Berawa Beach in Bail is home to two of the biggest beach clubs on the island – FINNS, the world’s best beach club, and Atlas, formerly the world’s biggest beach club.
Other beach clubs tremble in fear when they hear the names of these two places mentioned, but which one is best? And where should you go if you can only choose one Bali beach club on your holiday?
Well, our team has spent an extensive amount of time at both of these clubs and they’re happy to offer their opinion on which beach club should be top of your list this year.
About FINNS Beach Club
FINNS is a collection of venues. There’s FINNS Beach Club, FINNS party area, and FINNS VIP Beach Club. The VIP section has a separate entrance from the main beach club though officially they are at the same address.
The venue has 3 beachfront infinity pools, 11 bars (this includes a pair of swim-up bars), and 3 different restaurants serving its many guests. In addition, there are 2 retail outlets that enable guests to pick up souvenirs as well as beachwear.
Where Is FINNS Beach Club? Jl. Pantai Berawa No.99, Canggu, Kec. Kuta Utara, Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80361
Website: FINNS
Opening Hours: Open daily, every day except for Nyepi, from 10 a.m. to 12 midnight.
Where Is FINNS VIP Beach Club? Jl. Pantai Berawa No.99, Canggu, Kec. Kuta Utara, Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80361
Website: FINNS VIP
Opening Hours: Open daily, every day except for Nyepi, from 10 a.m. to 12 midnight.
About Atlas Beach Club
Atlas Beach Club is now part of Atlas Beach Fest. This includes Atlas Beach Club, Atlas Superclub and the new Atlas Pool Club. They are all reached using the same entrance on the main beach road to Berawa Beach.
Note: as Atlas treats the nightclub and pool club as separate businesses with additional charges from the beach club, we’ve opted not to include these businesses in our head-to-head comparison.
Atlas has one beach side infinity pool which runs the length of the venue (it’s broken up into five areas), and one pool area in the pool club. It also has three restaurants and five bars. They have recently launched a new Holywings branded retail outlet on this site too.
Atlas Beach Club used to claim that it was the biggest beach club in the world but a bigger venue has opened in Dubai and this no longer applies. Atlas Superclub remains the biggest nightclub in Bali, however. The biggest nightclub in the world is UNVRS in Ibiza.
We should also note that the beer garden and simulated street food court area have recently been closed at this venue.
Where Is Atlas Beach Club? Jl. Pantai Berawa No.99, Canggu, Kec. Kuta Utara, Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80361
Website: Atlas Beach Club
Opening Hours: Open daily, every day except for Nyepi, from 10 a.m. to 12 midnight.
FINNS Vs Atlas: Head To Head
Regular readers will know that in our reviews we use 20 categories to to compare beach clubs and that we grade each beach club from 1 to 5.
In our head-to-heads, we’re going to compare each beach club in each category and then declare either a winner or a draw. Then, at the end of the head-to-head, the club with the most victories will be declared a winner.
So, let’s get started:
Pre-Club Advertising
We find pre-club advertising to be a vital component of getting people through the door to ensure that you enjoy a great day in a busy beach club.
FINNS excels in this category. They’re the biggest advertiser on the island at the moment and their ads are constantly improving on their ability to catch the eye.
Atlas certainly has a good stab at this, but their ads are often missing the vital information you need to act on them or are full of language and grammatical errors.
FINNS is a clear winner here – a polished professional performance that sets the tone for what to expect at their beach club.
Location
FINNS and Atlas Beach Club are quite literally next-door neighbours on Berawa Beach. They’re both within walking distance of other shops, bars, and amenities.
This category is a draw, there’s nothing to set the two apart in terms of location.
Booking Process & Seating Options
We like the booking process at FINNS which makes it very easy to narrow down where we want to sit on which day, how much we’ll need to deposit for our minimum spend and then be on our way.
