Bali beach photographs stun Aussies (2024)

Australian tourists have been stunned by sad photos showing beaches in Bali strewn with rubbish sparking a debate about the island's merit as a much-loved tourist destination.

An appalled Sydney woman shared photos of the island's famous Legian beach.

In the images, the sand is completely covered with plastic debris.

Some online forums now cynically refer to summer in Bali summer as 'garbage season', at least on the island's busy east coast.

Legian, located north of Kuta and south of Seminyakm, is a favourite tourist hotspot for millions of Aussies.

The images sparked a fiery debate, with many asking if they showed 'the real Bali' and whether the beloved holiday hotspot is still worth visiting.

'At least I know where the sewerage outlet is in Legian, absolutely disgusting today,' Tracey, who shared the photos online, claimed.

Others corrected her, saying it wasn't sewerage, but a recurring seasonal issue in which ocean currents bring floating rubbish to Bali's eastern beaches.

During the wet season, from October to March, tons of water bottles, food packaging, straws, cutlery and bags washed into the sea and rivers are carried by ocean currents and dumped on Bali's Kuta, Seminyak, Legian and Jimbaran beaches daily.

In December and January, the entire east coast of Bali, is inundated with trash, with a small band of dedicated volunteers fighting a losing battle to keep it clean.

Tractors heaving rubbish off Bali's beaches are a common sight.

In December, 600 tonnes were collected, according to Made Gede Dwipayana, Marine Garbage Evacuation Detection Coordinator of the Badung Regency Environmental and Sanitation Service.

One Christmas day alone, 25 tractors were deployed to Kuta beach to clean it up.

Some locals, however are not well trained in the latest beach clean-up methods and resort to a more short-term approach.

'We saw Bali people picking up rubbish then digging a hole in the sand to bury it,' one person on Facebook said.

The photos shocked people unfamiliar with Bali leaving some mystified why anyone would think of a beach holiday there when they can go to clean beaches in Australia.

'Why would you go there when Australia has the best beaches in the world,' said a Sydney woman in the Facebook thread.

'This is why you don't swim in the ocean in Bali,' a Newcastle woman said.

'If you’re going to Bali for their beaches then you’ve totally missed the mark!' a Canberra mum said.

A Sydney surfer claimed Bali beaches have looked like this in summer for 'at least two decades'.

'All the rubbish is dragged into huge piles on the beach at Tuban where it is taken by trucks to a landfill tip. Around five tons is removed every day,' he wrote.

Some commented that the beaches on other side of the island are still clean, even at this time of year.

The west coast gets the runoff from the villages! Go over to the east side the water is fine,' one said.

Others commented that the eastern beaches are much cleaner in June and July.

Many said the island's beaches are clean outside of the wet season and added that Bali still has plenty going for it despite the trash problem during the wet season.

Many said that the warmth of the locals, bars and restaurants, temples, Balinese culture and the natural beauty inland are the best things about Bali.

In 2022 more Australians visited Bali than any other nationals. Over 352,000 Aussies went there, with Indians the next biggest group at just 93,000.

The biggest year in recent memory was 2019, when 1.23 million Australians visited.