If you’re in Bali and you’re weighing up going to a beach club, you may be wondering if you should visit Potato Head or Atlas Beach Club?
Well, our team have visited both venues on several occasions and they’ve put together a head-to-head comparison that will help you decide which is the best beach club for you.
About Potato Head Beach Club
Potato Head is something of a legend on the Bali beach club scene. They’ve been around for a long time and they’re part of the Desa Potato Head Creative Village.
They’ve established a reputation as a chilled place where relaxing is the premium objective of their visitors and they have live DJs playing chill-out tunes most of the day.
Potato Head has three restaurants, three bars, an oceanfront infinity pool and a large lawn and a substantial lounge for people to spend time in.
Where Is Potato Head Beach Club? Petitenget St No.51B, Seminyak, Kuta Utara, Badung Regency, Bali 80361, Indonesia
Website: Potato Head
Opening Hours: Open daily, every day except for Nyepi, from 9 a.m. to 12 midnight.
Read Our Full Review Of Potato Head
About Atlas Beach Club
Atlas Beach Club is part of Atlas Beach Fest. This includes Atlas Beach Club, Atlas Superclub and the new Atlas Pool Club. They all use 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 a single beachside infinity pool which runs the length of the venue (it’s broken up into five areas), and one other 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. However, the beer garden and street food court areas have both been closed to accommodate the pool club.
Atlas bills itself as the largest beach club in the world but this is no longer true, there is a beach club in Dubai – Serene by Gaia on J1 Beach – that is bigger.
The nightclub is also not the largest in the world, that’s UNVRS in Ibiza, though the Atlas Superclub is the largest nightclub in Bali.
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.
Potato Head Vs Atlas: Head To Head
As always in our reviews, we will break things down into roughly 20 categories and pitch the two beach clubs head-to-head.
This allows for a fair comparison between the two places. In each category, we will either declare a winner or a draw. At the end of the head-to-head, the club with the most victories will be declared the winner.
Pre-Club Advertising
Atlas Beach Club has spent a lot of time and effort on advertising and you can’t miss their ads on Facebook or on large billboards by the side of the road in Bali.
The downside of this is that their marketing isn’t always polished and can lack the important information that leads to a booking.
Whereas, Potato Head is rather more lax about advertising. There is some, but there’s no major drive for it.
We often wonder if they’re resting on their reputation, after all, the club is fairly busy most of the time.
Atlas wins this round, unpolished advertising is better than no advertising and marketing matters, a full beach club is more fun than an empty one.
Location
Atlas’s location in Berawa, Canggu is excellent. It’s right on the beach. It has plenty of other shops, bars, restaurants and FINNS Beach Club within walking distance.
Similarly, Potato Head is in a great part of Seminyak and is directly on the beach. The location is within a short walk of plenty of bar, shops, restaurants, etc. too.
This round is a draw, both locations are excellent and the best location for most people will be the one that is closest to their hotel.
Booking Process & Seating Options
The only real problem with Potato Head’s booking system is that the entry button is a bit lost on their website, but once you find it – it’s easy to set a time, date, etc. and find the furniture you want.
Atlas’s is more confusing though and it’s actually quite difficult to work out what you want without prior knowledge of their beach club.
We’d say that both clubs could improve their booking system though and there are smaller clubs with better booking engines.
Overall, this round goes to Potato Head as it’s easier to book once you find the entrance to the booking portal.
Entrance Fee
We don’t like entrance fees and Atlas charges a 250,000 IDR entrance fee (sometimes reduced to 150,000 IDR or waived entirely).
But… Potato Head also charges an entrance fee now, if you arrive between 4.30 p.m. and 7 p.m. of 180,000 IDR.
This round is thus, begrudgingly, awarded to Potato Head as you can avoid an entrance fee if you arrive at an earlier point in the day, whereas there’s no getting around Atlas’s entrance fee.
Minimum Spend
Both Atlas and Potato Head use the minimum spend system for access to the nicest seats in the house and while both have seating that has no minimum spend – it’s not very nicely located and occupants of these seats don’t get the same level of service in our opinion.
Potato Head’s minimum spend is reasonable and in keeping with most beach clubs. However, they have an annoying system which only allows you to book a day bed for half a day at a time.
Atlas charges a higher minimum spend than Potato Head and also has a strange set of booking conditions for day beds.
So, Potato Head edges this category, but there’s not a lot in it.
Welcome And Security
Potato Head’s staff meet you with a warm greeting, but it’s quite a long walk into the beach club from the front door. We wished there were a few more signposts to make it clear where we should go, but we didn’t get lost.
