Klapa New Kuta Beach has only recently started asserting itself as a beach club, previously it was a beach restaurant.
It offers a more budget-friendly experience than many of the other beach clubs in the area around it, but does that mean it’s any good?
We sent our trusty group of reviews to engage with Klapa New Kuta Beach to find out what, exactly, you can expect if you visit this place.
Introduction – Getting To Klapa New Kuta Beach
New Kuta Beach used to be Dreamland Beach and the name can be a little confusing. This club is not in the area most people know as Kuta, it’s in Uluwatu (and as Uluwatu is in South Kuta, this kind of makes sense).
That means it’s on the Bukit Peninsula and it can be a bit of a drive from some of the other beach towns and from Ubud.
However, if you set off early enough to combat the Bali traffic, you can soon by kicking it back by the swimming pool at the Klapa Resort and Beach Club.
Where Is Klapa New Kuta Beach? Jalan Raya Uluwatu, Kawasan Pecatu Indah Resort, Desa, Pecatu, South Kuta, Badung Regency, Bali 80364
Website: Klapa New Kuta Beach
Opening Hours: 12 o.m. to 8 p.m. daily except Nyepi
What’s Inside Klapa New Kuta Beach?
There are wedding venues, meeting room facilities, different types of meeting room, a swimming pool (or maybe two pools – they’re right next to each other but there’s a separate children’s section), a bar and lounge as well as various seating options. There is also direct access to Dreamland Beach (New Kuta Beach).
Our Review Breakdown For Klapa New Kuta Beach
We review every beach club in the same way to ensure that you get a consistent approach to things and to make certain that we treat every club fairly.
Our reviewers visit the beach club and they rank it from 1 to 5 (worst to best) against the 20 criteria listed below.
Then, they get together in our offices and take a vote on the final score in each category.
Finally, one of us writes up the review taking into account the discussions and contributions of the whole team to make certain we’re reflecting a broad experience of a place.
Once a review goes live, it stays up for, at least, a year before we return to the place and make any necessary changes.
Pre-Club Advertising
Honestly, until we started this project none of us had any idea that the Klapa New Kuta Beach Club existed.
We’ve not seen any advertising for it online or offline and that’s a shame because beach clubs need advertising to bring in the guests.
Otherwise, you get to a place that could be awesome but it’s nearly empty and the vibe is kind of flat.
Location
This isn’t the worst location on the Bukit Peninsula, Dreamland Beach/New Kuta Beach isn’t all the way down to the South like Ungasan.
However, it’s not the easiest place to get to from certain other tourist areas and once you’re there, there’s not much within walking distance.
The beach is attractive enough though and it’s a pleasant place to unwind with friends or family.
Booking Process & Seating Options
There is supposed to be an online booking process for Klapa New Kuta Beach but during our visit, it was completely broken and we tested it again before we published and it was still broken.
That means this spot is currently for walk-in guests only. This seems like something that they could fix very easily – it’s 2024, why aren’t they hosting their own website and booking engine.
Compared to the other expenses of running a beach club, this is a trivial investment.
The good news is that the website they do have does clearly explains what is available and at what costs.
Entry Fee
We don’t like entrance fees, we think you should be able to go into any beach club, take a seat and decide if it’s a suitable place for you without being bogged down in a cash grab or the details of a minimum spend.
After all, many people just want more photos of a place before the decide if they want to bring their friends for a weekend.
However, while Klapa New Kuta Beach does have an entrance fee, it’s only 100,000 IDR and they convert the entire sum into a food and drink credit.
That’s not too bad, you’re going to spend more than that on a single cocktail or a meal, and you ought to be buying something if you go to sit in any bar or restaurant.
Minimum Spend
The long chair area has no minimum spend which means you can get a sun lounger by the pool, for free. However, there’s still that entry fee which means technically, it’s 100,000 IDR to sit here.
For the round sofa, it’s 250,000 more than the entry fee, for the square sofa, it’s 500,000 more and for their day bed (which is more like a bed than most day beds) it’s 1,000,000 more than that entry fee.
We don’t think these prices are unreasonable and, in fact, they may even be on the lower end for a beach club in this part of the world.
Welcome And Security
The welcome at Klapa New Kuta Beach was friendly enough and there was a basic bag check on the door.
We are firm believers in bag checks as they help to ensure that the venue is kept safe for every guest.
Inclusions
If you agree to a minimum spend, you will be provided with a towel. If not, you will need to rent one.
As everyone pays an entrance fee, they get that back in food and drink credit.
But there’s not much else included here and no option for premium tiers of service (though to be fair, Klapa New Kuta Beach isn’t really targetted at VIP customers).
Service
The service here is average, to say the least. You will get service, but the staff often seemed as confused by what Klapa New Kuta Beach Club offers its guests as we were.
However, some of the staff seemed disinterested entirely in their work and many guests appeared quite frustrated with their interactions with them.
