We went into Kuta a couple of nights, which was fun. During the day it's Bali's biggest beach, and very popular with surfers. It's also very popular with touts, who will try to sell you things incessantly. During the evening it's where all the nightlife in Bali resides. The main strip of bars, souvenir shops and cheap restaurants wouldn't (or shouldn't) rank as a trip highlight for anyone, but as you walk further in either direction the strip gets more interesting. To the north in particular, there are quite a number of good home decor shops. And around the Oberoi hotel, there's a very cool restaurant called La Lucciola (see photo), an outdoor Italian restaurant/bar right on the beach. The food is pretty good, very cool atmosphere and it turns into quite a party at night.