So the nice thing about this villa is it’s inside the resort so we get the best of both worlds – room service and a gorgeous resort + private pool and quiet. I loved the quiet, the private pool and the very comfy lounges inside and outside! Don’t think I will pay Hyatt prices again (ridiculous) and will instead pay for villa experience without the need for resort amenities. I will make sure we are near the beach though.
Days 6-8 this time around were much of muchness…we slept in, ate lunch locally, read books or swam and then went to various happy hours and dinner each night. Which was exactly what I wanted! A large part of this trip was about a break for me from work/study.
Places in Sanur we ate at this trip included.
Naughty Nuri’s (western tourist pricing) – ribs and steak skewers good, so were the cocktails ✅
Pelisi at Alantara Hotel – lots of western food at resort prices but also indo stuff was well priced and tasty from the menu. Cocktails delicious and based in our hotel so easy to get to! ✅
The shed (formally named the men’s shed) was one of the few walkable places from our first accomodation this time. Very western and car focused but drinks well priced and food looked okay ✅
Happy hour in the Tree Top Bar at the Maya or breakfast. Can’t beat the view! We ate and drank here quite a few times and it’s a definite favourite ✅
Warung Mama Sanur – yummy food, good local prices. Soto Ayam and rendang were really good ✅
Hyatt beach bbq grill + free flowing drinks package with fire dance was GREAT! Not cheap but the food was delicious, the dance was impressive and the drinks were very….boozy lol. Definitely a lovely treat to engage with ✅
Cafe Batujimbar. Breakfast and drinks were western pricing but juices in particular were very refreshing and large ✅
Pizzaria: we just had a happy hour drink and their service was so, so bad. Apparently the food is good, and the pizza gets rave reviews ✅
Blue oven: Andaz Hyatt resort lazy dining but their sate ayam was delicious and the pizza was expensive but tasty ✅
Tandjung Sari: on the beach walk, nice view, definitely more pricey but really tasty indo food ✅
Pier 8 – lovely beach view and strong cocktails, food was nice but very pricey ✅
Annnnd the last one on the list is Izakaya Kuu at Maya Resort which has an amazing lunch offer of $8.5 AUD for ramen, 2 gyoza and iced tea at lunch! Super tasty ✅
So….just to be clear this place isn’t usually within our travel budget. It’s a one off to celebrate my 40th and my thesis submission for a PhD! We are staying at the Andaz by Hyatt in Sanur for the next few nights in a garden pool villa and it’s just lovely. We are now back on the main beach so everything is within walking distance again. On checkin the room wasn’t quite ready so we lazed by the “adult only quiet pool” and had some snacks.
At 3pm we checked in, and our villa is beautiful and quiet…as you’d hope. We have a private pool and are surrounded by mature trees and nature which is so calm and relaxing.
We went for a wander for dinner in the evening and headed 400m up the street to Warung Mama Sanur which had excellent rendang and Ayam Soto, as well as cheap soft drinks. This place came up a few times in my research for local eateries and I definitely recommend it if you’re down the south end of the Main Street.
I do want to mention somewhere….they are spending a huge amount of money fixing up all of the sanur footpaths on the main road which is fantastic. They are doing a really good and thorough job however it has made things a little bit tricky for me with my mobility issues. I just have to go slow. Once they are done it will be an excellent tourist selling point.
We also went on a bit of an adventure last night to test out Bali’s tourist medical systems lol. In under an hour and with a total cost of $45 AUD with no passport on me I got a prescription med I needed and only 1-2 awkward conversations to report back on for it…that was at 9pm at night as well! So probably a better experience than trying to get the same medication in Perth really.?
I woke up on day 5 to my 40th birthday! Yayyyyy old Mel!
We walked up to Cafe Batujimbar for some breakfast where B had fried rice and I had eggs and some very tasty juice. Not the cheapest option on the Main Street but very tasty fresh food, especially the squeezed juices.
Then it was pool time, reading in the sun and relaxation for the afternoon.
