Canggu

Canggu is the black-sand stretch of coast about 20 km north-west of Ngurah Rai airport, and the transfer takes about 45 minutes on a clear run or an hour and a half in the afternoon. It is really three villages in a row. Batu Bolong is the surf and cafe centre, Berawa sits to the south and holds the larger beach clubs, and Pererenan lies north across the river and is calmer than either. Seminyak begins 8 to 9 km down the coast, close enough that most people treat the two as alternatives rather than as a pair.

Traffic is the thing nobody warns you about properly. Canggu jams from roughly 16:00 to 19:30, worst at the Batu Bolong and Berawa junctions, and parking near the beach is thin. Weekends, public holidays and July and August add about 30 to 45 minutes to any local journey. Canggu to Ubud is 30 to 35 km: 50 to 60 minutes if you leave between 06:00 and 07:30, but 100 to 130 minutes if you leave between 16:30 and 19:30. Uluwatu is worse. It is about an hour and a quarter before 08:00 and two and a half to three hours or more between 15:00 and 18:00, so do not set off after about 14:30 if you want to be there for sunset.

A scooter is close to compulsory in Canggu, and Canggu sits at the top of the island's price range for one: roughly IDR 80,000 to 150,000 a day for a basic automatic. Carry an International Driving Permit alongside your home licence and wear a helmet. Checkpoints are common around Canggu and Kerobokan, and in one police operation at Pererenan thirty foreigners were ticketed and thirty-five motorbikes seized, mostly for riding with no helmet and no permit. Ride-hailing apps will drop you anywhere but are blocked from picking up in parts of Canggu, which matters at midnight.

On money, budget rooms in Canggu run about USD 15 to 35 a night and mid-range rooms about USD 90 to 180, with a plate at a local warung at USD 3 to 5. Over a month Canggu comes out roughly a quarter to a third cheaper than Seminyak. A private car and driver for a ten-hour day is IDR 650,000 to 900,000 anywhere on the island, and the Canggu rate sits at the top of that.

The beach here is dark grey sand and a surf beach first. Batu Bolong is dangerous when the south swell goes over about six feet, so swim early or at low tide, and through December the tide brings rubbish ashore along this whole coast.

We spent about a week based in Canggu and would do it again for a long stay, not a short one. On a seven-day trip the drives to the temples and terraces would eat two of your days. Canggu pays back people who stay put.