See you later, Canggu, Bali, Indonesia 🇮🇩

Here are tips for planning your visit to Canggu, Bali, in Indonesia recommended by Emille, from NY See You Later. 🌴

Our favorite islands in Indonesia are Bali and Nusa—by a long shot. Canggu, pronounced “chan-goo,” is our favorite city in Bali for several reasons. It’s the kind of place that upon visiting, most travel content creators, digital nomads and travelers never want to leave. It is luxurious and captivating at any budget level—from five-star resorts on the beach to ten-dollar-a-day-homestays with a pool and a kitchen—you will be enchanted by the accommodations, natural beauty and friendly residents. It is both a destination, and a haven of recuperation for weary travelers.

Canggu, although fairly well known, is more affordable and less touristy than Ubud, Seminyak, Tanah Lot, Kuta and others—which are a “must visit,” but are less relaxing. OneHeart Church, overlooking the beach, is one of the friendliest, most welcoming groups of people you’ll encounter in the world. There are countless epic surf spots, beaches, gyms, healthy restaurants, clubs, bars, coffee shops, clothing stores, markets and spas—where massages can start at $4 USD for an hour.

Just over twenty minutes north of Seminyak is the village of Canggu, nestled snuggly on the beach. Tanah Lot is located another twenty minutes north of Canggu. North from the village of Berawa to that of Cemagi, a bit north of Seminyak, the coastline runs just under 10 kilometers and includes several beaches along the way, such as the beaches of Selasih, Mengening, Pererenan, Echo, Seseh, Batu Bolong, and Nelayan. Canggu generally refers to this coastal region. Though in the past this was a remote rural area, it has become a suburb of Denpasar, which is generally overrun with tourists and traffic.

If you enjoy fresh fish or shell fish, you’ll find them at Fisherman Beach, known as Nelayan Beach to the locals. Unlike many beaches found around the world, the sand on these beaches is dark, almost black in fact, and even though the litter is far less than neighboring beaches, they are not too alluring to tourists. But not so for surfers, who are seeking the celebrated waves. We highly recommend this coastline between July and October. As usual in Indonesia, you’ll find the cheapest mode of transportation to be scooters.

⏰ How long to visit

At least 3 to 5 days, but we prefer to apply for a “visa upon arrival” for 30 days plus an extra 30 days. 😉

📆 When to go

“High season” for tourism is July through October. “Low season” also known as “rainy season” is November through February.

🛵 Transportation—Rent a scooter

That’s the most affordable way to get around Bali, and Southeast Asia. Price varies depending upon the city. For example, the average price in Canggu is Rp 50k ($3.35 USD) per day, or Rp 700—750k per month. In Ubud the price goes up to Rp 60—80k ($4—5.35 usd) per day, and so on. We highly recommend obtaining an international motorcycle driver’s license in advance and wearing a helmet at all times. Police are rarely visible, but spot-checks for each are fairly common and costly. We also recommend getting a high-visibility, reflective jacket for use at night when riders travel at higher speeds.

🏡 🏨 Where to stay

We found guesthouses and homestays to be the most affordable, in the Rp 150—300k ($10– 20 USD) range per day. Some include breakfast, a pool or a kitchen. If you’re looking to splurge, there are several hotels by the beach that will pamper you in style. We stayed at Homestay 46 & Ok Bali. You can find several options at Booking.com—take advantage of our referral link to save $15 USD, and our Airbnb link for $40 USD off for new customers.

🍔Where to eat in Canggu 🍱

🥥 The naked coconut (perfect for a “chill beach day”)
🍚 Matcha cafe
☕️ Ruko cafe
🍔 Island bagels
🥗 Missubu Cafe
🥟 Nude — burgers and more
☕️ Canggu nest
🥡 Cinta Cafe
🍧 Silkroad Cafe — best smoothies
🥙 Milk & Madu— best coconut latte & pancakes
🍝 Quince cafe
☕️ Gourmet cafe
🌯 Peleton — best vegan burgers
🍵 Satu—Satu
🥗 Bungalow living
🍽 Macan Cafe
☕️ Pomelo Cafe
🍛 Sprout
☕️ Hungry bird cafe
🥧 JI Restaurant
🥂 Fishbone local
🍛 Potato Head Beach
🍵 Beach garden in the raw
🥓 The slow
🥘 The practice
🥗 Gypsy kitchen
🥑 The avocado factory — only open until 5pm
☕️ Mocca cafe
🥙 Deus ex-Machina
🥗 Betelnut Cafe
🥙 Motion cafe — fitness diets
🍳 The loft cafe
🍱 Cafe vida — bowls and more
🍵 Crate cafe
🌶 Chillhouse
🍚 Oma Jamu— cheap and vegan buffet
🥧 Copenhagen
☕️ Give cafe
☂ La brisa

⛪✝️ Church

OneHeart Church is one of our favorite churches. People meet on the beach before church to surf, throw Frisbees and hang out. They meet in the second floor of the Keraton Hotel (Next to Finn’s Club) in Canggu at 4:30 pm on Sundays, overlooking the beach, and afterwards everyone dines together downstairs at the restaurant. They would also love for you to join them on Sunday at 10am in The Novotel, if you are in Nusa Dua.

🏋️ Where to exercise

CrossFit Wanderlust and CrossFit S2S are our favorites. There are several options for yoga and gyms at various price points.

🎓 What we learned, but wish we had known beforehand

We knew to download the Grab and GoJek apps for transportation, but didn’t know that we could have used them at the airport. For our first visit to Bali, we had booked our initial lodging in Seminayk, which is Rp 65k from the airport via the apps. However, all of the taxi drivers and signs indicate that the apps are illegal at the airport, so we were duped into paying Rp 190k for a taxi. We ended up walking across the street with the taxi driver to his van in the parking garage, which is a legal pickup location for the apps, we later discovered. On our subsequent visits, we carried our luggage to the parking garage, while telling all 50 taxi drivers that we were meeting our friend in the garage, and then used the app to save money and hassle.

Only use official bank ATMs, as credit card fraud is prevalent in Southeast Asia. Befriend a local and ask them to purchase an internet data package and sim card for your mobile phone. That way you won’t be scammed into getting a terrible tourist data plan, limited to 2GB for social media, 1 GB for Indonesian movie apps and 5GB for “local data”—which will not work outside of that immediate area. Check out our explainer video on YouTube here.

🚁 Sights

We recommend waking up early for sunrise photos and smaller or non-existent crowds. Bring folding money as some of the sights are still cash only.

⛩ Temple close by Tanah Lot
🏖 Echo beach
🌴 Badung

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