Ku De Ta was the first beach club in Bali and it’s been laying down soulful soundtracks and delivering food and drinks by the ocean for almost two decades now.
However, since it opened, Ku De Ta has become surrounded by some of the best beach clubs in the world and we wanted to know, would we still be looking at the “enchanting ambiance” of early reviews or whether Ku De Ta had seen better days?
So, we sent our review team down to Ku De Ta to formulate their own reviews and this is what we learned.
Introduction – Getting To Ku De Ta
Ku De Ta is at the far end of Petitenget Beach in Seminyak, which means that while getting there is relatively straightforward from most of Bali’s popular tourist destinations the traffic can be killer, particularly in peak season.
We’d suggest allowing extra time to get to Ku De Ta if you’ve booked a daybed for a specific time as it’s very easy for the traffic to make you late.
You can easily arrive at Ku De Ta by Grab or Gojek and there is a parking area available to guests too. However, the parking at the club is very limited and you may be asked to park at a local market, instead. It’s a short walk back to the club from there.
Where Is Ku De Ta? Jl. Kayu Aya No.9, Seminyak, Kec. Kuta, Kabupaten Badung, Bali, Indonesia
Website: Ku De Ta
Opening Hours: Open daily, every day except for Nyepi, from 10 a.m. to 12 midnight.
When you arrive at Ku De Ta in keeping with nearly every beach club in Bali, you will be searched by security.
If you have anything that you’re not allowed to bring in such as food and drinks or a camera, then you will need to leave it with the security team until you leave.
Ku De Ta is unusual for a beach club in that there is also an entrance on the beach, which is manned by security, so you can enter the club directly from the sand.
What’s Inside Ku De Ta?
Ku De Ta has a small oceanfront pool, a lawn area as well as a restaurant and bar area over two floors. There is a decent range of seating options inside to suit most budgets.
Our Review Breakdown For Ku De Ta
We assessed Ku De Ta in the same way that we have assessed every beach club in Bali. We use 20 different criteria and then rank each beach club between 1 (worst) and 5 (best) in each category.
This leads to a potential total score of 100 (best) to 20 (worst). To ensure these numbers are reflective of the experience at a club all of our reviewers vote on the numbers before the reviews are published.
Once a review goes live, it won’t be edited or updated for, at least, a year. We will revisit a review only when enough time has passed for a club to have changed significantly.
Our aim is to be constructive with our reviews, highlighting the best of each beach club and offering feedback on how to improve.
Bali is the heart of the world when it comes to the beach club scene and life by the sea here is richer for it, we want every beach club to succeed.
Pre-Club Advertising
Ku De Ta Beach Club does some advertising and we’ve seen their posters and branding around town and even had the occasional ad on social media for them.
However, given how much a beach club really needs people inside to give it a great vibe, we really think they should be trying a lot harder in this field.
Location
The beaches of Seminyak are some of the most popular beaches on the island.
Unfortunately, that means that while Ku De Ta is in a great location if you’re staying in this part of Bali, it can be fairly hard to get to, particularly in high season if you have to brave the Bali traffic.
That’s not a criticism of Ku De Ta almost everywhere in Bali has the same problems with traffic, but it’s worth bearing in mind.
Booking Process & Seating Options
You can book a daybed online, all the other seating options at Ku De Ta are secured by walk-in customers only.
There is only one daybed type that you can book on their site and it’s for 3 people.
Unlike other beach club websites, there’s no facility at all to specify a location within the beach club and just a range of time slots.
We also found the constant jumping from site to site to site to secure a booking a bit annoying.
It’s 2024, there is no good reason that you should book a restaurant seat on a completely different site from the one you booked the daybed on.
Entry Fee
There is no entrance fee at Ku De Ta and they offer a decent range of seating for customers who don’t wish to commit to a minimum spend. This puts Ku De Ta on our list of the best beach clubs that don’t require a minimum spend.
Customers who don’t pay an entrance fee will need to rent a towel if they want to use the pools.
Overall, though, this is the standard we expect at a beach club like Ku De Ta – people should be free to come inside and have a look at any beach club without paying any money until they decide if it’s for them, or not.
Minimum Spend
Ku De Ta is like all other beach clubs in Bali in that it enforces a minimum spend if you want to use the “furniture”.
That is a daybed (a sort of posh sun lounger) they have two sets of minimum spend tariffs.
The first is for Monday or Tuesday at 1 million IDR per bed, the second is for the rest of the week at 2 million IDR per bed.
A bed sits up to 3 people (if you have more people in your party, you will need more beds and yes, that means an increased overall minimum spend).
This is a reasonable minimum spend by Bali beach club standards.
Welcome And Security
The welcome at Ku De Ta is friendly enough though it’s to the most memorable entrance to a beach club, either.
The security team is efficient and will check your bag for contraband at the door.
Overall, it’s a good start to the process of spending time at Ku De Ta.
Inclusions
As with nearly every beach club, if you opt to use a daybed for a minimum spend at Ku De Ta, you will be allowed to use a towel for free.
However, there are no other inclusions and there is no option for a more premium service level either.
There’s nothing wrong with the bare minimum, but that’s all this is.
Service
Generally speaking, we find service pretty good everywhere that we go in Bali and Ku De Ta is no exception.
The staff is warm, helpful, friendly and attentive to your needs and will be happy to make any additional efforts you might require.
However, we didn’t find anything truly “stand out” about the service here, either. It’s good but it’s not exceptional.
Entertainment
Ku De Ta is very proud of the fact that they have a director of music and entertainment.
This leaves us wondering why when we get here, so often there’s nothing in the way of entertainment at all.
Sure, their famous “soulful soundtracks” are piped in, but they’re pre-recorded, and there’s no DJ present.
