Sanur
Sanur is the one stretch of Bali's south coast where small children swim safely all year, behind a reef that holds the water flat. Sunrise out of the sea, and a paved seafront to cycle.
Sanur in a nutshell
Sanur: what to expect
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Sanur faces east, which makes it the one beach town on Bali that sells you a sunrise instead of a sunset. A reef sits offshore the whole length of the beach and takes the swell, leaving flat shallow water that small children can actually swim in. A paved promenade runs five kilometres from the Inna Grand Bali to Matahari Terbit, past warungs, juice stalls and fishing boats, and Sindhu night market grills fish at local prices.
Sanur is a port that happens to have a beach. More than four in ten of the stops planned here are a single night, third in the country behind Jakarta and Denpasar, because the fast boats to Nusa Penida and the Gilis leave from the new terminal. Travellers book Sanur 91 days out, the longest lead time in Indonesia, because the boat gets booked first.
So take 2 nights here before an early boat, and set an alarm for the sunrise. The lagoon is flat enough for windsurfing and kitesurfing, the promenade is the rare flat cycle in Indonesia, and Museum Le Mayeur sits on the beach in the painter's own house. Skip Sanur if you want surf, nightlife or a sunset over the sea, because the reef, the town and the coast all face the other way.
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Families with small children
The reef lagoon is the only stretch of Bali's south coast that is reliably safe to swim year-round.
Anyone catching a boat
Sanur is the port for the Nusas and the Gilis, and staying the night before an early boat is the practical move: most people give it 2 nights.
Cyclists and walkers
A flat, paved, 5 km seafront path is rare anywhere in Indonesia.
Older and returning travellers
Sanur is built for people who have done the strip and do not want to again, and it says so without condescension.
Kitesurfers and windsurfers
The flat lagoon water is the draw, and the Bali Kite Festival is held here.
Maybe not for you: anyone who wants a sunset over the sea, since this coast faces the wrong way; anyone who wants nightlife, which is Seminyak's job; surfers, because the reef takes the swell; and anyone looking for the Bali of the brochures, because Sanur is deliberately not that.
The best time to visit Sanur
Dry season
April to October
Calm, sunny and the season most travellers plan it for: July, August and September take more than four in ten Sanur trips on Stippl.
Wet season
November to March
Afternoon downpours, but the reef holds the lagoon flat and swimmable, which the west-coast beaches cannot say in January.
- Sanur's sea stays swimmable through the wet season, because the reef holds. It is the one Balinese beach town where a January trip still gets a beach, and the reason to look east when the west coast is under plastic.
- Sanur is planned about 91 days ahead on Stippl, longer than anywhere else on Bali, and July is its month. December takes almost nobody; the families who come here plan the summer early.
- The Bali Kite Festival is Sanur's own event, in July and August at Padang Galak and Mertasari. Giant traditional kites flown competitively by village teams, and the beach road closes for it.
- Nyepi closes the boats as well as everything else. The fast boats to Nusa Penida and the Gilis do not run for 24 hours, so a crossing booked across the date is not a crossing.
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Things to do in Sanur
Photo by Timur Kozmenko via Unsplash
Photo by sophie peng via UnsplashSunrise on the beach
Set an alarm for the one thing no other Bali beach town can offer: the sun coming up over Nusa Penida from the sand. Free, and the jukung fishing boats go out with it.
Cycling the promenade
Ride the four or five kilometres of flat paved path from the Inna Grand Bali to Matahari Terbit, past warungs and fishing boats, on a bike from any guesthouse for about €3 a day.
The fast boat to Nusa Penida
Take the thirty-to-forty-minute crossing from the new terminal, about €15 return, the town's main function and the way to the mantas. Book the first boat and the last boat back.
Sindhu night market
Eat fresh fish grilled to order at local prices, about €3 a plate, at the market a block behind the beach. Open from five, and the satay stalls at the back are the ones with the queue.
Museum Le Mayeur
Visit the house and studio on the beach where the Belgian painter settled in 1932 and married the dancer Ni Polok, now a museum of his paintings, about €3. An hour, and the garden is the reason.
Swimming in a calm sea
Swim from the beach in the only reliably calm water on Bali's south coast, behind the reef. Free, and high tide is the swimming tide; at low water the lagoon is knee-deep.
The neighbourhoods of Sanur
The promenade
Paved path, sunrise, calm sea
The central beachfront: the paved path, the older beach hotels, the warungs and the sunrise over the reef, with the calmest water on Bali. For first visits, families and anyone who wants to walk along the sea.
The sunrise and the calm, and the oldest hotels on the island.
Sindhu
Market, fish stalls, everyday town
The middle of town around the market: the night market, the fish stalls and the everyday shopping, with guesthouses in the lanes toward the beach. For eating and for a local base a few minutes from the sand.
The night market for dinner, and a walk to the beach.
North Sanur and Mertasari
Quieter ends, newer resorts
The northern and southern ends: quieter sand, the kite festival ground and the newer resorts. For a resort with a pool and a beach with fewer people.
Emptier sand and a pool, and a bicycle to the town.
The pier end
Boat terminal, transit hotels
The harbour end where every boat to Nusa Penida, Lembongan and the Gilis leaves, with plain hotels for the early departure. For the night before a boat.
The terminal at the door, and nothing to do the evening before.
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Where to stay in Sanur
Stay on the promenade for a first visit: the beachfront is worth paying for here in a way it is not elsewhere on Bali, because the paved path and the sunrise over the reef are what you came for. 42.22% of Sanur stops planned on Stippl are a single night, usually before an early boat; for that, book by the pier. Book ahead for July, August and the kite festival.