However, we did get lost on our way into Atlas the first time, though we had been warmly greeted, it was completely unclear as to where we should go and there was nobody around to ask for directions.
We did experience a basic bag check on the way into both clubs for our security.
Potato Head wins this category but not by a huge margin.
Inclusions
If you have a minimum spend seat in Potato Head you will be provided with a towel and be given some free fresh fruit at the pool.
Those who arrive when the entrance fee is being levied will be provided with a free drink (but no towel unless they have a minimum spend seat) as part of that fee.
Atlas provides a towel and a free drink if you pay the entrance fee and nothing with a minimum spend seat. However, Atlas does offer a VIP tier of service that you can pay for and this includes extra perks including the services of a private butler!
Atlas wins this category due to the VIP tier of service.
Service
We found the service to be polite and attentive on our trip to Potato Head but we weren’t impressed with the long delays to recieve our orders.
Conversely, the service at Atlas was very hit-and-miss and we didn’t appreciate being told to fetch our own drinks from the bar by the world’s most disinterested waiter.
We feel that this is the key differentiator for beach clubs and that every club ought to be able to provide excellent service.
So, Potato Head wins this category.
Entertainment
Atlas has invested a lot of money into entertainment and the entertainers are consummate professionals from their stilt walkers to stage dancers.
Unfortunately, this entertainment is often wasted because the club is often empty. You can feel like the only guest at a party nobody else wanted to attend.
Potato Head, on the other hand, is not really about the entertainment side of things. They have DJs playing chillout tunes and that’s about it.
Atlas wins this category, because it has entertainment whereas Potato Head is really only DJs and chill out tracks.
Pool Quality
Both of these beach clubs are excellent places for pools. They have beachfront infinity pools which are great for watching the sunset while sipping on cold cocktails.
We’d also note that the water tends to be clean and the areas are well-maintained and while Atlas had some issues with their pool area in the past, recent customer reviews and our experience shows that this is in the past.
However, we would note that on exceptionally busy occasions such as New Year’s Eve the pools in beach clubs in Bali can get a little murky by the end of the night. There’s not much you can do about that when a thousand drunk people are using a pool.
This category is declared a draw.
Menu/Drinks Pricing
Potato Head is a little pricier than the restaurants in the area. But this does reflect fairly typical beach club pricing and their menu which includes many plant-based treats (Potato Head believes you save the planet by encouraging people to make healthy choices because they enjoy them rather than forcing them on people) is very good.
Atlas, on the other hand, is just pricey. It’s more expensive than most beach clubs and often goes out to set the record for the most expensive things.
They have a $200 (AUD) /$150 (USD) Nasi Goreng which is billed as the world’s most expensive. But it’s basically just ordinary fried rice with a steak dumped on top of it.
We also find it bizarre that Atlas has put their food on Grab delivery service. For a business trying to create an exclusive cachet that justifies their pricing, this feels like a completely erroneous move.
Potato Head wins this category. Atlas just seems to be expensive for the sake of it, whereas Potato Head offers something more in line with other beach clubs at the same level.
Food And Drink Quality
We found the food at Potato Head to be very good, however, we did think that the portions were a bit on the small side. We think if you’re paying around 200,000 IDR ($20 AUD or $15 USD) for a meal in Indonesia it ought to fill you up, not leave you wanting more.
Their drinks were very well mixed and looked great – you can use them in your Instagram feed no problem.
However, we find Atlas more of a mixed bag. While we think their food is good and the portions are adequate, the price tag always seems to be more than you could justify.
We also though their cocktails were a little weaker than those served in other big beach clubs, not so weak as to feel like a rip-off but just enough that you wished they were stronger.
Potato Head wins this category. We’d really like to see Atlas substantially up its game in this arena if it wants to keep levelling heavy price tags on their guests.
Sunset View
The sunset view from both beach clubs is excellent and given that Seminyak and Canggu are both next door neighbours, it shouldn’t be a surprise that they’re pretty much the same.
There are parts of each venue where you may find you need to move to get a good view as the sun drops below the ocean for the night, but it won’t require a seismic shift of positioning to do so.
This category is a tie.
Music And Ambience
Atlas and Potato Head are both going for very different vibes. Atlas, like its neighbour FINNS, is aiming for the party vibe and they have some very good DJs laying down the tunes all day long.
They also have onstage dancers in support of this. However, once again, the emptiness of the venue often makes it feel like a party where no-one turned up.
Potato Head, on the other hand, offers some of the most relaxed chill out tunes to their crowd and frankly, we found the music quite boring.
However, there’s no doubt that there’s a relaxed, mellow vibe in this venue to match the intentions of the music.
