G'day,
Welcome to this week's Things To Do In Sanur newsletter. October in Sanur means hot mornings and sticky afternoons.
WHAT'S ON
Bali Beach Cultural Market. Every Tuesday, 6pm to 10pm at Bali Beach Bar & Grill. A night art market, a seafood feast and a live Kecak dance for IDR 500,000++ a head, about 45 bucks Aussie before tax and service.
Family Sunday Brunch at Arunika, Bali Beach Hotel. Sundays 12.30pm to 3.30pm with live music. IDR 550,000++ without booze, IDR 1,100,000++ with.
Planning New Year's Eve already? Bali Beach Hotel's Seaside Extravaganza bundles a 31 December stay with a grand buffet dinner and two tickets to see Ari Lasso. No price posted yet. If you want to be right in the middle of all this, you can book Bali Beach Hotel here.
LIVE MUSIC THIS WEEK
Casablanca, Jl Danau Tamblingan 120. Live bands most nights from about 9pm. Classic rock, pop and sing along hits.
Prime Plaza Hotel Sanur, Jl Hang Tuah. Weekly music at Café Komodo from 6.30pm, then the Lobby Lounge. Monday oldies, Tuesday DJ (8pm, Lobby Lounge), Wednesday Top 40, Thursday acoustic trio, Friday reggae acoustic. Like the sound of it? You can stay there too.
Arunika, Bali Beach Hotel, Jl Hang Tuah. Sundays 12.30pm to 3.30pm, live music with the Family Sunday Brunch.
Got a favourite live music spot we've missed? Hit reply and tell us.
NEW IN SANUR
Honeycombers updated its new Bali restaurants list this week, and two Sanur names are new to us.
Lamuri, Jl Danau Tamblingan. South Indian, Sri Lankan and North Sumatran food, served family style on banana leaves.
Cafe Dasa, Jl Danau Tamblingan 110. An all day modern Asian dining house.
Kerrie from the group also flagged Soléa, a Mediterranean rooftop restaurant with the Mistral rooftop bar, right on top of Bali Beach Hotel on Jl Hang Tuah. The hotel went up in 1966, before Bali's height limits, so it's the tallest building on the island. That's one way to get a view.
FROM THE THINGS TO DO IN SANUR FACEBOOK GROUP
Kristy is heading to Prama for her first Sanur trip after years of doing the rest of Bali. She asked the group for its top three Sanur must dos, and no "just go to the beach" answers allowed. Nearly 90 replies later, here's what came out on top. (Staying at Prama too? Compare prices here.)
Eat. Warung Little Bird, opposite ICON, won by a mile with ten votes. Julia eats there pretty much every day she's in town, and Mick says five meals, three beers and a juice came to forty bucks. Jungle Tree, right across from Prama's driveway, got nine votes. Liz says book ahead, because they waited 30 minutes.
Lilla Warung on Bumi Ayu, Lilla Pantai on the beach path and the Sindhu night market kept coming up too. Sheena's night market tip: a plastic stool, a cold Bintang and the martabak.
Get pampered. It's a dead heat between KOA spa and The Nest Beachside, with about eleven votes each. Kerry says KOA's facials are as good as any spa back home, and Renee missed out by not booking ahead. Laura rates The Nest's four hour Lost in Paradise treatment.
Sweet stuff and sundowners. Ten people said Massimo's gelato. Kerrie's pick is the blood orange, two scoops for IDR 20,000, which is under two bucks Aussie. Andrea reckons Alaluna is better. We'll let you fight that one out. For happy hour, the Tree Bar at Maya Sanur got five votes, and Glenn says drinks are half price (but there will be over 20% tax added) from 5pm to 7pm.
Judy and Jenni both rate the Byrd House at Segara Village, Judy for high tea and Jenni for dinner out the front under the lights.
Do. Debbie, Lisa and Susan all rate the silver jewellery making class, and Debbie says it's very hands on. Beverley did Chef Mudana's cooking class this year. Pick up and drop off are included, photos are taken, the recipes get emailed to you, and you eat the lunch you helped make. Simon's top three included a day trip over to Nusa Lembongan.
A heads up from Sue. Turn right out of Prama and there's construction along the left side all the way down to the roundabout, and a lot of the usual shops and restaurants there are closed for now. And Tania's reminder for first timers: Sanur isn't a sunset spot. It's the sunrise side. Set the alarm.
