Pandawa Beach is carved from the limestone tableland of the Bukit Peninsula, accessible through a dramatic canyon road cut directly through 50-metre white cliffs in 2010. The cliffsides have been carved with six large shrines: five containing statues of the Pandawa brothers — Yudhistira, Bima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sadewa — and one of their mother, Kunti, characters from the Hindu epic Mahabharata. The beach itself is a 700-metre crescent of white sand washed by the clear blue waters of the Indian Ocean. Unlike the wilder surf beaches of Uluwatu and Padang Padang nearby, Pandawa's bay is partially sheltered, making it suitable for swimming as well as traditional Balinese outrigger canoe (jukung) rides. A fleet of colourful jukungs operates from the beach. The cliffside road has also been transformed into a silk-weaving centre: dozens of workshops and cooperatives operate from alcoves cut into the limestone, where visitors can watch artisans at traditional looms and purchase handwoven textiles at source. Pandawa is most atmospheric in the early morning before tour groups arrive.