Atlas has a much more confusing process and it’s difficult to decide where you want to be using their odd map system. The good news is that as Atlas isn’t full all that often – you can usually walk in and get a day bed. However, it’s fair to say that this is still probably the best booking system on the island after FINNS’ system.
FINNS wins this category but it’s not quite as big a gap as it might sound from this quick summary – however, this is something that most beach clubs on the island should learn from FINNS. It’s 2024, it ought to be super easy to book a seat in a beach club using the club’s website.
Entrance Fee
We don’t like entrance fees at beach clubs. We think you should be able to walk in, grab a seat at the bar and decide whether a place is your kind of place, without paying for the privilege of sitting down.
FINNS has no entrance fees and there’s no back door entrance fee (a club that requires a minimum spend in all seats still has an entrance fee, it’s just in disguise) with plenty of seats with no minimum spend available.
Atlas, on the other hand, charges 250,000 IDR for a day pass for most of the year, this is often discounted to 150,000 IDR for the rest of the year. Things have been clearly going poorly in December because they have been waving this fee for guests but they plan to restore it in 2025.
FINNS wins. You shouldn’t need to pay to sit down on a bar stool, end of story.
Minimum Spend
If you want to sit on a nice comfy sun lounger (day bed) by the pool, most beach clubs expect you to commit to a minimum spend.
This is fair enough. You agree to buy enough food and drink (and/or tobacco, this is Indonesia, after all) to make it profitable for the club to provide the expensive seats and service.
FINNS has a reasonable minimum spend for the most popular areas which is slightly less than the average in the beach club scene in Bali. There are also plenty of seats in the bars and restaurants with no minimum spend attached to them.
Atlas, on the other hand, generally charges a higher minimum spend than the industry average (though in recent weeks, they’ve been waiving this too) and worse, they only have one area with no minimum spend and the service in that bar area is terrible.
This has to go to FINNS again. The club is clearly focused on providing value for money, rather than trying to extract as much money out of you as possible before you’ve even sat down.
Welcome And Security
FINNS has a nice straightforward welcome and security process and you will be shown where you need to sit in this Bali beach club.
Atlas, however, has a confusing entry system, where you start by buying a day pass and then sort out your day bed booking. Only to turn the corner to have your tickets checked. We’re not big fans of annoying redundancies.
It’s also very easy to get lost inside their venue and on our last trip, there was nobody around to even ask for directions.
Both clubs do provide a bag check which is a good thing for everyone’s safety.
FINNS takes this again. We don’t know how you can muck up the entry process to a place, but Atlas makes a pretty good fist of it.
Inclusions
Atlas throws in a towel and a drink with its entrance fee. FINNS provides a towel to anyone with a minimum spend agreement.
Both clubs have prestige tier inclusions – FINNS VIP and Atlas’ VIP. Here FINNS offers far better value for money, though Atlas does offer a private butler if you’re willing to get very spendy.
Overall, this category sees FINNS edge things, as you can get a towel without paying to get into the venue and their VIP range of perks is much broader than Atlas’s.
Service
The most important thing a beach club can offer is service. FINNS’ service is superlatively good. We’ve been to this venue dozens of times and have always been impressed with the attention to detail and warm, friendliness of their staff.
Atlas, however, is very much hit-and-miss as we said in our review. Being told to fetch our own drinks from the bar by a waiter was shocking when you consider how much Atlas charges for a drink.
FINNS wins this category by a long way. And frankly, Atlas must do better when it comes to this crucial point of the customer experience.
Entertainment
The number one draw of FINNS over every other beach club in Bali is the entertainment that the club provides. From DJs and vocalists to magicians and light shows to wandering dance troupes and spectacular bottle girls, the club sets out to engage your interest all of the time and incredibly, it succeeds.
Atlas, on the other hand, has some excellent performers too (the stilt walkers are first rate as are their stage dancing troupe).
However, in an empty venue, it all feels like a waste. Nobody wants to be a guest at a party with no other guests.
