There are some big-name beach clubs on the Bukit Peninsula and many of them are on Melasti Beach in Ungasan.
Magus Warung shares the location but it certainly doesn’t share the same brand cachet. The question is, does Magus Warung deserve to be elevated to the top tier or remain a “hidden gem”?
Our review team were sent out to investigate and this is what they learned at this small beach club.
Introduction – Getting To Magus Warung Beach Club
There’s no doubt that if you want to go to Ungasan, you’re going to have to travel and even from Uluwatu, it’s a bit of a drive.
If you’re located in the other beach towns around Bali, it’s going to be a long drive. When you get to this beach club, you will also need to pay 10,000 IDR to go from the car parking to the club and it must be paid in cash.
This isn’t the best way to start a day but it’s true of all the beach clubs in Melasti Beach.
Where Is Magus Warung? Pantai Melasti, Ungasan, Kec. Kuta Sel., Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80364, Indonesia
Website: Magus Warung
Opening Hours: Open daily, every day except for Nyepi, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
What’s Inside Magus Warung Beach Club?
There is a small pool, a bar, a sunbed area and a restaurant. Magus Warung is a fairly small place compared to the big name beach clubs in this area.
Our Review Breakdown For Magus Warung
We review all beach clubs against the same criteria. Our team visits and scores the club from 1 (worst) to 5 (best) in 20 different areas.
They reconvene in the office and vote on each mark to ensure that our final score in each area is a fair reflection of how the team feels about a club.
Then, a final review is published which will remain in place for, at least, a year until we next visit the beach club to see if the big picture has changed and we will amend any details of our review at that time.
We were pretty impressed with Magus Warung, why not see how it fares against other beach clubs in Bali?
Pre-Club Advertising
There’s absolutely no pre-club advertising for Magus Warung at all. In fact, this beach club doesn’t even have a website – just an Instagram page.
This isn’t unusual for locally owned and operated small businesses in Bali and it’s not a reflection on the quality of the overall experience.
Except for the fact that brands that don’t advertise, don’t see as many customers as those who do and the beach club experience is often heavily influenced by other people having a good time alongside you.
Location
Melasti Beach itself is a beautiful beach but otherwise, this isn’t a great location – it’s a long drive from most of the rest of the island thanks to Bali’s notoriously bad traffic.
Even when you get to the beach, you have to get a ride to the beach club, you can’t just drive up to it and you need to pay for that ride in cash. So, bring 10,000 IDR per person or fae a walk in the boiling hot Bali sun.
There are other beach clubs in this location and the occasional bar and restaurant too but there’s not much else – it’s not the best-developed part of Bali.
There are other beach clubs in this neighbourhood too including Oneeighty and Palmilla Beach Club.
Booking Process & Seating Options
You can’t book at Magus Warung in advance, this shouldn’t come as a surprise given that the beach club has no website.
This isn’t the end of the world as there are plenty of other places nearby youc can try if Magus Warung is full, but if this is your only option because you’re on a tight budget – we recommend getting to Magus Warung very early in the day or risk not getting a seat at all.
Entry Fee
There is no entrance fee at Magus Warung and this is something that we encourage all beach clubs and would-be beach clubs to do.
You should be able to enter any venue in Bali and see what you’re getting before you commit to spending so much as a dollar inside.
Of course, it’s reasonable that some clubs expect you to agree to a minimum spend to sit on their comfy sunbeds by an infinity pool, but entry should be free and there should be, at least, one place inside where you can sit without a minimum spend.
Minimum Spend
There is no minimum spend requirement of any kind at Magus Warung and we think that’s awesome.
It’s not really a beach club per se, it has a small pool area with some sunbeds, it’s better to welcome people in the door and let them enjoy themselves than t try and extort a few extra dollars out of someone for this kind of facility.
We whole-heartedly approve of this and we wish that some of the other smaller beach club-style facilities in Bali would follow Magus Warung’s lead on this.
We recommend this beach club on our list of places in Bali with no minimum spend requirements.
Welcome And Security
You will be welcomed by friendly local staff as you enter Magus Warung and given that this is not a top-tier venue, that’s as much as we’d really expect.
However, there is no security on the door and as much as we prefer a hassle-free path to a seat, we’d prefer that they did a bag check.
These checks ensure that the environment is safe and you’re in a place where you can relax fully.
Inclusions
We were surprised that they offer towels to any customer who wants one for free! This is definitely something that other beach clubs could learn from.
However, there’s no premium or VIP tier of seating with additional inclusions.
We really like having things like suncream on tap and we’d be willing to pay for a VIP package that included little touches like this.
Service
We were very impressed by the service at Magus Warung, particularly given that this is not a high-end establishment with a huge budget for staff training.