Dinner was a step away from local places tonight and instead we went to the Hyatt’s beach BBQ grill all you can eat. Cost is about $70 AUD but its buffet and includes all kinds of meat, sides, seafood and dessert. It was DELICIOUS! Really good quality food.
They also had fire dance performers with two live shows at 7:15am and 8am for diners. We added the drink package to our dinner too which came with unlimited cocktails, beer and wine.
So to show you where we stayed this time here’s the map. You can see here at Alantara Sanur we are much further inland and on the other side of the bigass highway which is not a fun process to cross. Price wise it was comparable to smaller places closer to the beach which surprised me….but no resort features so I see the trade off.
We are about a 10 min grab ($3) or shuttle (free from hotel) ride from the centre. The biggest issue here has been that while the villa is beautiful there is very little that’s walkable nearby. Most warungs are either closed now or just food carts and I prefer refrigeration. It’s also a good 20 min walk to the beach.
We did grab ($2.5) to Naughty Nuri’s to give it a go for the first time. Food was great! Prices are what you expect for a tourist focused place.
On day 2 we walked up to one of the only open nearby places called men’s shed. Pretty much what you expect from the name lol…old Aussie white dude runs it, lots of western food and white dudes inside. Beer was well priced and good music though!
Day 3 we did some pool lazing (still love the private pool) then caught the hotel shuttle into the beach area and had dinner and drinks on the beach at the Tree Bar. Definitely more my vibe.
We move to a much more central (and expensive!) location for the rest of this trip now but I don’t think I would stay here again. The distance from the centre and the highway didn’t work for us even with the private pool and villa. It was a good test of preferences and priorities!
This time we flew on the midday air Asia flight and it was amazing – nobody at Perth airport and nobody at Bali airport! Once again we did the online paperwork beforehand and it was 11 mins from disembarking to walking out the front door including a toilet stop. We travel with carry on only though.
Our first few nights are being spent further in from the beach this time around. So still Sanur but on the “other side” of the very scary highway. We are in a private garden villa with a pool at Alantara Hotel and so far it’s lovely. I got a very special birthday surprise on arrival. Well done B!
While we do have a private pool, we also have access to this gorgeous hotel pool and a swim up bar. We ate at the onsite restaurant for night one and the indo food options were only a small part of the menu but they were delicious.
Our goal for this part of the trip is to work out if I have a private pool, do I need a beach? I will say there are less food options here (and many without refrigeration which is a hard no for me with my stomach dramas) and I can already say I miss the boardwalk full of food a tiny bit.
Day 8 was our final full day. We pretty much followed our routine of get up late, have brakfast/lunch nearby, drink alcohol in the pool and read books.
Then dinner at a local warung! This time we tried Gazebo Warung – good food and good prices but stay away from the vegetation to the left of the beach dining area unless you want to be besties with some wild rats. Some very ballsy wild rats that will attempt to steal your food.
I booked our transfer to get us to the airport 3.5hrs before scheduled departure as I have read many recent horror stories about traffic around Kuta and on the road to the airport. It wasn’t necessary as we were very early (travelling on a Sunday helped) but made me less stressed. We used booking . Com for our airport transfers and it was $15 AUD each way. It was easy to book online and each time they contacted us via WhatsApp to confirm 24hrs before.
At the airport we accessed a pay per use lounge which is just a little bit more comfortable to wait in. It also meant someone came and met us on arrival which was an unexpected bonus of booking online through TonDesk. We arrived before our flight opened so they got us checked in via the service desk with priority boarding as well. The lounge we we booked into used to be called Premier Lounge (seems to be no name now) and is very basic…but at least you can easily find a power point and stretch out a bit. There are snacks and drinks too.
Packing list review:
Samsonite tiny bag did good! No room at all to spare though. For a longer trip or a touristy one I can see that might be an issue. The weight was also smack bang on 7kg (6.8 going over, 6.5 coming back) which would be a problem if I had to bring my laptop. Hmmm I do not like this 7kg including personal item nonsense. I still love travelling carry on only and not having to deal with luggage at either end though – and the sink washing is manageable now that we have mastered things like laundry sheets and the towel burrito to dry stuff quickly.