Both venues do hold one-off events, mind you, and Atlas, in particular, regularly hosts world-class artists.
FINNS wins this category with ease. The beach club sets a standard that completely outclasses all the competition on the island.
Pool Quality
Both beach clubs have nice pool areas and the water is clean and fit for swimming in. They also both offer infinity pools with bar service with exceptional views of the ocean.
In our experience, both clubs also keep their pool areas clean and well-maintained and while we did note in our review that people have complained about this area at Atlas in the past, their recent renovations appear to have brought these complaints to a halt.
This category is, thus, a tie.
Menu/Drinks Pricing
Atlas Beach Club has gone out of its way to try and establish the most premium pricing for its food in the area. It’s home to the world’s most expensive nasi goreng, for example.
We can’t work out why they chose to establish this premier tier of pricing and then dumped their menu onto the local Grab delivery service, which substantially devalues the premium cachet of their offerings.
The drinks are also priced at the highest point that the market will bear. Even in happy hour, it’s pretty expensive to drink in Atlas.
FINNS on the other hand is more reasonable, it’s more expensive than a warung or a beach bar, but it’s not ridiculously expensive – the prices match the environment.
So, FINNS wins on pricing. Their happy hour is also excellent value.
Food And Drink Quality
The $200 nasi goreng is basically a standard fried rice with a big steak thrown on top of it at Atlas. Now, not all of their food is a crass cash grab and some of it’s very good, we don’t understand why they do things like this.
We also found their cocktails to be a little weak when you compare them to the menu prices.
FINNS, on the other hand, has mastered the art of elevated dishes from a large menu which means you’re never stuck for choice and the quality matches the price.
We are always impressed by the alcohol content of the drinks in FINNS too, they certainly understand what we want from a cocktail.
FINNS wins this category but we do need to note that Atlas is not bad when it comes to food and drink quality.
Sunset View
FINNS and Atlas share the same sunset view and it’s one of the best sunsets in Bali. You won’t be sorry to find yourself at either club clutching a cocktail in the infinity pool watching the sun dip below the horizon of the Indian Ocean.
This category is obviously a draw.
Music And Ambience
We like the music at FINNS, it’s clearly designed to have broad appeal and the DJs and vocalists have built their playlists to make them recognizable even to the people who don’t listen to EDM.
The emphasis at FINNS is on party music and the tempo gets more insistent as the night goes on.
Atlas was odd, you’d think a club with so many international DJs coming through their doors would have mastered the music but it’s just not memorable in any way.
We’d also note that the ambience in Atlas is often very subdued due to the lack of bums on seats. People come for a party but it’s all too often more like a wake.
FINNS wins this category with some ease.
Payment Options
Both beach clubs are happy to let you pay in any way that you see fit (except for Bitcoin and that’s because crypto currencies are currently illegal in Indonesia).
Cash, cards, QRIS, e-wallet, etc. are all graciously accepted and you will find they both accept a very wide variety of card networks not just Visa and MasterCard.
This category is a tie.
Exit Process
On our last trip to Atlas, we found we were directed on a long tortuous route to leave the club and eventually ran out the entrance to get away from the insanity of it all. Fortunately, nobody prevented us from leaving “the wrong way”.
FINNS Beach Club makes it much easier and whether you’re in the beach party area on a sun lounger or on the dance floor enjoying refreshing cocktails – you just go back out the way that you came in.
That means FINNS wins this category which ought to be a very easy category for any beach club to pick up maximum points in.
Transportation
In theory, transport is roughly the same from both venues. There are parking areas (though Atlas has no valet service and you have to walk quite a way from the venue to fetch your vehicle) and Grab and Gojek can drop off easily.
Both clubs offer free local shuttle services to get you around Berawa and both are outside of any taxi mafia zones, which means Grab and Gojek can take you home without any issues.
However, there is an issue with Atlas’s shuttle service using Jakarta registration plates – this is a common tax dodge in Indonesia as it eliminates the need to pay taxes in Bali.
