Lovina, Bali: the dolphin boats at dawn, the hot springs, the north coast waterfalls and the road from the south

Lovina town is the north coast's only real beach base, a line of fishing villages on black sand where the sea is flat and the evenings end early. Most people come for one thing, the sunrise dolphin boats, and the better reason to stay is everything within 30 minutes: hot springs, a Buddhist monastery and some of the best waterfalls on the island.

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Lovina sunrise boat: dolphin watching and reef snorkelling

Duration: 4 to 7 h with hotel pickupFrom $19 / pers.4.7 · 775 reviews

• ✓Dolphin watching from the boat, then a snorkelling stop on the reef
• ✓A swim with the dolphins is offered: our advice is to stay on board
• ✓Private option if you want a later, quieter departure
• ✓Pickup from Lovina hotels, or from the south for a long day

See the dolphin boat

Affiliate link. Booking through GetYourGuide costs you nothing extra and supports the guide. Price and rating checked October 2026. Both move with season and demand.

Photo Stuecky53, CC BY 4.0

Where is Lovina in Bali, and is Lovina town worth visiting?

Lovina sits on the north coast, in Buleleng regency, about 10 km west of Singaraja, the old colonial capital of Bali. It is not one town but a row of villages along the shore: Kaliasem, Kalibukbuk, Anturan, Banyualit and Tukad Mungga. Kalibukbuk is the centre, where Jalan Binaria runs down to the beach and the dolphin statue. The name itself was coined in the 1950s by Anak Agung Panji Tisna, a Buleleng prince and novelist who built one of the first guesthouses on this shore.

Whether it is worth it depends on how you are travelling. Lovina is worth one or two nights on a loop through the north, between Munduk and the lakes on one side and Amed on the other. It is not worth six hours of driving for the beach alone.

Lovina suits

Slow travellers, families with young children and anyone touring the north. The sea has no surf and almost no current, the traffic is light and rooms cost noticeably less than for the same standard in Seminyak or Canggu. It is also the closest coastal bed to the north Bali waterfalls.

Skip Lovina if

You want white sand, nightlife or the best snorkelling. For reefs, Amed and Menjangan are better. For cool air and jungle, Munduk is the nicer base in the north. And if a crowded dolphin boat is the main draw, read the next section before you book three hours of road.

One warning: around the boats and the waterfalls, touts are persistent, and some warungs keep a second menu with higher prices for foreigners. Ask the price before you order or step in, and the problem mostly goes away.

Lovina dolphin tour at sunrise: price, the boat jam and our verdict

Every morning, before 06:00, the jukung outriggers push off the beach at Kalibukbuk with their engines running and head a kilometre or two offshore. The dolphins are spinner dolphins, which feed in the deep water off this coast. Sightings are not guaranteed, but on most mornings the boats find a pod within half an hour.

Photo Michelle Maria, CC BY 3.0

How much is the Lovina dolphin tour in 2026?

No association publishes a price list, and the figures quoted on the beach move with the season and with your bargaining. What we found in 2026: IDR 75,000 to 150,000 a person on a shared boat (US$4.20 to 8.40 · C$6 to 12) and IDR 400,000 to 500,000 for a private boat. Agree three things before you step in: the price, how long you stay out, and whether snorkelling is included.

Your hotel will sell the same seat, usually with a small margin, and has the advantage of a fixed pickup at the door. Booking ahead online costs more but takes the haggling out of a 05:30 start.

The boat jam: how many boats chase the Lovina dolphins

This is the part the brochures leave out. Lovina's tourist fleet counts about 200 registered boats, according to a study published in 2025 in the Journal of Humanities and Applied Social Sciences (Westerlaken, fieldwork from January to May 2021). On the busiest morning the researchers counted 47 boats out at once, and an average of 15.5 a day, a figure depressed by the pandemic. Earlier work by James Cook University, before Covid, recorded up to 83 boats around a single pod.

The same 2025 study found that 72.4% of boats came within 50 metres of the dolphins and 68.3% of boatmen broke the code of conduct, cutting across the pods' path and chasing them with engines on. The dolphins spent 30.1% of the observation time avoiding the boats. Buleleng adopted rules in 2023: a minimum distance of 25 metres, engines off near a pod, no chasing. On the water, few skippers apply them unless a passenger asks.

Can you swim with the dolphins in Lovina?

Some operators sell a "swim with dolphins" option in which you hold a bar fixed to the side of the boat while it motors alongside a pod. Do not book it. It puts a boat at full speed in the middle of the dolphins, which is exactly the behaviour the 2023 rules prohibit, and the pods dive away from it. Snorkelling on the reef afterwards is a different thing and perfectly fine.