MVP items this time around: My linen/viscose loose tanks from sportsgirl were fantastic. Very pleased with those. Same with my denim shorts that I basically lived in! Perhaps next time I need 2 pairs? The weight is…a lot…for those though. I also really liked my black crz swim top which doubled as a tank top…a bit sweaty but also meant I could just pull shorts on and wander about near the beach without feeling too exposed. The other new item I had was a camixa lightweight crinkle linen shirt. It was cool, kept the sun off and dried fast. It also doubled as an extra layer when I got a bit cold sitting under aircon at the airport
Anything missing? Maybe need some more of the lightweight polyester crop tops as they dry super fast and are excellent in warmer places which have less modesty issues (eg Vietnam cities wouldn’t work, beach areas would).
Anything to leave behind? I could have left my Capri quick dry pants – I wore them once. I wore my linen pants on the plane and at dinner so they got a bit more use….I think both would have had more use if we had gone on day trips though so it depends on the type of holiday it is. And if it is raining I guess? I also had 6 pairs of undies (3 pyjama ones, 3 day ones) and as I spent so much time in bathers this was definitely overkill
Accomodation review:
We stayed at Ajanta Villas for around $200 AUD a night and while that seems cheap for a private villa, it’s reflective of the older accomodation style and some of the crappy fittings eg the shower is terrible. The staff were generally good (lower level English than the resorts but that’s fine for us) and we loved the private pool. It was also really close to restaurants, the beach and shops. I think we would come back here!
You do have to walk through the Sindhu Market to get to the beach and back which means ignoring people trying to get you into their shop and it feeling a bit dark/sketchy at night. If we had come back late at night I think we would have come in via the front rather than the market.
Sanur as a location for us
Mel thinks: I find Indonesian food a bit of a struggle as it seems to be very rice oriented and very heavy/greasy which really doesn’t sit well for me. I was able to find lots of alternatives as well as a few local dishes I could eat though. Soto Ayam for the win! The location, the quiet, the weather, the beach, the cost and the private pool all worked for me and I’m ready to just live here now 😂
B thinks: this was definitely a change of mind trip. Happy to come to Bali (Sanur in particular) again, especially for a 3.5hr flight time and with the changes in the visa entry process meaning you just walk right on through. Sanur is definitely what B was hoping Bali would be like the other times he has come. While we did get a bit of the street hassling “you see my shop” and “you need taxi” it was really minimal and they (mostly) respected a no thanks.
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Our next few trips aren’t too far away! Hamelin Bay in southwest WA again in December and then hopefully Vietnam/Singapore in April. Then maybe Bali for my “milestone” birthday and another big achievement at the end of next year
Little bird warung: tasty local food, cold beer, cocktails average. Live music most nights and across the road from Ajanta Villas
Glasshouse: western breakfasts, good aircon indoors, quiet
Soul on the beach: little bit more expensive but amazing beach views, nice fusion breakfast food / fancy presentation. Lots of juice options
Fisherman’s club: expensive but tasty drinks, lovely beach views, food very over rated from what we saw but this is attached to Hyatt so maybe a bad day?
The owl: yummy smoothie bowls and pancakes, good prices. Indoor seating with good aircon
Lilla Warung: the sister restaurant of Lilla Pantai. I had a chicken soup with rice that was delicious. Don’t order ridiculous fish things like B, even if it is a Chef’s recommendation. He was so disappointed
Lilla Pantai: B had nasi campur which was better, I enjoyed the beef rendang. The view was stunning at sunset although we were lucky to get the last free table without a booking and they were turning people away
Tree bar at Maya Sanur: happy hour drinks were delicious! The cocktails aren’t cheap but happy hour brings it down to comparable pricing for warungs. Food isn’t cheap but a few people said it was amazing
Memories on the beach: a great relaxing place for day drinking and ocean swims. We used the beach lounges and the cabanas and had food and drinks that were well priced with table service. The sate was particularly good
Warung happy monkey: great pricing, really good indo food. Will adjust the spice!
