Bali’s top tourist resorts could become more walkable.
While areas like Sanur and Nusa Dua are already pretty easy to navigate on foot, the same can’t be said for many of Bali’s busiest vacation hotspots.
Resorts like Uluwatu and Canggu are famously treacherous to walk around, but all that is about to change.
Leaders in Bali’s Badung Regency, which oversees the island’s most popular tourism resorts including Kuta, Legian and Seminyak, have confirmed that the 2026 Regency Budget will include funding to fix the area’s most damages sidewalks and construct new pavements to sure public safety and ease of navigation.
Speaking to reporters, Bali Senator Wayan Pupsa Negara confirmed that funding has been allocated to improve the walkability of Bali’s Samigita Beach area. This area is better known to tourists as the stretch of coastline that runs from Kuta Beach through Legian to Seminyak.
He confirmed that assessments have been carried out across these popular resort areas and the spots most in need to improvement have been identified. Negara told reporters “The damage to the sidewalk has caused tourists who pass by to fall. This has endangered safety. Because it is a tourism area, it is necessary to make repairs.”
Negara explained to reporters that the project is expected to improve the walkability and aesthetics of these popular vacation hotspots.
He shared, “We hope there will be better cooperation between the Badung Regency Government and the Bali Provincial Government to reorganize this area. This damaged sidewalk not only disrupts comfort, but also damages the image of Bali tourism.”
Negara was clear that he wants Bali to continue to compete with top tourism destinations around the world and that infrastructural and aesthetic improvements must be made regularly to achieve that.
He explained, “If Bali has been named the World’s Second-Best Destination, we must maintain the infrastructure and public facilities to keep them suitable and attractive to tourists.”
Speaking separately, the Regional Secretary of Badung Regency, IB Surya Suamba, confirmed that a series of pavement widening projects will also be put in place and that tourists will see this work underway in the coming months.
One of the biggest projects will see the pavement widened along Jalan Raya Kuta, between Hard Rock Cafe to the Pullman Hotel.
Tourists familiar with Kuta will know all too well how tricky it can be to navigate through this part of the resort safely, especially at busy times, and the situation is often harder for families who have to navigate on and off the narrow pavement while keeping young children and toddlers safe, or pushing buggies.
Suamba told reporters, “We have designed a sidewalk repair program that will use natural stone. This will be done in the 2026 master budget and amendments.”
He shared his hopes that repairing damaged sidewalks and arranging infrastructure in the Kuta tourist area can comfort tourists and improve Bali’s tourism image worldwide.
It is not only in Kuta, Legian, and Seminyak where tourists have to be mindful of their footing. Earlier this year, tourists visiting Ubud were warned to navigate through the busy street of Jalan Raya Kedewatan with caution after a section of the sidewalk broke.
Leaders quickly jumped into action, sectioning the sidewalk off and fixing the worst-affected areas, though Ubud’s sidewalks are perhaps even more famously damaged than those in the Samigita area.
Ubud-based tour company Ubud Story Walks recently released a series of humorous social media posts encouraging tourists to wear sturdy footwear while visiting the arts and cultural capital and to keep their eyes peeled as they walk.
The team jokes that navigating the sidewalks of Ubud is an Olympic sport, and while shared in jest, tourists walking in Bali really do need to stay focused while out and about!
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