One Beach, One Story · Dreamland, Bali · October 2026 · 3 min

Dreamland Beach, Bali: Named by Surfers, Renamed by a Resort

Surfers called it Dreamland in the 1970s. A resort development made it New Kuta Beach. About ten people a month search for the new name.

Dreamland Beach in Bali has two names. Surfers gave it the first in the 1970s. The second, New Kuta Beach, is the official one, and came with the resort development that now surrounds it. Almost nobody uses the official one.

This beach used to be hard to find

It was a secluded surfing beach on the Bukit Peninsula, with casual refreshment stands and a few inns. One guide says the surfers of the 1970s were so taken with the waves and the place that they nicknamed it Dreamland. That was the whole of its publicity.

Then somebody built around her

The beach is now inside the Pecatu Indah resort complex, an area sometimes called New Kuta, which also holds the New Kuta golf course. The beach became, in Wikipedia's phrase, the beach of an extensive tourist development, and it was officially renamed New Kuta Beach.

They gave this beach a new name. She kept the old one.

Which name won

We checked how often each name is searched in the United States. Dreamland Beach Bali: about 1,000 times a month. New Kuta Beach: about 10. The guides that state the official name go on calling it Dreamland for the rest of the page.

What it is like now

Open to the public, and one of the easier beaches in the area to reach: a short walk down a paved path from the car park, where most of its neighbours need a staircase. Parking is IDR 5,000 to 20,000. Tour groups and resort guests arrive between 11am and 3pm. A few food stalls by the sand sell cold drinks and young coconuts.

The wave is still there, and one guide flags the shore break as especially hazardous for spinal injuries, because the waves stand up over a steep sandbar. The dream was always the surf. That part has not been renamed.