The promenade
The older beach hotels and resorts on the sand, €60 to €150, with the 1966 grand hotel at the top end.
Sindhu
Guesthouses and small pool hotels in the lanes toward the beach, €20 to €50, two minutes from the water.
North Sanur and Mertasari
€30–200
Newer resorts with pools and quieter sand, €80 to €200.
The pier end
Plain hotels and guesthouses for an early departure, €20 to €45, with the boat offices next door.
What to eat in Sanur
Fresh fish from the dawn fishing boats, the town's distinctive dish
Balinese ceremonial spit-roast pork, same as the rest of the island
Rice with a spread of small Balinese sides, the everyday plate
Fresh coconut sold from carts
Coffee and breakfast on the beach at sunrise, the local ritual
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Sanur customs and what not to do
A fishing beach too
The jukung go out before dawn and come back onto the sand, and that end of the beach is a workplace; walk round the boats and buy fish at the morning stalls.
Older, quieter, and it shows
Sanur is the retirees' and families' coast, and loud beach behaviour lands differently here than in Seminyak; the promenade is a walking path, not a strip.
Le Mayeur is a house
The painter's home is a museum as much as a house and still feels like the latter; shoes off, no flash, and the garden is the family's.
Bargain in the market only
Sindhu market expects it; the promenade stalls and the warungs have fixed prices and the beach masseuses quote a rate that is already fair.
Do
- Set an alarm for sunrise; it is the whole point of the east coast
- Hire a bicycle rather than a scooter
- Stay here the night before an early boat to the Nusas
- Eat at Sindhu night market
Don't
- Come for a sunset over the sea; the coast faces the wrong way
- Expect nightlife
- Expect surf; the reef takes it
- Assume the old beach-launch boat descriptions still apply; there is a terminal now
What a Sanur trip costs
Budget
€22–34
Promenade-side guesthouse, warung meals, a bicycle.
Mid-range
€50–95
Beachfront hotel, restaurant eating, a boat day to the Nusas.
High-end
€155+
Beach resort, a driver, private boat charters.
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Fun facts about Sanur
Sanur is the only beach town on Bali with a sunrise instead of a sunset. The beach faces east, so the event of the day is at six in the morning, with the fishing boats out on calm water.
The Belgian painter Jean Le Mayeur settled on the beach in 1932. His house is now a museum on the promenade, and his paintings of his wife, the dancer Ni Pollok, are still inside it.
Bali's first international hotel opened in Sanur in 1966. The Inna Grand Bali Beach was built with war reparations from Japan, and a rule limiting buildings to the height of a coconut palm followed it.
The reef makes Sanur calm enough for young children all year. It sits offshore the whole length of the beach, takes the swell, and leaves flat shallow water behind it.
The kites at the Bali Kite Festival are tens of metres across. Village teams fly them competitively over the Sanur fields every July, and it takes a dozen people to launch one.
Sanur is administratively part of Denpasar. The beach town sits inside the provincial capital's municipality, which is why the fast boats to the Nusas and the Gilis leave from here.
Local tips for Sanur
The front door to the Nusas
Most of Sanur's traffic is the fast boat to Nusa Penida and Lembongan from the new terminal, about €15 return. Take the morning boat and the last one back.
Bicycles and the promenade
The flat five-kilometre path is the town, and a bike from any guesthouse for about €3 a day is cheaper than a scooter and the way to use it. Sunrise on it is the reason.
Most people stay two nights
42.22% of stops are a single night, which is the boat the next morning. Two gets the promenade, a swim and a Penida day with the return.
The safe swim in the south
Sanur is the exception to Bali's rip-prone beaches: the reef takes the surf and the lagoon is calm. High tide is the swimming tide; at low water it is knee-deep for a hundred metres.
Reef shoes, not rips
The lagoon's actual hazard is sea urchins and coral underfoot. Wear reef shoes in the shallows and swim in the roped areas off the hotels.
Boat safety starts at the pier
The crossings to the Nusas and the Gilis are open water with operators of every standard. Pick a boat with life jackets on the racks and take the morning sailing.
Sanur questions, answered
As the calm coast and the port for the Nusa islands. Travellers planning Sanur on Stippl book about 91 days out, the longest lead on Bali, because it fills with families and with people who want the early boat. Put the Nusa Penida crossing into Stippl on a morning.
Two or three nights. 2 nights is the normal stay in the Sanur stops planned on Stippl, which is a sunrise, a day on the reef flat and the promenade by bicycle. Longer if you are using it as a base for the Nusas rather than a stop on the way to them.
Both, and the split shows: 42.22% of Sanur stops planned on Stippl are a single night, which is the ferry-port effect rather than a verdict on the town. The people who stay longer are families and older travellers, and they are here for the calm water.
It is quiet, the crowd is older, and nobody pretends otherwise. It is also the only calm swimming water on Bali's south coast, protected by a reef, with a paved promenade the length of the beach and the best sunrises on the island. Whether that is boring depends on what you came for.
Fast boat from the Sanur terminal, thirty to forty minutes, with departures through the morning and the afternoon. Take a morning one: the sea gets choppier as the day goes on, and the island's coasts are a long ride apart once you land. Book the return before you go across.
It is the standard answer for exactly that on Bali. The reef takes the swell out, so the water is flat and shallow a long way from shore, the promenade is car-free for a cycle, and the hotels are set up for it. The trade-off is low tide, when the sea retreats a very long way.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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