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Enchanting temple-filled island located in south-central Indonesia, home to more than a dozen good-to-excellent reef waves, including Uluwatu and Padang Padang; the first island in the Indonesian chain to be explored for surf. Bali is the lone Hindu enclave in an overwhelmingly Islamic nation, and its uniquely gentle and artistic culture for decades has had an exotic pull on traveling westerners. "This is Bali," surf journalist Laurie McGinness wrote in 1978, "island of the gods, land of harmony. Travel no further in search of your goal, it is under your feet."

Bali's surf-lined southern coast (the north shore is virtually waveless) can be divided into four main surfing areas: 1) The teeming resort town of Kuta, which includes the sand-bottomed peaks of Kuta Beach and well-shaped left walls of Kuta Reef. 2) The southwest Bukit Peninsula reefbreaks, home to the winding lefts of Uluwatu, as well as the perfect blue tubes of Padang Padang. 3) The southeast Bukit Peninsula reefbreaks, including Nusa Dua's powerful right-breaking barrels, and the tapering right tubes of Sanur. 4) The small offshore island of Nusa Lembongan, home to the high-tide-only right tubes of Shipwrecks. 

Bali has reasonably consistent surf all year, but the June-to-September dry season is considered the best time for surf, as Indian Ocean storms often generate four- to eight-foot surf, with bigger swells reaching to 12 feet. Waves along Kuta and southwest Bukit Peninsula are improved by a light and dependable offshore breeze during the dry season. Average daytime air and water temperatures both range from the mid-70s to the mid-80s. The December-to-March wet season brings fewer waves, rain, and southwest winds, which blow offshore at the southeast Bukit Peninsula breaks. 

Sea snakes and sharks are occasionally spotted at Balinese breaks, but sharp reefs and crowded lineups are the island's main surf hazards. While malaria is a concern throughout the rest of Indonesia, Bali is malaria-free.

Bali was first surfed in the late 1930s by American-born Kuta Beach hotel owner Robert Koke, who fled the country just prior to the Japanese occupation during World War II. The sport was reintroduced, again at Kuta Beach, by visiting Australian and American flight attendants in the late '60s. Sydney surf moviemaker Bob Evans filmed Nat Young, Mark Warren, and Col Smith riding Kuta in 1971; a few weeks later Australian filmmaker Alby Falzon, along with surfers Steve Cooney and Rusty Miller, were among the first to ride the gorgeous transparent-blue surf at Uluwatu. Falzon showed the break in his memorable 1972 film 

, and Bali quickly became the surf world's new dream destination. 

A handful of Balinese took to the water on surfboards in the mid-'70s (native children had in years prior ridden waves on rough-shaped pieces of wood), and local surfers Ketut Menda, Made Kasim, Bobby Radiasa, and Gede Narmada joined well-known surf travelers Gerry Lopez, Rory Russell, and Peter McCabe in lineups around the island. 

Joe's Surfshop, the first store of its kind on Bali, opened in 1974; the first Balinese Surfing Championships (won by Wayan Sudirka) were also held that year, at Kuta's Legian Beach. The Bali Surfing Club, Indonesia's first surfing association, was formed in 1979, and later that year staged the inaugural Indonesian Championships (also at Legian), attended by the governor of Bali and the Indonesian minister of sports—greatly raising the status of surfing on Bali. The OM Bali Pro, an international pro surf contest, was held at Uluwatu from 1980 to 1982.

As of 2012, Bali was home to about 50 surf shops, most in Kuta, and some 1,000 native surfers, the best known being goofyfoot tube-stylist Rizal Tanjung. Tens of thousands of surfers from around the world visit Bali annually. (Dozens of surfers—mostly Australian—were among the nearly 200 dead in the 2002 terrorist attacks or a pair of Kuta Beach nightclubs.) 

 magazine, focusing on Indonesia, is published in Bali; the Bali Surfing Association organizes a dozen or so amateur surf contests annually. The Indonesian Surfing Championship, a Coca-Cola sponsored, top-flight Asian pro circuit featuring a handful of world tour qualifying events, has been headquartered in Bali since 2004. Guidebooks with information on the Balinese surf include 

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