Sister Sister Travels

Canggu is where we started our trip around Bali, where we settled into the Bali way of life and really found our feet. Therefore, below we’ve created a Canggu guide for you. Hopefully you’ll fall in love with it as much as we did.

Last time we were in Bali (many moons ago) we stayed in the Kuta/ Seminyak area. However, these two locations are now a little touristy for our liking, so we decided to go somewhere new. Canggu is a little further up the norther shore, it has a really chilled and laid back vibe, as well as being great for surfing, good food and beach bars.

Here we go…

Where we stayed: Shore Amore Canggu

This is a brand new hotel at the northern end of the Canggu. It has basic rooms as well as beautiful villas with private pools, we opted for a villa. The decor is simplistic and quite rustic, absolutely perfect for a cool, relaxing room after a hot day on the beach.

However, as it has just opened there were a few hitches. One morning breakfast took 45-minutes to come, plus they were still getting to grips with booking tours and transfers so we ended up doing this independently through a travel agent in town.

How many days: 5

You could stay in Canggu for a long or as little time as you want. We met people who were staying there for two weeks just relaxing, hitting up the numerous beach bars and eating good food – it’s got enough to keep you occupied. However, there were some people who aren’t there for a chilled break but to travel and see as much ‘of the real traditional Bali’ as they can, so they stop off for one night and then go on their merry way. It’s up to you, but we think 3-5 days is perfect to see the town.

What to do: 

La Brisa

Now, as we said hitting up the beach bars was one of our favourite activities while we were there and our absolute favourite one was La Brisa. It’s again near the northern end of the beach and basically the coolest tree house we’ve ever seen. The bar had beanbags down on the sand (which bars in Bali don’t!?), some rickety stairs, two pools and a number of different levels to chill out on. It’s a perfect place to watch the sunset, we actually ended up doing this three times over the five days!

La Brisa has a really chilled, laid back atmosphere so don’t expect people popping champagne like they do at Finn’s or Mr Potato Head… this place is for funky music and getting merry.

The Lawn

The Lawn is a slightly different place to La Brisa and this is where we chose to spend our whole final day in Canggu. It’s a little more clean cut, more out in the open and to be honest better for getting a tan. It’s an extremely fun place to be but again doesn’t have the mayhem of Finn’s or Mr Potato Head.

The pool has a swim up bar, plus there’s security on all entrances so you can go for a swim/drink and not worry about your belongings. Similar to La Brisa it’s a fab location for sunset and the food is so brilliant, especially the prawn taco’s!

The Lawn is 100% our recommendation if you wanted to spend the day in one place and take part in some casual day time drinking.

Road Trip: Handara Gate, Ulun Danu Temple, Leke Leke, Wanagire Hidden Hill

When we were in Canggu we loved the chilled beach bar vibe, but midway through the stay we started to get itchy feet and planned a road trip to the north of the island. We created your standard Bali check list of a temple, a waterfall, a gate with some random wooden things you can sit on a have your photo taken and we were off. Here where we went in order of our favourites;

Leke Leke: The most amazing waterfall we saw on the entire trip! We were there at midday and due to the teeny tiny roads you need to go down to get there (which no coach or tour bus can fit down) it was only us! Plus, the water is dreamy.

Ulun Danu Temple: The is a beautiful temple on the water over a large site. It’s an incredible setting and we absolutely loved it – although the coaches and tour buses can get here so best to go early if you can. You can even get a boat out on to the lake to take a closer look.

Wanagire Hidden Hill: The view from up here is breathtaking. It looks over Lake Buyan and you can see the rolling hills in the distance. It’s worth going up her just for the view. However, if you like taking pictures there are a multiple bamboo and wooden swings/ nest to sit in. It’s extremely touristy, but if you go prepared and understand this you’ll love it.

Handara Gate: This was the most underwhelming stop of the day. It’s the entrance to a functioning golf course and just didn’t really have any magic to it… it was just a gate. I would say that its worth a miss but we were going past it anyway so why not?

Where to eat: 

Billy Ho – Incredible Japanese fusion restaurant. It was our favourite dinner location while we were there and would be happy to pay ‘London prices’ for the food.

Poke Poke – The best lunch destination in the whole of Canggu without a doubt. It’s a little further up strip from the beach but trust us it is worth the walk. The tuna with wasabi pokee bowl is amazing.

Laclita Bar Y Cocina – If you looking for something a little different this place serves awesome Mexican tapas. You can sit out on the road and watch people go by, but we would recommend being inside because that’s where the atmosphere really is.