We flew air Asia from Perth (with fast pass for extra carry on and priority boarding). We are also visiting in late June this time so I could have a holiday without my laptop (online lecturer) for the first time in maybe 4 years? It did mean we paid a higher price even with the budget airline as its peak weather and travel season. We also do day flights (11am – 1pm) which further adds to the cost. So our airfares were literally double compared to when we come in Nov/Dec during wet season…$1100 then but $2300 this time for both of us return. That does include all the air Asia add ons including extra legroom, priority boarding, lounge access, extra carry on and an included meal.
We are staying at Ellora Villas this time which is the slightly more expensive sister villas to Ajanta Villas where we have also stayed in the past. They are not on the beach but are a 3 min walk away straight through icon mall and based right between the smaller local road and highway. Price point was very good for being in the heart of Sanur with a private pool ($182 a night, no breakfast added via booking . com). Plus the villa is beautiful:
My goal this time around is to explore various happy hours and find accurate info. Lots of the online stuff is either incorrect, way out of date or completely missing as Balinese don’t really do social media/websites. So I’m going to create some accurate info rather than having to trawl various Facebook posts and pages.
We started last night with Natys Bar and Grill which is in the outside, beach front section of Icon Mall. Their happy hour is not at all well advertised but runs from 4-6pm and it’s 2 for 1 on all cocktails….and they were very good! Definitely not watered down lol. We had 4 cocktails and it came to about $22 AUD in total and didn’t try the food. Some nice beach views too.
For dinner we walked 5 mins down the road to Lilla Warung which has finally reopened. Both food and drinks are still very good!
Exit note: we usually use the Tujwan Lounge on our way out at the international airport which is a pay per use one. It was the premier lounge previously (so bad) but was upgraded in 2025 and is much nicer now. This time around we have used the wise travel hub option (under cards in the app) and bought access to Concordia lounge for the same price.
Based on reviews I have read, it will still bequite cramped and crowded (they always are) but seats look comfy, power points easy to find and the food/drink is apparently noticeably better quality. No booze though and it seems it may be worse than Tujwan….will report back.
Mel's Travel Blog 