Museum Pasifika in Bali’s Nusa Dua is an introduction to Asia Pacific’s unique culture and history through art. Its extensive collection boasts over 600 artworks from 200 artists across 25 European and Pacific countries.
How to Get to Museum Pasifika
You should easily be able to get a Grab or Gojek from as far as Sanur or Seminyak. Ubud might be too far, but you can try it.
If you’re staying at one of the upscale hotels in Nusa Dua, they might offer a free shuttle to the Bali Collection. Bali Collection is a shopping district ten minutes away from the museum. The walk is pleasant and through the open-air mall. If you buy tickets online, the museum also has a free shuttle that will pick you up from within Nusa Dua.
Museum Pasifika is one of the few attractions where walking to it may be the best option. If you’re in Nusa Dua, there’s a manicured path next to the beach through all the fancy resorts.
Admission Price & Opening Hours
The museum is open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Museum Pasifika ticket price is Rp. 100,000 if you buy in person at the museum. Children under 11 years old have free admission.
You can also buy tickets online through the official website with a 10% discount. The online ticket price is Rp. 90,000, and it includes a free shuttle that picks you up from your hotel in the ITDC Nusa Dua area. You must call a local number (+62 361 774935) to arrange pick-up.
What to See at Museum Pasifika
Every ticket comes with a free audio guide that gives an overview of the rooms in Museum Pasifika. It’s an online guide accessed through your phone and the internet. The museum’s wifi password is at the ticketing desk. Headphones or earbuds might be a good idea to hear the information clearly and not disturb the other museum patrons. I didn’t find the audio guide all that useful or interesting. It mainly listed off dates and names of artists I’ve never heard of.
The route through the museum begins in Room I, to the right of the lobby. There are 11 rooms, separated by country and with a couple of temporary exhibitions. The artworks are in large, spacious rooms labelled at their threshold.
Museum Pasifika isn’t a museum of Balinese art or even Balinese artists. It’s more of a look into Balinese culture as seen through the lens of the various foreign artists who visited or lived in the region. Many rooms feature artists from Italy, France, and the Netherlands. Only one room is dedicated to Indonesian and Javanese artists.
Museum Pasifika’s collection is mainly paintings but includes sculptures and a few cases of artefacts. There are many different styles, but I saw more bright, vivid colours than in European art. Although children get free admission to Museum Pasifika, you might want to rethink bringing them. Many paintings feature bare-breasted young women – the eternal muse for male artists.
Museum Pasifika estimates 2 – 3 hours to finish it. We took a leisurely pace and listened to all the audio guide topics in 1.5 hours. The museum gift shop is in the same place as the ticket desk. It’s a tiny shop with a small selection of t-shirts and books.
Facilities
There are toilets on either end of the central courtyard. There’s a set of washrooms on the sides of the cafe, behind the lobby and ticket desk. More toilets are on both sides of Room VI. The women’s had two small rooms with a sitting toilet and paper. There was soap and a hand dryer as well.
Restaurants at Museum Pasifika
There is a cafe at Museum Pasifika, but it’s a sad place to be. It was completely deserted when we scoped it out – not even a cashier behind the counter. The beverage selection is bottled drinks, and the food is even worse with only pre-packaged biscuits. It looked like our tickets included tea, water, coffee or cake from the cafe, but the place looked so bad that we didn’t even bother to claim our freebies. There are dozens of restaurants at the Bali Collection if you want a snack afterwards.
Saturday Worthy?
Museum Pasifika was an enjoyable way to spend our afternoon. I would have liked the audio guide to be more engaging. We definitely would have also stopped for a drink in the cafe if it was halfway decent. I think the museum is a bit overpriced (in Malaysian currency, at least) for how big it is and its other shortcomings. I wouldn’t travel far to see it if you’re not big into art. If you’re staying in Nusa Dua, a visit to Museum Pasifika can be a nice afternoon when combined with the nearby park and shopping district.
