michellefranclee
Travel Photographer & Writer
If you’re planning to go scuba diving in Bali, Tulamben is a must-visit. I did both my PADI Open Water and Advanced Open Water certifications in Tulamben. I genuinely think it’s one of the best places in Bali to start your scuba diving journey.
Tulamben is a small village about 2.5-3 hours northeast of Sanur that has quietly become one of Bali’s most beloved dive destinations. All Tulamben dive sites are shore dives, unlike many other dive spots in Bali. The dive centers in Tulamben are also 1-5 minutes away from the dive sites. You usually just hop on the back of a truck, and before you know it, you have already arrived at the dive site. This is the reason why the costs are significantly lower than other dive sites in Bali.
It’s also probably the most affordable place in Bali to complete your Open Water or Advanced Open Water certification. I did my Open Water in 2023 and my Advanced in 2024, and prices were very reasonable then. I paid around Rp5.000.000 – Rp5.500.000, including gear rental. Disclaimer: With the global oil prices, economic and political issues, it’s worth checking current rates with dive centers directly before budgeting. You can check out the dive centers I recommend below and it’s all Indonesian-owned dive centers.
One thing I always tell people who are curious and want to try scuba diving is to check the conditions. It matters more than you think when you’re learning. I’ve heard from plenty of divers who did their first dive in choppy or murky water and came out feeling uncertain about whether they even liked it. Especially if you’re not used to being on a boat or have low tolerance for seasickness, scuba diving in Tulamben is the perfect destination for you. The current and wave depend on seasonality, weather and moon phase, but I can say that it’s still mostly calm and consistently has good visibility most of the year. Lastly, when you’re diving for the first time, you want to see something spectacular, something different from your land life. In Tulamben, it got a shipwreck, amazing marine species, and healthy corals.
The dive centers I listed below are the dive centers I tried in the past and had a good experience:
This is my current go-to dive center, Let’s Dive Tulamben. I saw them on social media and decided to give it a go. Their location is so close to the USAT Liberty shipwreck, it’s probably just a 1-minute truck drive. I go here to practice my underwater photography because the dive guide here is a great spotter for macro. They also have an accommodation next to their dive center.
I did my Advanced Open Water with BEST in 2024. This is the dive center that was recommended by many of my friends. The price is probably one of the cheapest, but you might need to bring your own gear. They have a solid reputation throughout the years, and the guides are friendly.
If you don’t want to think about the transport, go with Makara Dive. Makara dive located in Sanur, and the price they put on their website includes round-trip transportation from Sanur to Tulamben. This is so worth it for those of you who don’t want to move accommodations and don’t want to think about the logistics. Makara Dive is female-owned and a relatively new dive center, and they specialize in tec dive.
At the end of the day, the dive center will make or break your diving experience. You don’t want to go with a dive center who touch or doesn’t care about marine species, your safety, or your purpose or diving experience. Disclaimer again, you might have a different experience compared to me because what they offer is basically service, so please also do your own research. I also want to try more dive centers in the future and will update more on my website.
This is the main attraction of Tulamben, only 15 meters from the shore. You can see the wreck from 3 meters from the surface (depending on the tide) and the depth goes up to 30 meters. You can do a wreck drive and go inside the wreck, through some of the chambers. This wreck has been around since 1942 and is now home to many marine species. You can check out more about the USAT Liberty dive site here.
This is probably my favorite site, just because there are fewer people here and I can take footage undisturbed. I got most of my macro photos in here. I also love the abundance of anemones and clownfish, usually you will see them towards the end of the dive.
Another great dive site within Tulamben is Drop Off. You can do a deep dive here because the depth goes up to 60+ meters. You will be visually spoiled when you dive here. Check out more about the Tulamben Drop Off dive site here.
You can check out other dive sites in Bali with Underwater Atlas, where they include dive key details such as visibility, current, water temperature, and species you can find.
Tulamben is famous for its muck dive. The marine species you will encounter is more on the macro rather than megafauna. There are stories from my instructor/dive guides where they saw whale, whale shark, etc, but it is not common here. The one I listed below is the one that I saw recently:
Okay, enough about the dive. How about the travel itself? Accommodation? Transportation? I will give you a brief travel information, so you can roughly know what you need to research more and book.
I am Indonesian and just like many other Indonesians, we ride motorbike. It’s 2.5-3 hours with a motorbike, depending on where your starting point is. I recently did a trip from Sanur to Tulamben, and it took me precisely 2.5 hours and that’s because I departed as early as 5 am. Is it crazy to dive after riding motorbike for 2.5 hours? Probably. But I’ve done it several times and know the road well enough.
If you’re going with a car (whether you drive yourself ot with a driver), it will probably take you 3-4 hours, depending on when and where you depart and traffic. You have to ask your dive center what time the first dive is, so you can time your trip. You can find a car rental here.
Another alternative is to ask your dive center if they offer pickup service. They might charge you an extra cost if their dive center is located in Tulamben. As I mentioned above, dive with Makara Dive includes transport from Sanur-Tulamben as part of their service. If you’re doing just a 1-day dive, I recommend that you do that. But, if you’re diving more than 1 day, it’s better to stay near the dive site, because the back and forth (which can take up to 5 hours) is a waste of time.
Before you start booking near your dive center in Tulamben, answer this question. Will you rent a motorbike there? If yes, get a place in Amed instead of Tulamben. Tulamben is just a strip of a diving village. Outside of the dive time, it’s a pretty dead town. Amed is just next door, a 30-minute drive and more lively. It has more accommodation and food options. It also has a lot of dive sites, but mostly more current.
As I mentioned before, I recently dived with Let’s Dive Tulamben, and right next to their dive center is Habitat Hotel, which is also theirs. If you want a budget, but comfortable and close to the dive center, this is perfect for you.
I tried Mimpi Resort before, it’s very close to all the dive centers in Tulamben. It’s on the pricier side. You can book here.
There are many dive resorts in Tulamben and two of them are Tulamben Dive Resort and Matahari Tulamben Dive Resort (they also have guesthouse version). I personally haven’t tried any of them.
Hope you enjoy the blog post and see you in my next post!
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