Taqisa: quesadilla good, average otherwise. Cocktails strong. More of a “quick eats” place than a restaurant but aircon was good
Massimos gelato: it’s gelato? Not sure about the hype here! They have bollards and security to control the lines that form apparently
Gazebo Warung: good food and good prices but stay away from the vegetation to the left of the beach dining area unless you want to be besties with some wild rats
We also went to Koral in Nusa Dua which was a degustation resistant. It was very pricey (our foodie experience for this trip) but really tasty. We had a table inside the aquarium tunnel which i highly recommend.
Today we were up relatively early (for a holiday) and caught a grab to Nusa Dua. It took about 45mins in the morning as traffic wasn’t too bad. I’ve been learning about Grab here (like uber) and it’s allowed in some places but in others the taxi mafia rule and they threaten the grab drivers…. Everything I’ve read here indicates grab drivers are pretty heavily exploited (a 45 min fare was $14) so we usually tip well and in cash. They also often don’t speak English well which is fine for me as I hate small talk lol.
The restaurant we had booked for my birthday lunch was Koral which is part of an absolutely, gigantic (ridiculous) resort. Seriously. Koral has a Michelin starred chef and you need to book a fair way ahead if you want an aquarium tunnel table! It’s a degustation with wines.
The food was very good and the wine pairings were delicious. Not a cheap experience but we do try to eat at one “amazing” foodie place on each trip. This one was very impressive in terms of presentation and we both liked watching the fish. And the really dumb stingray.!
We also got to see two super awkward marriage proposals which was a highlight, B kept hoping the diver would hold the sign up to the wrong couple. I liked it when the stingray took advantage of him holding the sign and tried to steal the divers snack bag.
After lunch we hung out at Reef Beach club. We swam in their infinity pool, lounged in a cabana, watched the ocean and enjoyed more drinks before heading home around 5:30pm.
Our trip back was also via Grab but traffic was much worse this time and it was 1hr 15 mins. We tipped really well for that one as the driver did a great job in the rain and with crazy cars all over the place. About an hour after we got back the villa staff called and asked me to come to the villa door….and they sang me happy birthday and gave me a cake! So for someone who usually has no birthday cake I got two this year 💜
Also…I finally got around to asking the hotel about a mattress topper the other day and omg it’s amazing. I can sleep!!!
We have spent the past few days relaxing and exploring some of the different restaurants near our villa at the North end of Sanur. We are right up near the top of the main street Jalan Danau Tamblingan and close to the beach (see blue dot on map).
We are staying at Ajanta Villas which we booked through booking . com for about $200 AUD a night. The group of villas is very quiet and each has its own pool. We can exit via a back entrance and walk 50m through a local market for direct access to the beach. It’s an older style villa so wooden furniture, tiled floors and older bathroom fittings with our villa having a separate bedroom and living area / kitchen. I am pretty much living in the private pool and am probably part mermaid by now! I can never go back to shared pools now haha. Some things to be aware of are you do need to walk through the marker to get to the beach / beach restaurants and they hassle you a bit….plus I can see it might be a bit creepy at night. We also have fireworks and dogs barking until about 10pm at night, all of which is very manageable.
Day 4 was another pool day with brekkie at a local Warung called Little Owl (breakfast bowl was delicious!) and dinner at Lilla Warung.
On day 5 we did a beach day! We went to Memories on Sanur Beach where you can get a sun lounge with a 100000IDR minimum spend ($10 AUD) as well as access to their pool and bar service. We had lunch, cocktails, swam in the ocean and relaxed on the sun lounge for a few hours. After dinner we wandered up and down the Sanur waterfront trying a few different venues. If is definitely very quiet here and lots of places are basically staffed by 12 people with 1-2 customers at this time of year.
After lounging by the beach all day, we wandered 2.5kms down the beach walk to Lilla Pantai for dinner. This was a better experience for B after his less positive experience the night before at their sister restaurant closer to our villa.
On the way back we stopped at the Tree Bar at Maya Sanur resort which was beautiful. Very, very pricey but a gorgeous view.