Our verdict on the Lovina dolphins

Go if you want to, but on your terms. Take a boat leaving around 07:30: a local tester who went out at 06:00, 07:30 and 08:00 saw the same number of dolphins each time, and the later boats share them with far fewer engines. Ask the skipper to stay 25 metres away and cut the engine, and come back if he will not. If any of that already bothers you, skip it: the hot springs, the monastery and a day at Menjangan fill a morning just as well.

Lovina Beach, snorkelling and Menjangan Island

Can you swim at Lovina Beach?

Yes. Lovina Beach is black volcanic sand, steep enough to reach swimming depth quickly, and the north coast gets no surf. Most mornings the sea is flat. Avoid the boat lane in front of Kalibukbuk, where the jukung land, and swim at Anturan or Banyualit instead. The sand heats up fast: wear sandals after 10:00. Be ready for a beach that is lived in rather than groomed, with fishing boats, dogs and stretches that are not cleaned every day.

Photo Ken Eckert, CC BY-SA 4.0

Snorkelling in Lovina

The reef in front of town is fine for a first snorkel and most dolphin boats stop on it on the way back. It is not in the same league as Amed or Nusa Penida: coral cover is patchy and visibility drops after rain. Bring your own mask if you can, the boat ones are often scratched.

Menjangan Island day trip from Lovina

For proper snorkelling, the trip is west to Menjangan Island, inside West Bali National Park, with wall reefs that drop straight off the island into clear water. Day trips from Lovina usually include the boat from the park jetty, a guide, gear and lunch. It is the best reason to stay a second night.

Lovina plankton night tour

Some boatmen take people out after dark, around 19:30, to see bioluminescent planktonlight up the water around the hull. About IDR 200,000 a person on a private boat. It works best on a moonless night.

Banjar hot springs (Air Panas Banjar): price, pools and what to expect

The Banjar hot springs are the best half day around Lovina, about 20 minutes west by car or scooter through the rice fields. Sulphurous water at around 37°C runs from the mouths of stone naga into three pools at slightly different temperatures, under big trees. It is a sacred spring for the Balinese, who come to soak and to pray: swim in something modest rather than a small bikini.

Photo Jumilla, CC BY 2.0

There is a restaurant at the entrance with Balinese food and coffee for about IDR 10,000. The springs have been known since Dutch times for their effect on the skin and the muscles. Locals come in numbers at the weekend, so a weekday morning is quieter.

Brahmavihara Arama: Bali's largest Buddhist monastery, above Lovina

Three kilometres up the hill from the hot springs, Brahmavihara Arama is the largest Buddhist monastery in Bali, on an island where Buddhists are under 1% of the population. The terraces climb the slope through lotus ponds and gardens to a small stupa modelled on Borobudur, and the top terrace looks out over the rice fields to the north coast. Monks and visitors still meditate here: keep your voice down.

Photo AnnieGreenSprings, CC BY 2.0

Singaraja and Pura Dalem Jagaraga, east of Lovina

Twenty minutes east, Singaraja was the seat of the Dutch administration until the 1950s. The old harbour, a few colonial warehouses and the Ling Gwan Kiong Chinese temple by the water make an hour's wander on the way to Jagaraga or Sekumpul.

Another 15 minutes on, Pura Dalem Jagaraga is a temple of the dead with a rare set of carved reliefs: Dutch soldiers in a Ford car, on bicycles, in a boat, drawn with long noses and a sense of humour, between scenes of fishing and kite flying. It takes half an hour, costs a donation and is usually empty.

Waterfalls near Lovina: Gitgit, Banyumala, Aling-Aling and Sekumpul

Buleleng has the best waterfalls in Bali and Lovina is the closest place on the coast to sleep near them. The falls sit in the hills behind Singaraja and around the lakes, so each one is a 30 minute to 1 hour drive. Our Bali waterfalls guide compares them all.

Gitgit waterfall, 30 minutes from Lovina

The nearest big fall and the easiest. Gitgit is on the main road up to Bedugul, about 30 minutes south of Lovina via Singaraja, and drops in a single column of about 35 metres into the jungle. The path is paved, around 200 steps, done in trainers. Entry is a small fee at the official gate, roughly IDR 20,000: ignore anyone selling a "guide" on the road before it, a guide is not needed.

Photo elvranharris, CC BY-SA 2.0

Banyumala Twin Waterfalls, the swimming pool in the hills

Higher up, at Wanagiri above Lake Buyan, Banyumala is two falls and a fan of streams pouring into a cold pool you can swim in. Entry is IDR 50,000 in 2026 (US$2.80 · C$4) and the walk down takes 10 to 15 minutes. Allow about an hour of driving from Lovina up the ridge road, and combine it with the lakes.

