Cavery Beach Hotel

If you want to find a good beach south of Padang, Bungus Beach is the first one you'll encounter, before that there's too much industry. The hotel is good and the people running it are very nice. The problem of the area is a lack of good restaurants until today, even if the owner of Cavery beach is building one right now. The beach directly in front of the hotel is very safe for small children with some sand, but for serious swimming you'll need to pass some rocks and plants before it get's deep enough. The beach a few hundred meters back north (still the same bay) is better, but has lots of fishermen's activities (interesting to watch and photograph). So, what to do from here? The hotel is offering good day trips to places like Pagang Island (see reviews about it). A great waterfall to climb for is just 2 km away, ask someone with a motorbike to get you to the start of the trail. The highest part is the best for a refreshing swim and there are fantastic views of the bay from some spots on the way. Finally, there are nice beaches further south. If you want to book a day with a car and driver, ask at Cavery beach for Dodi to drive you! I never had a better driver in Indonesia (and I had lots of them). Very careful, never pushy and even watching out for pedestrians or preparing for other peoples mistakes (rare in Indonesia). You can imagine how nice he is with his own clients! So, use Cavery beach as a starting point, but don't expect to spend your whole holiday on the same spot.