Sanur Bali Travel Guide – Visit Sanur Bali – Budget Travel In Indonesia

Visit Sanur, located on Bali’s east coast, to experience the island’s oldest beach resort.

Travellers looking for a quieter alternative to the busy resorts of Kuta or Seminyak visit the small seaside town of Sanur in Bali. Its golden, sandy beaches are the perfect location to enjoy sunshine and relaxation. The town has a number of interesting places of interest and is a great place to enjoy fresh seafood at one of the many beach restaurants and enjoy drinks and live music in the evening.

Why Visit Sanur?

Having spent our first four days in Bali in its cultural centre, Ubud, we decided to check out one of its coastal towns. Kuta seemed the most popular destination but there were people who were not keen on the party town. I kept reading about Sanur and no-one seemed to have a bad word to say about the place. Our host in our Ubud accommodation confirmed that it “is a lovely place” that has not been spoiled by mass tourism.

How To Get To Sanur From Ubud

We had heard that Bali was a nightmare to get around but we had no problems with our first trip. ‘Perama Bus’ run shuttle buses around the island and their Ubud location was right outside our hotel (map).

We booked our tickets online (no prepayment) and we arrived at the office for the 12:00 bus which left on time and was comfortable enough. It took less than an hour to reach Sanur.

CLICK HERE FOR THE BEST HOSTELS IN SANUR, BALI!

Sanur Local Food

Shortly after arriving, I headed out to find some local food. Walking past Mcdonald’s (more of that later) and Pizza Hut on the main road, I took a turn towards the beach and immediately discovered a number of small, local ‘warungs’.

I ordered a local dish, ‘nasi campur’ which consisted of rice with various sides (in this case, fried chicken, fish, tempeh and some vegetable dishes). It was delicious and for just 18,000 IDR, it was a real bargain.

‘Warungs’ are very popular in Indonesia as they offer good local food at a very reasonable price. If you are travelling on a budget, they are your best choice.

Sanur Beach

After food, I carried on until I reached the beach. It was just before sunset and it was pretty quiet. I took a left turn and my walk took me past many bars and resorts. The Sanur beach resorts looked amazing but were probably a little out of our budget.

After walking past many bars that looked nice but probably expensive, I finally settled on what was basically a shed on the beach with some old women selling cold beers at 45,000 IDR with no added tax! They had a few tables on the beach so I enjoyed my first beer in Sanur, listening to the music from the more expensive bar next door and enjoying the exact same views.

Sanur Bars

After joining Joanna for a beer further up the beach, I decided to check out a couple more bars. First up was ‘Jimmy’s Restaurant’ (map). This is the place to go if you want to watch live sports. Or watch loud Australians cheer on the rugby. I had just the one beer.

Next up was ‘Lim Ling Bar’ (map). Now, this was more like it. This bar has video screens showing classic music videos all night (they like the Rolling Stones) and one beer quickly turned into four. The owner, a guy from the Netherlands, came and chatted to me and was very friendly. There did seem to be a number of Indonesian women that were very friendly but they left me alone once they realised I was only here to drink beer.

Mcdonalds In Sanur

Let’s make one thing clear: I am not a fan of Mcdonald’s. I had my first Big Mac after 20 years of being vegetarian and it was terrible. Tasteless, plastic food. Therefore, it made absolutely no sense at all that, six years later, I had an urge to try them again. I think it was more to do with the convenience of being able to pick up some food very easily on my first night in Sanur, after more beers than I had planned to drink. Whatever the reason, I still found myself in Mcdonald’s ordering a Big Mac and Fries.

Oddly, it was cheaper to order it with a drink, so I washed the whole thing down with a coke I didn’t want. The fries were pretty good to be fair, but the burger still had this plastic, fake food texture. The only flavour was that of the gherkin used in the burger sauce. Never again, right?

Babi Guling

The next morning, we decided to walk the full length of the beach. But first, we needed food. On our way to the beach, I came across ‘Babi Guling Odah Sanur’ (map). ‘Babi Guling’ is Indonesian for ‘hog roast’ and, as there was no opportunity for eating pork in Java, this was an obvious choice for me.

I went for the ‘special’ which was basically all the different types of pork they had. The meat and crackling was very nice but there was just not enough of it and the other pork products were average.

Walking The Length Of Sanur Beach

We were going to take bikes but Joanna’s hand was still hurting after a recent fall in Problinggo. It was a nice, sunny day so we decided to walk. Starting at Turtle Conservation Sanur (map) on the beach, the walk would take us around an hour to reach the town’s most southern point. The cool sea breeze felt wonderful and there were a few interesting sights along the way.

Sanur Stone Pillar

Once we reached the end of the beach, we planned to walk back to our accommodation via the road that runs adjacent to the beach, stopping for coffee and ice cream along the way. But first, we had to check out what is Bali’s oldest artifact. When we were looking for ‘things to do in Sanur’ on the internet, we had a laugh at this suggestion as it isn’t the most exciting thing to plan a day around. As we were passing, we decided to take a look. The language carved into the stone suggests that it is over 1000 years old. It’s not easy to find but you must make the effort to look for it if you’re in the area. Map.