Day 6 was another pool day (definitely embracing villa life) and reading. It felt a lot more humid today so we haven’t ventured too far. We had lunch at Warung Happy Monkey which was some really tasty Indonesian food and went to the supermarket in the brand new, very flash icon Mall. We walked about 2kms to Taqisa for dinner. After dinner we had the famous Massimos gelato! No line for us although apparently people queue for hours for it…which seems a bit ridiculous.
Tomorrow is my birthday and we are off on an adventure!
On Day 2 we woke up and went exploring for breakfast. We started with Soul on the Beach which comes with a lovely reputation and ocean views.
We then paddled in our private pool, read books and had a nap before wandering across the road to Warung Little Bird. B had Mie Goreng and I had Nasi Goreng both with Ayam (chicken).
On day 3 we had a sleep in – needed after dealing with these very solid Asian beds. Maybe I need to start packing a mattress topper? We then had a western breakfast at Glasshouse next door to our villa before spending a few hours swimming in the villa pool and reading. I can never go back to shared swimming pools now, I’m ruined for life!
In the evening we walked about 1.5kms down the beach path. That’s a 5km path that’s paved and runs along the beachfront.
We were heading to a restaurant called Fisherman’s Basket. It is part of the Hyatt group and has great reviews but we thought it was meh…so we walked back up enjoying the sunset view and had a simple burger then some beers / soft drink back in the villa.
So far Sanur is a lot quieter than we thought and we are both definitely enjoying the private villa / private pool experience. I’m struggling a bit with a medication change and lack of sleep from the rock solid bed so not feeling 100% which is a challenge….but $3 smirnoffs from the supermarket help 😂
We packed very light this time as we wanted to do carry on only and Jetstar have a firm 7kg limit inclusive of a personal item (grumble grumble). Even Air Asia aren’t that strict.
I currently travel with a samsonite wheeled convertible “guardite” backpack which is 29L and B has a ULA Dragonfly backpack which is 26L. I do love my 36L osprey fairview wheeled bag and would take that for a longer trip but the smaller bag was perfect this time.
This is a rest and relaxation trip so I expect to spend a lot of time in my bathers! Below is my packing list this time around and it all fit in the bag at just under 7kgs (with things that would normally be in a personal handbag added as well). Wheeled bags always have a bit of extra weight to start off with as well – my samsonite one weighs in at 2.2kgs.
CLOTHING
2 small packing cubes
1 x cotton white tshirt
2 x linen loose tank tops
2 x crop tops
1 x 100% linen long sleeve cover up
1 x 100% linen resort pants
1 x denim shorts
1 x snag undershorts (tan) for dress
1 x merino sleep singlet
1 x merino sleep shorts
4 x modal travel undies
1 x monte Lou bikini set
1 x monte Lou black bikini bottoms + swim crop top black
Toiletries (liquid) bag: shampoo 100ml, conditioner 100ml tub, body wash 100ml, cleanser, 1x med face cream, clothing spray 50ml, 50ml CC face sunscreen, hand sanitiser
At Perth airport we accessed the aspire lounge so the waiting around part wasn’t too bad. We flew over on Jetstar as it was under $100 each due to my FF rewards points. Last time we flew Jetstar the flight was delayed 24hrs. This time our only hiccup was that at one stage they attempted to reschedule us to fly out 10 days later (after we were already home??). Other than that things went as smoothly as you can expect from a budget airline. I will say they do an awesome job with the sunflower lanyard, best airline so far I’ve used them with.
Make sure to be clear on all the documents you need to get here! There are a few extra things now that weren’t around when we last visited in 2022….and bring hard copies:
Visa
Customs declaration QR code
Monkey pox health clearance
Tourist tax receipt
Check the medications list and make sure you have a letter from your GP if needed. Only bring enough supply of any “touchy” meds for your use
All that + being aussies meant we went straight through the new electronic gates and were out in under 10 mins. Much better than 2hrs waiting in a queue at immigration! I had arranged transport via booking . com and it was about a 40 min drive to Sanur. We checked in at Ajanta Villas around 10:30pm so straight to bed after our welcome drink.
Mel's Travel Blog 