But we can’t give that shady practice the nod, we’re the best beach clubs in Bali, not an accountancy site, we expect clubs to support the local government.
So, FINNS wins this category, but not by much.
Social Media Presence
Atlas doesn’t seem to understand what social media is for. One recent clip uploaded from a “special event” revealed the dance floor and club as a whole to be empty, while a DJ played his set by himself.
We’ve no idea why you would showcase something like this, but it’s not atypical of their offering which is often a poor choice to broadcast the experience, badly colour-graded and misspelled.
FINNS, on the other hand, has the best social media presence on the island and in recent weeks, they’ve been overhauling and improving this aspect of their marketing to fall in line with emerging international standards.
FINNS easily wins in this category.
Other/General Comments
We find Atlas Beach Club to be a baffling sort of place. There’s clearly a huge amount of ambition and cash invested in the club, but the day-to-day carry-out is just not that great.
There needs to be a much greater emphasis on the customer experience and creating an environment that people want to be in if Atlas wants to compete with the real big boys of the beach club scene on the island and we don’t mean by square footage.
FINNS, on the other hand, is the yardstick by which all other beach clubs here are measured and we expect it to continue that way long into 2025 and beyond.
The Results: FINNS VS Atlas Beach Club Which Is Better?
One of the very few heated arguments we’ve had as a team was over awarding FINNS the highest mark in all categories in our reviews.
Several of us felt that if we gave a top score, we were saying that there’s no room for improvement, but that’s not the case. We grade from 1 (worst) to 5 (best) in each category.
It’s entirely possible, in theory – we appreciate there are some practical restraints in certain cases, for every place to match the best on the island and for there to still be room to do better.
FINNS demonstrates this by constantly upgrading and improving the entertainment, service and venue while consistently being the best the island has to offer.
Atlas, in contrast, is a long way behind this benchmark. It doesn’t win a single head-to-head against FINNS and the ties are in categories where it’s not hard to be the best at all.
For now, if you can only go to one of these two behemoths in Berawa, the clear choice is FINNS and we have to note for all that Atlas has to offer, it’s all too often an empty venue and that’s not a great sign even for your second choice of Bali beach club.
FAQs
What Is The Number One Beach Club In Bali?
This is a hard question to answer because the beach clubs here in Bali are not obliged to share their numbers with the public and most of them, quite frankly, don’t share those numbers.
However, based on our experience and monitoring some of the publicly available information that we can glean from the booking engines on beach club websites, etc. we believe that FINNS Beach Club is the island’s most popular beach club and by quite a margin.
The only other beach club that comes close to the popularity of FINNS is Potato Head.
These two clubs also occupy very different niches in the market, while FINNS seeks to entertain and thrill people with everything from World Famous DJs to spectacular shows, Potato Head is more for chilling and relaxing in.
Potato Head is a place to grab a sun lounger by the pool and read a book. FINNS is where you go to meet new people, soak up some rays and then party into the night.
Is Atlas Beach Fest Worth It?
How do you define worth it? Atlas Beach Club is the second largest (by land area) beach club in the world and Atlas Superclub is the biggest nightclub in Bali.
The trouble is that this size creates real problems for Atlas and people who visit the place – if these clubs aren’t full, they feel very empty.
Nobody wants to hit the dance floor in an empty club not even if Martin Garrix or Fatboy Slim is laying down the tunes. And all too often, Atlas Beach Fest isn’t full.
In recent weeks (we go to press in December 2024) things have been so bad that Atlas has been quite literally paying people to go to their property. With free entry, a free drink and other benefits!
We’ve been to a lot of clubs in our lives and we’ve never known one to pay its guests to be there.
Is There A Dress Code At FINNS Beach Club?
There are some basic rules regarding how you dress at FINNS Beach Club in the pool areas:
- No alcohol or sports team-themed clothing
- Groups may not dress in uniforms (like they might on a buck’s do or hen’s do)
- You must wear swimming clothes in the pools
And that’s about it.