Sanur Coffee Shop

A quick Google search gave us two decent looking options for good coffee. Joanna bought a sarong from the first option but we decided to go for coffee at ‘Rumah Sanur Creative Hub’ (map) which is a community centre that promotes local artists and musicians. There is a coffee shop, a bar and restaurant, and meeting rooms to hire. Apparently, there is live jazz in the evenings. The coffee was good and the place had a cool vibe about it.

Massimo Ice Cream

We had read online that this Italian restaurant served delicious ice-cream. With over 40 flavours to choose from and everything (including the cones) made onsite, I had to see if it lived up to the hype.

As well as the impressive choice, I was impressed by the price. Only 25,000 IDR for a cone with 3 scoops! That was a surprise. I opted for wildberry cheesecake, lemon sorbet and ‘smurf’ flavours. They were all delicious. It’s a thumbs-up from me!

Sanur Beatles Bar

One of the less known places that I wanted to visit was a Beatles-themed bar that was near our accommodation. Google has it called ‘Beatles Bar’ and ‘Cavern Club’. Either way, it is located here. It is supposed to cost 30,000 IDR to enter (includes a free drink) but the guy said we could have a look for free. The owner has built an impressive collection of memorabilia, including Russian vinyl that was never released as it was banned by the authorities for promoting western values. He also has the actual table that the band signed their record contract with Parlophone. For a small town in Bali, this is pretty impressive.

We stayed for a beer and the guy put Beatles’ videos on for us to enjoy the music.

We ended the night having some pretty poor food at ‘Warung Pengkola’ (map). It has good reviews online but we found it pretty poor and other people were complaining too.

Taman Festival Bali

Much to my delight, I discovered that Sanur has an adandoned theme park, right on the coast (map). Apparently, it has been non-functioning since 1997 and nature and street artists have turned the place into something of a creepy dystopia. This sounded right up our street.

It took around an hour to reach the location. The bars and restaurants soon thin out and then disappear entirely as you head to the most northern point of the beach. We did, however, see lots of people practicing their kite-flying skills in preparation for the upcoming kite festival.

Scam Alert!

We reached the old entrance to the theme park and were immediately approached by a local who insisted we needed to pay him to enter. There was no signs indicating this anywhere and it is an ABANDONED theme park so I ignored him and continued. He then got very aggressive and insisted that we had to pay him 20,000 IDR each or get off the premises. I asked for a ticket which he obviously could not provide. He then called for backup and a bigger fellow appeared, again asking for 20,000 each. Eventually, I offered 20,000 for the two of us but they refused. What to do? We had walked for an hour to get here and 20,000 is just over £1 but I really did not want to pay these guys. In the end, we walked away. We were really sorry to have missed this but those guys were so aggressive and trying to scam us. Apparently, if you walk straight up the beach past the main entrance, you can get in for free in a side entrance. Take plenty of mosquito repellent as the place is supposedly swarmed with the little nuisances.

Pizza Therapy

It was a long walk back after this miserable experience and we still had not eaten. After another hour or so, we arrived back at the main beach. We came across ‘Tootsie Bar’ (map) and ordered vegetarian pizza to cheer us up. They were delicious!

Sanur Bars

In the evening, I went out for a few beers again. I started the night in ‘Segara The Seaside’ (map) and had a nice, cool beer to the sounds of 60s music and the waves. I then moved on to ‘Warung Sports’ (map) for another beer before ending up back at ‘Lim Ling’. If I wasn’t sure on my previous visit if this was a pick-up bar, I was certainly convinced this time. As soon as I sat down, a ‘lady’ asked if she could sit with me. I made it quite clear that I wasn’t interested and instead sat and enjoyed a few beers whilst listening to great music and enjoying the ladies of the night try their luck with any foreigner that entered. They leave you alone once they get the message that you are not interested so don’t let it put you off coming here. It’s a very friendly bar with great music. And yes… I ended up at Mcdonald’s again.

Sanur Coffee Shop

As we said goodbye to our wonderful accommodation, we headed to where our bus would be departing three hours later. This time, we were taking the Perama shuttle (map) to the airport.

We stopped for great coffee and pancakes at ‘Booster Coffee’ (map) and they were happy to let us stay and use their WiFi for an hour or so after we had finished our drinks.

We headed towards our departure point, but still had time to have a quick lunch in ‘The Cameng’ (map). We then had to wait for our bus which was half an hour late, causing some anxiety but it got us to the airport in time (though it did drop us off at the wrong terminal).

Is Sanur Worth Visiting?

I would definitely recommend adding Sanur to your Bali itinerary. It has a quiet charm, despite its many restaurants and resorts and is a much more laid back alternative to Kuta.