Bali's Sanur Beach Advice Guide

Sanur Beach is long and has white sand. It is also sheltered, which makes it suitable for swimming. However, sheltered beaches and being a fairly substantial tourist area does create a disadvantage in that the water quality is not as good as say Nusa Dua. Some people suggest you can snorkel off Sanur, but the reef died a long time ago and their are very few colorful fish to see. There are also multiple beach errosion problems in Sanur.

Sanur can be divided in to 4 areas. The north, Pantai, central and south. Given Sanur was the post independence choice of most Dutch ex-patriots, it also has a slightly more cultural feeling then other southern beach resort areas. Also, unlike Kuta / Legian, there are a large number of hotels that are actually on the beach (not separated from it by a road). Although there are a number of bars, it is not a young persons entertainment area like Kuta is. Sanur tends to attract more families.

The area is dominated by the Bali Beach Hotel, which is the only tower block hotel in Bali (the normal building regulations that state buildings can not be taller then the coconut palms was overlooked). Unfortunately also, the beach directly in front of this hotel is considered to be the dirtiest (most littered) beach in Bali. On the plus side, this area is used extensively by locals who bring their families here at weekends. So you do get to see a bit more of the real Bali.

Kuta beach and the area just south represents the busiest part of Sanur. I therefore has the most shops, restaurants and beach salespeople. Unfortunately, while Kuta moved many of it's hawkers out in 2001, Sanur did not. The result being that a walk along the beach front path (which runs the entire length of Sanur beach), gets pretty crowded with fellow tourists and "hawkers" along this section. The best areas of white sandy beach are here, and down central Sanur.

Despite the central location "tag", this area is a lot quieter then around Pantai. With fewer hotels and shops. The hotels that are here tend to be the larger hotels (with the exception of the Grand Bali beach) in Sanur, such as the Bali Hyatt. Although beach hawkers are around, there are not as many as further north.

The beach along the south in Sanur is not as nice as the beach further north, although there are exceptions to this rule. You will find a number of dive and beach sports operators in this area (at the beach end of Jalan Kesumawati). Plus, unfortunately, beach vendors offering massage services from young Indonesian girls. Despite this, further along the beach to the south, you feel that this area is more exclusive then most other parts of Sanur. Also, unlike Central Sanur, you will find a range of shops and restaurants here, but not anywhere near to the same extent as the Pantai Beach area.

We donate all of our direct reservation earnings from the hotels and villas on our site to a charity in Bali, which helps deprived Balinese children. When you book with and then stay and pay a hotel or villa in Sanur directly via our site you are basically making a donation to a very worthy cause at the same time, thank you (see our charity page).

If you would like to correct anything you believe is wrong or out-of-date here or provide extra text that could help others get the best out of Sanur please feel free to contact us. If you would like more tourism information on any aspect of travel to / holidays in Sanur, please visit our associated Bali Travel Forum.

If you have a favorite hotel or villa in Sanur or Nusa Lembongan which does not have a direct reservations facility with us, please feel free to either contact us with a name and email address for that hotel / villa or ask them to visit our site and register. The more hotels and villas around Sanur and Lembongan Island that join Travel Ethos, the more we can help needy children in Bali.