Bali's quiet east coast. A sunrise beach, a calm lagoon and the least demanding place on this site.
Scored belowPairs with TulambenSanur faces east, which means sunrise over water and a reef-protected lagoon that stays flat when the rest of the island's coast is not.
It is quieter and older than Seminyak or Canggu, and it suits a trip that is about resting rather than doing.
It scores modestly and honestly. Sanur is pleasant rather than remarkable, and it is on this site because it is where I have actually stayed.
The quiet side of Bali, facing east. Sanur gets the sunrise, the flat water and the fishing boats going out before anyone else is awake, and it gives up almost all of the noise.
Scored on the same rubric as every other place here, and published whether or not the number flatters. One of the four came in under seventy; the lowest is fifty-five.
The dot is Sanur; the pale band is where the other three places on this site fall on that axis. How the scoring works
Nothing here is demanding. It is flat, walkable and warm, and the hardest thing you will do is get up for sunrise, which is the only reason to be on this coast in the first place.
April to June is when Sanur is at its best. Tap any month for what the water is actually doing.
Visibility, sea state, what is in the water and how much of it you can count on. The season turns at April and again after June.
Sanur works as a first or last stop. It is close to the airport and undemanding after a long flight.
There are no photographs from this trip on the site yet. It was shot on film in 2000 and 2001 and the scans are not done; the scores and the conditions below are complete.
Light scores a 6. East-facing means dawn over water and nothing at all at the other end of the day.
The beach path at sunrise, the fishing boats and the lagoon at low tide are the frames worth setting an alarm for.
Craft and culture are present but thinner than Ubud. This is a beach town.
Six I dived more than once and would plan a week around, named as the resort names them.
Dawn
Five kilometres of paved path along the front. Best before seven.
Colour and form
Traditional outriggers pulled up on the sand. A photographer's subject.
Flat water
Reef-protected and calm. Good for swimming and kayaking.
Small and worthwhile
The Belgian painter's house, kept as it was.
Food
The best eating in Sanur is not in the hotels.
Day trip
Fast boat from the beach, and a change of scene.
The reef doesn't change when you switch operators, but your experience does. To help you choose, each option is scored on the same five trip axes. The final rating is a simple equation: the baseline score of the reef plus the specific score of the operator.
The right-hand column is the useful one. Sanur asks something specific of you, and going for the wrong reason is an expensive way to find that out.
There is no trip here yet. Where they go next is decided by who puts their hand up, so this counts as a vote for Sanur — and it also gets you each new guide as it is finished. Four or five emails a year.
Four emails a year, unsubscribe in one click, and the address goes nowhere else.