Having said that, they do have DJs most evenings and they regularly hold special events with big-name artists.
Pool Quality
There’s an oceanfront pool at Ku De Ta but we were a bit disappointed by how small it is.
In theory, you might be able to swim in this pool, but as soon as the first people start pouring through the door, it fills up very quickly.
Early in the day, this Bali beach club gets a lot of families in and the kids also pack the pool.
The water is clean enough though, which is always a good thing.
Menu/Drinks Pricing
We found the prices of drinks at Ku De Ta to be very much in line with what we expect at an upscale beach club in Bali.
They were neither cheap nor expensive.
However, the food is a bit more expensive than at other clubs around the island.
And while they serve breakfast at Ku De Ta, that’s very pricey for what it is.
Food And Drink Quality
The drinks are strong enough which is always important when you buy a cocktail at the premium price found in most beach club bars.
In addition, when we had lunch at Ku De Ta we found the food on our table was tasty and filling.
However, we did feel the portions could have been a little larger given that this food is quite expensive.
Sunset View
Seminyak, Bali is on the right side of the island for you to enjoy an amazing sunset view with drinks by the ocean.
Ku De Ta doesn’t disappoint in this respect and we like that the upper floor has an unobstructed view too.
Music And Ambiance
This is the disappointing part. Ku De Ta has made a lot of effort to push their approach to music.
Yet, the music inside the club is relaxed but forgettable. Once Bali sunset had passed, so had our memories of the tunes.
The ambience inside Ku De Ta is relaxed and friendly and it’s a good place for drinks by the ocean but we’d like to see them take more risks with the music and maybe even have some DJs on during the day.
Payment Options
You can pay by cash or card inside this beach club in Bali and that’s exactly what we’d expect.
We didn’t see any signs for QRIS payments and we don’t think any beach club venue in Bali is currently accepting Bitcoin but maybe they should?
Exit Process
Getting out of Ku De Ta is as painless as it is to get in and there’s a warm farewell from the door staff. This is definitely an advantage of a smaller beach club like Ku De Ta, it can’t be too complicated to leave.
Transportation
This part of Seminyak is always busy and that means traffic and you may need to wait a while for a Grab or Gojek when you leave the club, we’d recommend that you book while you’re inside and then leave when your driver is close by.
There are some taxi touts in this area of Seminyak but it’s not controlled by the taxi mafia and you can safely ignore them.
If you parked at Ku De Ta, you can easily get your vehicle back, if you had to use the market overflow parking, then you may need to walk a little.
Social Media Presence
Ku De Ta’s social media presence is better than at some of the other beach clubs but it’s not great.
We checked their Instagram as we passed this piece over to our publishing team and they hadn’t posted any new content for over 2 weeks.
The beach clubs in Bali could really learn to capture moments and details of people having fun and share them.
Other/General Comments
Maybe our expectations were too high but we don’t feel that Ku De Ta can maintain the standards set elsewhere on the island for beach clubs.
It’s a nice spot by the sea and we’d stop there if we were nearby, but just wouldn’t make a special trip for it.
Our Overall Opinion Of Ku De Ta
Ku De Ta in Seminyak has the distinction of being the first beach club to open in Bali but overall, while enjoyed our dinner and drinks here, we just didn’t find it all that memorable.
We’d be happy to come back and try one of their event nights in the future, but we feel Ku De Ta has been eclipsed by some of the bigger and brasher new arrivals on the beach club scene in Bali.
Ku De Ta ranks very well on our best beach clubs in Bali list, but who ranks even better? Find out here.
FAQs
Can You Swim At Ku De Ta?
You can, but the pool is a bit small at Ku De Ta and if it’s busy during the day, you may find that it’s not all that practical to swim.
This is definitely an area that Ku De Ta could improve on as it’s a vital part of beach club experiences.
What Can You Do At Ku De Ta?
Ku De Ta has a pool, a good sunset view, a bar and restaurant and chilled-out vibes. It’s a place to relax and when the entertainment’s right at night, it’s also a place to party.
Is Ku De Ta A Family-Friendly Venue?
Yes, children are allowed into Ku De Ta Beach Club, however, the enchanting ambiance is not always suitable for children and while they are welcome to listen to the soulful soundtracks by the pool, they’re not allowed into the second floor of the club.
Children must also always be accompanied by an adult wherever they are in the venue.
Families may prefer to visit this beach club on Sundays as there is a special kids’ day event held each week on Sundays. This includes activities, games, etc.
If, on the other hand, you prefer to avoid children, you might opt to sample the enchanting ambiance at Ku De Ta on a different day when the soulful soundtracks are easy to hear without the background of laughing children.
Who Owns Ku De Ta?
Ku De Ta Beach Club is owned by a consortium of both Indonesian and foreign investors. This consortium’s head and major shareholder is an Indonesian called Pak Kadek.
This consortium is very protective of the Ku De Ta name and has sued a club using the same name in Singapore (and they won).
What Is The Minimum Spend At Ku De Ta?
The minimum spend at Ku De Ta is per day bed and is set at 2,400,000 IDR including tax and service charge.
A daybed at Ku De Ta can only accommodate 3 people and there are no options for larger daybeds as there are at some other beach clubs on the island.
Final Thoughts On Ku De Ta
Ku De Ta has a reputation to maintain and after almost two decades on the island, they have certainly mastered some of the major areas of beach club management.
However, while we’d be happy to spend the night and dance until dawn after enjoying some quality dining and time at the bar, Ku De Ta is still lagging behind the best beach club in the world, FINNS.
You might also want to check out our reviews of Cafe Del Mar and Potato Head before you make up your mind on where to go.