This category is a tie. We actually prefer what Atlas has to offer, but there’s no doubt that Potato Head is better at achieving what it sets out to achieve.
Payment Options
You can pay by cash, card, QRIS or e-wallet in both of these venues and you shouldn’t find it hard to pay in any part of these venues.
You can’t pay in Bitcoin or crypto but that’s because these things are currently illegal in Indonesia.
This category is a tie.
Exit Process
We weren’t impressed by the exit process from either beach club. In the case of Atlas, we felt forced through an unattractive and unpleasant smelling toilet area and still couldn’t find the way out – so we abandoned the official path and pushed our way back out the front door.
In the case of Potato Head, it’s just a very long walk to the front door from most of the venue and the route is still a touch confusing.
This category goes to Potato Head, but only just.
Transportation
Atlas has parking but it’s a bit of a walk from the car park to the front door and there’s no valet service. We’d also note that while they do offer a free shuttle bus for the surrounding area – they’re using Javanese plates on the vehicles which means they’re not paying local taxes and supporting the development of Bali.
Whereas Potato Head is in a taxi mafia zone but you can ignore these pesky touts and order a Grab or Gojek with relative ease but because of the long walk to the front door, it’s not practical to book while you’re in the venue and you may need to wait for a ride.
This category goes to Potato Head but by a narrow margin.
Social Media Presence
Potato Head has one of the most professional social media presences that we’ve seen in Bali and everything is polished and well put together.
Atlas, however, seems to be still finding its way. They often publish heavily cropped images to avoid showing how empty the venue is but then publish videos that clearly show an empty dance floor.
They don’t colour grade well and their posts are filled with spelling and grammatical errors.
This would be fine for a small local business, but this is one of the world’s biggest beach clubs, we expect much better.
This category goes to Potato Head and easily.
Other/General Comments
Potato Head are masters of the beach club craft and while it’s not the best on the island, it’s very good and you’re assured of a good day out at Potato Head.
Atlas isn’t on the same level. They may be pouring money into this beach club but it’s not going into the things that matter and it’s all too often empty because of it.
The Results: Potato Head Vs Atlas Beach Club Which Is Better?
Potato Head is our second highest-rated beach club in Bali and we went into this analysis reasonably confident that it would come out ahead of Atlas and it did.
The majority of categories were easily taken by the polish and professionalism of Potato Head. It’s a great club with a chill-out vibe that brings people in the door consistently most days.
Atlas, on the other hand, is not always busy and it’s due to the lack of emphasis on the guest experience. The club has plenty of ambition but even after a substantial period of operations, it hasn’t got this nailed down.
If we had to pick between the two, we’d pick Potato Head every time (there’s also a clear winner in our Atlas VS FINNS round-up).
FAQs
Is Potato Head Worth Visiting?
Yes! Potato Head ranks in 2nd place on our best beach clubs in Bali list and for good reason. The club is run on a sustainable basis and has won international awards for its contributions to eco-friendly tourism.
The overall vibe is very much of a chill day by the pool and Potato Head is very different from the top-rated beach club on our list, FINNS Beach Club, which is all about parties and good times by the sea.
If you can only visit one beach club in Bali, we’d recommend going to FINNS, but if you can add one more club to your list, Potato Head is a very good choice.
What Is The Number One Beach Club In Bali?
This isn’t the easiest question to answer because the beach clubs here in Bali don’t publish official figures on attendance and turnover.
However, based on our experience and study of some of the open data available to us in the booking engines on club websites, etc. we believe that FINNS Beach Club is the number one beach club in Bali.
FINNS is often considered to be the world’s best beach club and we think that it’s quite possible that it is. We haven’t visited every beach club in the world, but we’ve been to all the clubs in Bali and FINNS excels in every category that we review.
It’s the beach club that sets the standard for other beach clubs to live up to.
Is Potato Head Still Popular?
Yes! Potato Head is one of the most popular beach clubs in Bali, the club is regularly sold out, particularly during peak season and you may find that if you don’t have a reservation, you can’t get a seat in Potato Head at all.
The club is very much about relaxing and chilling out by the sea rather than having a party vibe like some of Bali’s other popular beach clubs.
Final Thoughts On Potato Head Vs Atlas
So, our analysis is very clear. Potato Head is the better beach club when compared to Atlas. While they’re both aiming at slightly different segments on the audience, we suspect that most people will have a better time at Potato Head.
Potato Head is the most sustainable beach club in Bali and it ranks 2nd only to FINNS on our round-up of the best beach clubs in Bali. It’s a great place to hang out.
Atlas is still experiencing teething problems and is rarely full. It’s a shame as a lot of money and ambition is present in Atlas, but it’s just not matched by service delivery.