The staff were all friendly and attentive as well as kind and helpful and we felt that we were treated extremely well at Magus Warung, particularly, whenn compared to some of the much more expensive venues in this neighbourhood.
Entertainment
This is very much a beach club for people to relax and chill out at, so don’t expect a huge amount of entertainment.
The music is piped in and it’s very much background music, there’s no struggle to hear yourself think or your friends talk anywhere inside this beach club.
Pool Quality
It’s not a very big pool, but you can’t really expect a huge infinity pool without minimum spend requirements.
The pool they do have is very clean though and we’d happily swim in it again.
The venue is quite new, so the place isn’t very busy at the moment, it’s possible that this may change over time as more and more people discover this beach club.
Menu/Drinks Pricing
There’s no getting around it – if you want value for money in the Melasti Beach area then Magus Warung is the place to find it.
With cocktails starting at 100,000 IDR (about 20% less than at most beach clubs and maybe even half the price of some of its neighbours), you can’t go wrong.
The food menu offers similar pricing and it’s very cheap, indeed.
Food And Drink Quality
Cheap is fine, but we also like to find that we’ve got amazing quality for our money and while this is not the best beach club in the world for food and drinks, it’s very good for the price.
We found the drinks were more than strong enough and well-mixed, which is always a concern on the island as several big names are notorious for under-strength drinks.
The food was very good for the price and we loved their ice cream which can compete with some of the specialist ice cream parlors here.
Sunset View
It’s located right by the beach, so you get the best possible sunset view but we have to note that this is the South Coast of Bali and thus, the sunset here isn’t as good as it is in places like Kuta, Seminyak and Canggu.
You will get a bit of a light show in the sky, but you can’t watch the sun drop below the horizon over the ocean and that’s a bit of a shame.
Many people come to Bali precisely for the sunsets and we wish it was just a little more visible here.
Music And Ambiance
There’s not much in the way or music here and what little there is is kept firmly in the background.
However, that helps give this place it’s own unique vibe. It’s clearly meant as somewhere you can come and relax without the need to party like at the other beach clubs.
We’re fine with that picture and we’re sure that you will be too.
Payment Options
This is a small beach club but you can still pay by cash or card. We didn’t see any signs of QRIS payments, e-wallet acceptance or cryptocurrency payments, though.
Exit Process
You can walk out of Magus Warung as quickly as you walk in, and the staff will wish you a cheery goodbye.
But sadly, for all clubs in Melasti Beach that’s not the full exit process and you will need to see our next section to understand why we’ve marked the Mgus Warung down here.
Transportation
Melasti Beach is a disaster for those without their own transport and it’s not even great for those with their own transport.
If you’re not on a scooter or driving, you will have to run the gamut of very push taxi mafia outside and to get to a place where Grab and Gojek can pick you up… you either walk up a steep hill or pay 10,000 IDR in cash for a moto driver to get you there.
This can really ruin the end of the day. And if you did come in a car or with a scooter, you still have to get up that hill to collect it.
It absolutely ruins this area and we wish the beach clubs would work with the local banjar to put an end to this nonsense.
Social Media Presence
Magus Warung is new, so we might be being unfair in this mark but at the moment, they have a very basic social media presence (Instagram) and there’s not much on that account.
We’ll give them time and then come back and examine this again in the future but for now, it doesn’t paint a complete picture of what you can expect at this beach club.
Other/General Comments
For a new beach club on a tight budget, we think Magus Warung is doing very well and we look forward to seeing this place develop over the next year or two.
Our Overall Opinion Of Magus Warung
We wouldn’t make the long drive to this part of the island just for Magus Warung but if we were in the area, we’d definitely stop here.
This is a small beach club done well. Sure, there’s room for improvement but overall, it’s great value for money and a solid example of Balinese hospitality.
FAQs
Can You Swim At Magus Warung?
Yes, there’s a small pool that is kept clean at Magus Warung. However, if it’s busy, we’d picture it being too packed to swim in.
What Can You Do At Magus Warung Beach Club?
You can swim, eat, drink and relax at Magus Warung. This is a very small beach club and there’s not much more to do.
Is Magus Warung Beach Club A Family-Friendly Venue?
Children are welcome at Magus Warung but you won’t find any special facilities for them.
Who Owns Magus Warung?
Magus Warung appears to be owned by a Balinese (Indonesian) citizen but we couldn’t find more precise details on ownership.
Final Thoughts On Magus Warung
Magus Warung is off to a very promising start and while we don’t think we’d want to make a long drive just to sit at this club for a day, we are impressed with their initial offerings.
We’re looking forward to seeing them grow over time. However, if you’re only going to visit one beach club in Bali, we’d recommend going to FINNS rather than to this upstart.
