Most people who fly into Bali see the same version of it the beach clubs of Canggu, the traffic of Seminyak, the sunset crowds pressed shoulder to shoulder at Uluwatu. It’s a beautiful version, but it’s not the only one. Twenty minutes inland and up the coast, past where the tour buses stop turning off the main road, Tabanan is still doing things the old way: rice terraces stepping down toward the sea, coral rock cliffs nobody’s put a velvet rope around, and a coastline that empties out the second the sun starts to drop.
This is the Bali that Viking Sunset Studios built its campus on and it’s the same stretch of coastline SAGA Restaurant and Bar now calls home.
Rice Terraces, Coral Rock, and a Coastline Most Visitors Skip
Tabanan doesn’t announce itself. There’s no strip of restaurants competing for your attention, no queue for a photo spot. What you get instead is the genuine geography of Bali: emerald rice terraces climbing the hills inland, black sand and coral rock along the shore, and a stretch of coastline at Abian Kapas that stays quiet even on a Saturday. It’s the kind of landscape that made this region famous with filmmakers long before it made anyone famous with tourists — a place where the light does the work without needing a filter.
The beach’s name carries its own story. In Balinese, abian means field, and kapas means cotton. According to local elders, this stretch of coast was once a cotton field which is how Abian Kapas Beach got its name.
Walk the VSS campus and you’ll see why the crew never wants to leave for lunch. The same cliffs and terraces that show up in a shot list are a five minute walk from the soundstage doors.
Twenty Minutes From Tanah Lot, a World Away From the Crowds
A small note on naming: SAGA sits in Beraban village, in the Selemadeg Timur district but that’s not the same Beraban most travelers know as the home of Tanah Lot, which lies in the Kediri district. Two different villages that happen to share a name. The stretch of coast right in front of the VSS campus has its own name: Abian Kapas Beach and it still sits close enough to Tanah Lot, Bali’s iconic sea temple and one of the island’s most visited landmarks, that a stop here fits easily into the same afternoon. But where Tanah Lot draws the crowds for its famous silhouette at sunset, Abian Kapas offers the quieter half of the coastline: the kind of place you come to after you’ve taken the photo, when you actually want to sit down, breathe, and watch the water for a while.
“People come to Tanah Lot for the fifteen minutes when the light is perfect. We wanted somewhere for the three hours after that — when you’re not chasing a photo anymore, you’re just here.”
Bo H. Holmgreen, CEO, Viking Sunset Studios
Why We Built Here
VSS didn’t choose Tabanan because it was convenient. It chose it because the region offered something a studio can’t manufacture: black sand cliffs, coral rock, hidden caves, temple grounds, and rice terraces all within reach of a single campus, without a single one of them feeling staged. That same honesty is what shaped SAGA. The restaurant wasn’t dropped onto the coastline as an amenity it was built to sit inside it, with outdoor and poolside seating that faces the water instead of turning its back on it.
That’s the part visitors notice first: the terraces and cliffs they crossed to get here don’t disappear once they sit down. They’re still the view.
Where the Day Ends
Whether your afternoon started at Tanah Lot, wound through the rice terraces on a scooter, or was spent doing nothing at all along the Abian Kapas shoreline, SAGA is built to be where it ends. Poolside tables, coastal views, and a kitchen that’s steps from a working film campus, not a resort strip. Explore the quieter side of Tabanan first. Then come find us where the story catches up with you.
Read the story behind SAGA itself in SAGA Restaurant Bali: The Story Behind VSS’s New Restaurant, or explore the full Viking Sunset Studios campus.
Reserve Your Table
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Location
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Jl. Viking Sunset Studios, Beraban, Kec. Selemadeg Tim., Kabupaten Tabanan, Bali 82162
Bring Your Next Production to Bali
Located in Tabanan, Bali, Viking Sunset Studios is an international creative production hub offering world class facilities for film, commercial, and content production. From our soundproof green screen studio and professional equipment to stunning natural backdrops including beach, rice terraces, jungle, cave and temple, everything you need is in one place.
Whether you are scouting for a film studio in Bali, looking for a production partner in Southeast Asia, or searching for locations for movies filmed in Bali, we would love to hear about your project.
Get in touch: info@vikingsunsetstudios.com
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