There are some additional rules regarding their party restaurants after sunset but this simply requires you to wear casual clothing and appropriate footwear rather than swimming clothes in the restaurants – there’s nothing too onerous about this.
There is, however, one rule in FINNS Beach Club that is completely hard and fast when it comes to appearance – you will not be allowed inside the club if you have face and/or neck tattoos.
The management will turn you away at the door if you have these tattoos and if you’ve paid a deposit, you will not be entitled to a refund (though you may convert the deposit into a credit for takeout food, drinks or tobacco products).
What Day Is Best For FINNS Beach Club?
There’s no bad day of the week to visit FINNS Beach Club. It’s a little easier (and sometimes a little cheaper) to get a day bed on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but it’s almost never quiet in FINNS on any day of the week.
If you want a day bed on the weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) then you will want to book in advance because a lot of people turn up to enjoy refreshing cocktails at the world’s best beach club on these days.
What Is The Biggest Beach Club In The World In Bali?
The biggest beach club in the world is not in Bali. It’s in Dubai. It’s Serene by GAIA and it’s on the newly opened J1 Beach there.
Atlas Beach Club in Bali was at one point claiming to be the largest beach club on the planet but this no longer appears to be the case.
Why Is FINNS Beach Club Famous?
FINNS is the Bali beach club that changed the beach club experience forever. While many beach clubs are essentially a beach bar with better seats and a pool – FINNS redefined the way that these clubs operate.
With a heavy focus on entertainment which goes way beyond party music and a happy hour, FINNS demonstrated that you can visit a beach club for fun that lasts all day and all night.
With no entrance fee and plenty of no minimum spend seats, the guests at FINNS are all there simply because they want to be there – there’s nothing to force them to stay longer, they stay because this beach party area is always engaging.
Who Is The Owner Of Atlas Beach Club?
The Holywings Group, a consortium of businessmen from Jakarta that specializes in restaurant and entertainment venues, owns Atlas Beach Club in Bali.
So, if you were wondering why Atlas’s new retail outlet is called the “Holywings Store”, it’s because of the group. Yes, the branding is a bit confusing if you’re not from Indonesia, but it does make sense, sort of if you know.
Is It Free To Enter FINNS Beach Club?
Yes, FINNS Beach Club has no entrance fee and as importantly, there are plenty of seats with no minimum spend requirements (if you can’t sit down without agreeing to spend a certain amount of money, you’re paying an entrance fee by the back door).
Atlas Beach Club, on the other hand, usually charges 150,000-250,000 IDR for a day pass, though in recent weeks, they’ve been giving these passes away (and as they include a free beer and free towel rental – they’re essentially paying people to come in the door, sadly, it doesn’t seem to have been working very well, the venue is still quite empty most of the time).
Final Thoughts On FINNS Beach Club Vs Atlas Beach Club
So, in the battle of FINNS Beach Club and Atlas Beach Club, there’s a fairly clear winner and it’s FINNS.
FINNS sets the bar for all the beach clubs in Bali as we’ve already said in our review of the place, but it becomes some clear as to why when you put these venues head-to-head and compare them.
Atlas Beach Club clearly has ambitions to be great but it’s execution is poor and the regularly empty venue suggests that people know this and are staying away.
We’re at a loss as to why they’ve just added even more seating and a new pool club to a place that constantly struggles to attract guests, they’d have been better off investing in customer experience rather than chairs.
FINNS, on the other hand, knows exactly what it’s about and that’s being the “World’s Best Beach Club”. That’s not some marketing gimmick, it’s clear that that’s the bar they measure themselves by.
The club constantly reinvents itself to be better and it’s why people keep going back again and again. A friend of ours arrived in town this week and he’s booked into FINNS for 4 days out of the 7 he’s here! That’s a testament to the best beach club in Berawa, Bali and almost certainly on the planet in 2025.