Entertainment
This is a place to unwind by the pool and enjoy direct access to the beach, it’s not a place to party with friends and there’s no entertainment at all.
There’s no live music or DJs, either, it’s piped music.
Pool Quality
If you look at the photos of Klapa New Kuta Beach, you will be forgiven for thinking it’s the best pool in the area.
Sadly, in our experience, the water is a touch cloudy and the area is not as well-maintained as it could be.
We like that they have a children’s pool, but many guests seemed reluctant to let their children swim in it due to the water quality.
Menu/Drinks Pricing
The food at this beach club is priced lower than in most beach club venues on the island.
The drinks, however, are very much in line with standard beach club pricing and we found that the photos on their website of their drinks were rather misleading compared to the end product.
Food And Drink Quality
Sometimes, you get a bargain when you go cheap, other times you get Klapa New Kuta Beach – the food is not very good, we’d rather pay more than eat something full of fat and fristle.
Similarly, the cocktails look amazing on their social media nad websites, but all too often were presented looking much less attractive.
Sunset View
You can’t beat the Bali sunset on this side of the island and with direct access to Dreamland Beach/New Kuta Beach, you can easily watch the sunset without being surrounded by the shabby interior of this club.
People come to Bali to witness the glorious light show in the sky as the sun dips below the Indian Ocean on the horizon and this is as good a place as any to watch it from.
Music And Ambiance
The music is piped in and the ambience is variable, to say the least. Klapa New Kuta Beach has some problems and it’s clear that many people in the local area are avoiding it – so it’s not as busy as it could be.
Overall, this place isn’t terrible but it’s never going to be the kind of place that you put top of your “must visit” list either for partying or for relaxing.
Payment Options
You can pay by cash or card in this venue but we didn’t see any evidence of e-wallet or QRIS payments.
Exit Process
Leaving this beach club is easy, you just head back out the door, the same way you came in.
The staff may or may not offer you a cheery farewell, the person on the door when we left seemed a little grumpy.
Transportation
There is parking in the vicinity and you can get a Grab or Gojek to drop you at the door of Klapa New Kuta Beach.
However, this isn’t a great area to get a Grab or Gojek at busy times and you may have to wait a while for a ride.
We’d also note that there is a taxi mafia in the area and they can be quite annoying trying to hassle you into taking a more expensive ride home than you need.
Social Media Presence
They do have a social media presence at Klapa New Kuta Beach but it’s not very good.
Like the beach club itself, it’s not well-maintained and a little shabby. We felt that the pics on their feeds failed to accurately represent the experience of being at Klapa New Kuta Beach.
It’s also been over 2 months since anybody bothered to update it at all.
Other/General Comments
We quite liked Klapa New Kuta Beach Club but there’s no denying that this conversion of the Klapa Resort means that the venue itself is old-looking and run down.
There are also no lights in the parking lot if you leave after sunset.
Everything felt a bit broken at Klapa New Kuta Beach and decent deals on the entrance fee and minimum spend, don’t change the fact you can get better value for money, elsewhere.
Note: We have returned to this review to add the observation that things seem to have spiraled downhill fairly quickly at Klapa and recent customer reviews are not at all encouraging regarding this venue. We won’t return to carry out a full review for a while, but we would strongly urge you to think twice before visiting this beach club at the moment.
Our Overall Opinion Of Klapa New Kuta Beach
We often admire a plucky underdog but Klapa New Kuta Beach is clearly struggling rather than putting up an admirable fight.
If you want a cheap spot to watch the sunset from, it’s fine.
But if you want a memorable day out (for the right reasons), we can’t recommend Klapa New Kuta Beach, it’s worth spending more and having a much better time, elsewhere.
FAQs
Can You Swim At Klapa New Kuta Beach
Yes, you can swim at Klapa New Kuta Beach and, in fact, they have an adult’s pool area and a children’s pool area (which are the same pool with a divide running down the middle).
On our visit, the water wasn’t that clean but was probably safe to swim in and the area was reasonably well-maintained if a little old-looking.
What Can You Do At Klapa New Kuta Beach?
They have wedding venues for you to get hitched in. You can rent a meeting room if you want to bring business colleagues. You can also swim, eat, drink and relax on the loungers around the pool.
Is Klapa New Kuta Beach A Family-Friendly Venue?
Yes, there’s a children’s pool area and kids are very welcome at the Klapa New Kuta Beach.
Who Owns Klapa New Kuta Beach?
Our search reveals that Ridwan Mohammad, an Indonesian national, owns (or is a shareholding director) of Klapa New Kuta Beach Club.
Final Thoughts On Klapa New Kuta Beach
Klapa New Kuta Beach is somewhere you might want to check out if you’re staying on Dreamland Beach/New Kuta Beach but otherwise, it’s definitely not worth travelling for.
This place needs a refit, staff training and a much better focus on the guest experience.
Bali has nearly 120 different beach clubs to choose from, and Klapa New Kuta Beach is hard to recommend when you compare it to almost any of the other beach clubs.