Photo Made Agus Devayana, CC BY-SA 4.0

Aling-Aling waterfall at Sambangan

Twenty minutes from Lovina, in the village of Sambangan, Aling-Aling is a set of four falls known for its natural rock slide and cliff jumps. A plain visit costs around IDR 20,000. For the slide and the jumps a local guide is compulsory and is paid separately: agree the price before you start.

Sekumpul, the big one

Sekumpul, east of Singaraja, is the most impressive waterfall in Bali, a curtain of falls in a deep green valley. About an hour from Lovina, against three hours from the south, which is the strongest argument for sleeping on the north coast. Expect a steep descent and a guide fee on top of the ticket.

How to get to Lovina from the south: 3 hours over the mountains

There is no shortcut. The road from the south climbs to Bedugul at about 1,200 metres, crosses the pass by the lakes and drops through hairpins past Gitgit to Singaraja, then west along the coast to Lovina. Count three hours from Seminyak or the airport, a little less from Ubud or Canggu.

Private driver to Lovina

The easiest way. A car and driver for a north coast day costs IDR 800,000 to 1,100,000 or more (US$45 to 61 · C$64 to 88), more than the standard IDR 600,000 to 900,000 day because of the distance. Most drivers add a surcharge for Lovina and Singaraja: ask before you book whether it is included. Our Bali private driver guide breaks down the extras.

Stop at Ulun Danu Beratan on the way up

The road passes right by Lake Bratan, so break the drive at Ulun Danu Beratan, the temple on the water, about an hour before Lovina. Arrive early, before the mist and the coaches, and you split three hours of driving into two easy halves.

Lovina by scooter

Possible, and beautiful, but not for a beginner. The pass is steep, the bends are tight, trucks use the same road and it is often wet and cold at the top. On two wheels it takes about as long as by car.

Lovina dolphin day trip from Ubud or Seminyak

Tours from the south sell the dolphins as a day trip, with a pickup around 03:00, the boat at 06:00 and a waterfall or the hot springs on the way back. It works, but you spend six hours in a car to spend two on the water, and you arrive for the most crowded boat of the day. Sleeping one night in Lovina is the better deal.

Where to stay in Lovina: Kalibukbuk, Anturan or Kaliasem

Lovina has guesthouses, small pool hotels and a handful of resorts, at prices well below the south. The choice is mostly about the village.

• Kalibukbuk, the centre: restaurants, bars, ATMs and the dolphin boats within walking distance. The best choice for one or two nights without a car.
• Anturan and Banyualit, to the east: quieter, with the better swimming beach and more small guesthouses on the sand. Ten minutes on foot or a short ride from the centre.
• Kaliasem and Temukus, to the west: the resorts with big gardens, closer to the Banjar hot springs, further from the evening life.

From/ pers.

Two nights is enough

Lovina hotels, from Kalibukbuk guesthouses to the garden resorts of Kaliasem

Duration: Budget to resortFrom / pers.

• ✓Kalibukbuk to walk to the boats, restaurants and ATMs
• ✓Anturan or Banyualit for a quieter beach
• ✓Kaliasem for a garden resort near the hot springs
• ✓Compare the total with tax and service: Bali rates add 21% at checkout

See Lovina hotels

Affiliate link. Booking through Hotels.com costs you nothing extra and supports the guide. Prices are indicative and vary by option and season.

Photo Ken Eckert, CC BY-SA 4.0

Lovina restaurants: where to eat in Lovina town

Lovina eats simply. Most menus are written for visitors and the spicing is toned down, so ask for it "pedas" if you want the real heat. The restaurants cluster on Jalan Binaria and Jalan Mawar in Kalibukbuk, five minutes from the beach, and most close by 22:00.

For a drink after dark, the bars on Jalan Binaria host live music most nights, and a few beachfront lounges serve the sunset. Nightlife stops around midnight. There are bank ATMs (BNI, BPD) in Kalibukbuk: take cash for the boats, the hot springs and the waterfalls, none of which take cards.

Best time to visit Lovina

The dolphins are there all year. The best months are the dry season, May to September, when the morning sea is flattest, the reef clearest and the mountain road driest. July and August are the busiest but Lovina never feels crowded on land. From November to March, rain comes mostly in the afternoon, the mornings often stay clear enough for the boats, and some trips are cancelled when the sea is up. The waterfalls are at their fullest then. The Bali weather month by month has the detail.

Prices on this page were checked in October 2026 and converted at the rate of 6 October: about IDR 17,900 to US$1 and IDR 12,550 to C$1. Rupiah prices are the ones that hold.