head to toe and posting instagram updates of her yoga/detox adventures in Ubud. Bali is also an epic place to get the boys together for your last moments of singledom—whatever your style. With a little help and advice from some boys currently planning a bachelor/stag trip to Bali, we’ve put together some ideas for any gentlemen seeking inspiration on how to celebrate this rite of passage in Bali to ensure that it is as epic as possible. (Get the female, bachelorette party version here).
1. For the ocean-lover
A Google-search for “bachelor’s party (or stag do) in Bali” turns up suggestions for private boat packages, suggesting that this is a popular option to take part of in Bali for many groom to bes. And it would be—tropical warm climate, small surrounding islands to venture out to, and if you want, cocktail mixologists and gorgeous ladies to serve you the drinks.
While there are a number of providers offering boat party services, the two that specializes in Bachelor parties are Ludih’s Bali Luxury Yacht Party and Bali Boat Trip’s “Bali Bucks Package.” Ludih’s Bali Luxury Yacht Party involves an eight hour cruise on a luxury yacht, plenty of booze, lunch, one “ludih lady” (a.k.a. bikini clad waitress) for every four guests, insurance in case the antics get too out of control and for an additional fee you can upgrade your lunch to a full-on meat and seafood BBQ. The “Bali Bucks Party” package cruises from Serangan Harbor to Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida, where you’ll spend the afternoon doing whatever you feel like with the beach BBQ going all afternoon (or if you want feel fancy, you can upgrade to a restaurant meal followed by a spa treatment). The Bucks Party package also allows you the option of hiring bikini clad waitresses to serve you drinks while you sit back and take in the crystal blue waters on the boat. Whether you want this trip to be laid-back or crazy is up to you.
For ocean-loving grooms-to-be who are wanting a more crazy party atmosphere and don’t want to fork out $$$ for a private trip, you can buy a ticket to the Jiggy Boat Party Gili (formerly known as Drunken Monkeyz), where you cruise with 100 other partygoers starting in the afternoon and at the end of the cruise, continue your antics at the “after-party” at Jiggy Jigs Bars. Tip: if the bride-to-be is in Bali and this is her thing, you might want to check with the maid of honor that they haven’t organized this activity the same time the you and the boys have—or it could get pretty awkward.
Before we suggest activities for the gym-going, protein-shake loving fitness freak, we gotta disclose that this one definitely ain’t for the lazy ones.
For the bunch that just wants to include one or two days (or hours) of physical activity, The Bali Bootcamp offers bootcamp classes on Saturdays at Canggu Beach from 4-6 pm and Sundays from 9-11 am as well as a range of “day trip” bootcamp packages, depending on whether you prefer to work out at the beach or surrounded by greeneries in the middle of rice fields. All include a healthy lunch and a sunset drink at the beach to reward your physical efforts.
If the groom to be wants a hard-core fitness trip and the rest of the boys are game to do the same, Ninja Camp runs various retreats throughout the year, that combines a range of physical activities including CrossFit, weight-lifting, surfing, and adventure activities such as canyoning, freediving or abseiling. In addition to offering a certain number of spots on their pre-organized events, they also do tailored programmes for group bookings if you contact them and let them know your preferences regarding activities.
There’s always an option to throw in a night or two of traditional bachelor’s party/stag do mischief in Kuta after the retreat, or lazing around the beach and sipping Bintangs if exhaustion from a week of intense physical activities call for it.
If the groom-to-be just loves being in nature, and the last two activities are just not outdoorsy enough for him – Bali has no shortage of bad-ass outdoor activities ranging from hiking, white-water rafting, scuba-diving, mountain-biking, various water-sports, canyon-tubing, quad-biking, the list goes on.
If you want to take the outdoorsiness up a notch – you can always do Bali the “rugged” way and go camping (though it’s really not common, especially with so many affordable accommodations around catering to all types of travellers). West Bali National Park has a basic campground at the park headquarters at Cekik, with basic bathroom facilities. The camp site is free, although a small donation is highly encouraged.
Even if you don’t camp, outdoor enthusiasts interested in marine life, snorkelling or diving should pay a visit to the uninhabited Menjangan island, located 10 kilometers of Bali. You can get there by a local boat run by the West Bali National Park, starting from Labuhan Lalang Harbor.
Alternatively, if you want to mix up your outdoor activities with some villa-living, you can opt for an overnight trek to Mount Agung that finishes at sunrise. Bali Trekking Tour has a package for this hike, where you get picked up at about 9pm and arrive at Besakih Temple, the starting point for your hike, at 11 pm, and then start your hike which should finish at about 6:00am, the perfect time for sunrise. This activity is definitely for the fit. A word of warning: don’t be like these naive tourists and choose to go guideless.
Sunrise over Mt Agung
4. For the chillaxed, low key dude
Pick a spot on the island that’s a little less tourist-filled (so ruling out most of the beaches in the south) or hop over to Lombok or the Gili islands if your idea of bachelor bliss is doing nothing with the boys in a relatively quiet, laid-back, and generally less commercially-developed environment.
Not saying that the touristy part of Bali has lost its laid-back vibe, but traffic can get pretty bad in these areas and you will get hassled by street stall vendors every time you walk around. And the beaches can get pretty crowded and filled with younger versions of yourselves you might find a little bit annoying now that you’ve matured into a chilled-out kind of guy.
We recommend that you get your touristy fix at the start, so stay around the developed south when you want to carry out your party antics. When you’re ready to rest up and recover you can move to Bali’s quieter areas or jump on a boat to its neighboring islands. Some options in Bali include Amed – a fishing village with a few boutique resorts that remains unobtrusive, or Lovina – volcanic black sand beaches where the hotels are basic but boast million-dollar views. As for the Gili islands, head to Gili Air if you are looking to escape the party crowd. For Lombok, we recommend basing yourself in Senggigi or Kuta.
Just some sweet sunset at Lovina
Photo: Flickr
5. For the adrenaline junkie
Check out “11 heart pumping activities to do in Bali for the brave and daring soul” for some inspiration. We think that jet-packing and canyoning could be particularly good activities to do as a group, and will definitely result in some thrills and laughs.
6. For the competitive sporty fellow
If the groom to be just has to compete (and win) at something at his bachelor’s party, make sure to include at least one of these following activities on the itinerary: a Paintball battle at Paintball Bali Pertiwi or Bali Paintball Arena, a round of golf at one of Bali’s many golf courses or target-shooting (also available at Bali Paintball Arena).
Just make sure that the groom to be still knows how to have a good time if things don’t go his way competition-wise, or prepare a back-up event afterwards where he can regain his ego back.
7. For the party animal
It’s got a terrible rep, and yes you will probably be hanging around 18 to 20 year old backpackers that are still trying to figure out what their alcohol limit is – but if the groom’s vision of celebrating his last moments of singledom involve The Hangover-style debaucheries (though we hope it’s not as extreme) that the bachelor’s party/stag do has become so infamous for, then look no further than Kuta. One morning after, head to Sanur and enjoy some BBQ cooked fry-up (or pancakes… whatever hits the hangover-cure spot) at The Porch Cafe.
Gili Trawangan is also very popular with partygoers (the Jiggy Boat Party Gili we recommended for the ocean-lovers starts at this Gili island), so you can mix it up by paying this island a visit after getting into mischief at Kuta. Gili T (as it’s commonly known) also hosts full-moon & dark-moon parties from time to time.
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