Information on Sanur, Bali

In a few days I will be off to Asia again, for a long stay. As always, photography is my primary goal, 'tho visiting new places and getting to know people are equally my reasons for travel. I will be traveling out of Brunei, initially to Sarawak and eventually, to Sabah and on to Malaysia, and from there ??? Wherever the monsoon winds take me.

In May, I will be in Bali for a week, to meet up with four old friends I haven't seen for many years. I had hoped they would meet me in Malaysia, but it has to be Bali, a stopover for them on the way to Australia.

I haven't been to Bali for such a long stay in what seems like a small eternity. Given our ages (60s-70s) and interests, we all prefer not to stay in the Kuta-Legian-Seminyak 'strip' which, if what I'm told now is accurate, is now more a mecca for bargain shoppers than in the (not so) good old days when every 'yahoo' in the Antipodes went to Kuta for boozing and partying. (I do mean the term 'yahoo' in the most sympathetic way, as I was one in the '70s!).

Sanur has been suggested as a pleasant alternative.

My problem is that I haven't been to Sanur for such a long time, I doubt I could even find it on the map. Joking - I know it's just to the north of the Kuta strip and to the east of Denpasar city, 'tho I suspect my Bali map was used by James Cook in his long ago travels. I have good memories of Sanur as a pleasant, laid back small seaside community with an okay if not spectacular like Kuta beach, a long board walk along the water front, and just enough good restaurants and other venues to keep we 'oldies' busy for a week or so.

For photography, I will be looking for temples and religious events. I've always found there is a wealth of information available on Bali temples and religious activities in the older guidebooks. My usual equipment - Nikon D700, 20-28-60-85 lenses, and my Fuji GA645wi with B&W film - will suffice as it has before. I now shoot entire black-and-white with the Fuji, an exceptionally good 120 roll film camera (as you probably all know) which has rekindled my old passion for film photography.

For this trip, I have memories of a mid-'90s visit to Bali, during which time I shot many older temples in the Denpasar, Mengwi and Bedugul area. If time allows, I will try to organise an air conditioned car and driver and take my friends up to Bedugul, where I understand there is a pleasant and reasonably new botanical gardens, also the beautiful old temple complex with its lake backdrop. I will try to do a little OL research, but as I have always done, I like to talk to other photographers about my travels, and ask for (and often give) advice.

Has anyone been to Bali, specifically to Sanur recently, and if so, please would you let me have your good advice about where to stay, where to eat, and what to see and do there?

Thank you all in advance.

JD in Hobart, Tasmania.

Hi JD,

I went to Bali just over 2 years ago, and mostly spent it in Ubud, the Gili Islands, and ended the trip in Kuta/Sanur for a few days. The Kuta/Sanur part was definitely the most disappointing. Highly developed (for tourism), it lacked any and all of the charm of the other parts of the country that we had been to. Plus, the garbage on the beach was incredible! They picked 2 tons of garbage off the beach every day. I think that may be a seasonal thing (we were there late Dec/early Jan) so it may not be an issue for you when you go, but I would definitely look into it. When we were there the beaches were a huge garbage dump - you couldn't sit on the sand, swim, nothing. All the tourists stood at the edge looking towards the equally filthy sea. If we had known we would have gone to the less touristy (but equally nice) beaches to the north or east of the island. However, as we didn't go I can't tell you much about them. Ubud was definitely the highlight of the trip, although there were a lot of tourists there too. Still worthwhile though.

Hello, mooseontheloose, ozmoose here! As an Aussie 'transplant', Bali was long on the radar for me, from the 1970s and until about 2005-2006 I made many stopovers there on the way and from other Asian destinations. Kuta was the most convenient overnight place, especially after Ubud became too commercialised and overdeveloped '90s and lost much of its old charm in the mid '90s. During the busiest times (holiday periods, July to September, December to February) the place turns into a stinkhole, but according to a friend who was recently there and has just emailed me, it's currently uncrowded and very clean and offering good prices for hotels, excellent restaurants, easy travel, prices not overly high. Apparently the beaches are uncrowded and very clean at present, with the usual annoying local sellers and hordes of beggars aggressively demanding "uang! uang!" from the tourists firmly under control by the authorities. On the other hands I've seen it as you described, and I would willingly sleep on a bed of nails than go there at times when it's infested by Aussie bogans or Eurotrash. As for Ubud, it was beautiful in its time, but now has increasingly the reputation of being Kuta without a beach. Sad, but as we know all things change or end and times wait for no-one.

My friend who recently emailed said there are now many small 'pop' hotels in the Legian area, offering good prices (apparently his comfortable small room with AC, basic breakfast and even a pool) cost him A$45 a night, which is worth considering if and when I return to Bali on my own. With older, more demanding friends, Sanur will be our hangout this time. Same friend confirmed it is still largely unchanged, with excellent hotels, good food, a laid back scene with good bars and pubs, and ever beautiful surrounds. A walk along the ocean boardwalk which stretched a full five kilometers from north to south, in the early morning or evening when the ocean breezes dissipate the heat of the day and the trees provide good shade cover, with a stop for a coffee or a shot of local arak with ice and lemon from long-established beachfront places like the Sanur Bay Cafe and Resto, is a definite must. In the shopping area along the main street, the celebrated Cafe Batujimbar is renowned for its excellent food and full bar service, or in fact in any of the small cafes along the small shopping 'strip' adjoining to the Hardys shopping arcade. Both are well-established and popular expat places, so I feel quite safe in mentioning them. The Sanur beaches, while not as impressive as Kuta's or Legian's, are good for snorkeling or a quick dip to cool off in the heat of the day.

It was good to get this information and I wanted to pass it on.

We will, I think, make a fast car trip to Ubud, if only to sit in the cool of one of the old established restaurants like the Lotus, and soak up the peacefulness of the temple and pond.

For photographers, I have some interesting news. One of the Denpasar photo shops (there are two or three, and my friend didn't identify the particular one by name) is again selling film, with a reasonable stock of fresh 35mm color negative and black and white and even a few rolls of 120 (Shanghai, I believe). If anyone wants to locate the shop, take a taxi to Jalan Sulawesi (the street with the dozens of sarung and textile shops), get off at the fruit sellers area near the old pasar (market), walk to the corner, cross the street, and turn right. An effortless walk down two short blocks will take you to the shops and, a little further on, the impressive Merdeka (independence) monument, the alun-alun (city square) and the Bali Museum, which (to me anyway) is one of the very few must see sites in Denpasar.

A not so brief note, this, but I did want to say thank you for the good information you provided. I now look forward to my return visit to Bali for a week, which will be in mid April.

JD in Hobart, Tasmania.