Zoe's after a private pool villa close to the beach, ideally near ICON. Kejora Beachfront Villas, right next door to ICON with entry from both the beach and Tamblingan, got six votes. Marina just checked out of a three bedroom villa there and called it perfection, with zero noise. Kylie spent two days by the pool and loved the location. Siobhan liked it too, but not the hum of ICON's aircon all day.
The Pavilions, across the road from ICON, got four votes, and it happens to have a Luxury Escapes deal on right now. Ellora Villas and Ajanta Villas got two votes each, and Sally and Ross are already planning a return trip to Mahagiri Villas. Jennifer went the other way and suggested staying as far from ICON as possible. You can't please everyone.
And for anyone after a massage every second day without blowing the budget, The Nest still topped the votes with nine. Moya and her husband go every week. For value, Thestar Spa got four votes, and it's handy if you're near Resort Watujimbar or Griya Santrian. Jo reckons Chantara is just as good as The Nest for less. Kerry pretty much lives at Camelia Spa, and Susan, on her ninth Sanur holiday, goes to Peni Weni Spa every day. It's just past Baby Monkeys. For feet, Sheena and Gregor both swear by Alam Bali, and Sheena says don't let the shopfront put you off.
Not in the group yet? Come and join 50,000 Sanur lovers and share your own top three.
FROM OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Speaking of Watujimbar, here's our stay at Resort Watujimbar on Jl Danau Tamblingan. We spent three days putting it to the test. The pools are the star, running right through the middle of the resort, and a Hawaiian pizza and two cans of Singaraja at the pool bar came to IDR 225,000. Breakfast was hot and plentiful, the room was big and pitch black at night, and it's set well back off the road so it's quiet. The aircon in our room? Not so much. Our verdict: worth it if you can get it under 100 bucks Aussie a night. Watch it here.
If you like it, subscribe to Street Eats & Window Seats. There's plenty more Sanur coming.
DEALS AND SPECIALS
This is the bit you actually opened the email for.
STAY PICK OF THE WEEK: Maya Sanur Resort & Spa on Luxury Escapes. Beachfront, home of that Tree Bar happy hour the group loves, and rated 9.2 from over 1,100 reviews. Every stay gets daily breakfast at Reef. Stay two nights or more and you add a daily cocktail each, afternoon tea at the Tree Bar, a 90 minute cycling tour and a 6pm late checkout. Three nights or more adds a 60 minute massage for two and a private yoga lesson.
Rasa Nusa at roso, Bali Beach Hotel. Every Friday, 6pm to 9pm. Unlimited tasting of 18 signature dishes for IDR 650,000++, about 60 bucks Aussie before tax and service. No end date listed.
Parisian Flair at Arunika. A three course set menu for IDR 500,000++. Runs until 30 November. Details for both are on Bali Beach Hotel's offers page, and if you'd rather be a short walk away, book a stay there.
roso and Arunika are right next to The Meru, and The Meru's LUX Exclusive package on Luxury Escapes is still running, with daily meals at those restaurants included.
Maya Sanur Romantic Dinner on the Green Roof 360. From IDR 1,050,000++, from 6pm daily, booking ahead required. Comes with a welcome drink, an hour of Rindik music and 30% off your next food and drink. Maya's cooking class starts from IDR 350,000++. Want to stay at Maya? Compare prices on Trip.com.
BOOK IT: Day trip to Nusa Lembongan. It's a quick fast boat hop from Sanur, and Simon from the group put it in his top three. Snorkelling, mangroves and a lazy lunch by the water. You can pick your day trip on Viator and have it sorted before you land. Check the swell first (see below).
Want to see every Sanur deal Luxury Escapes has running right now? They're all in one spot.
🗒️ Sanur Morning Market: Go Early or Miss It
We go to the Sanur Morning Market every time we stay.
Here's what to buy, when to turn up, and how to find it — plus why it's worth the early start.
WORTH KNOWING
Big swell last weekend. BMKG warned of waves up to 2.5m in the Badung Strait, the Sanur to Nusa Penida run, and up to 4m in southern waters from 3 to 6 October. That warning has passed, but as the wet season builds, check with your boat operator on the morning you travel.
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That's it from us. See you next Friday.
Mark & Bec
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