Bali day trips: Authentic Sanur

If you’re staying around Kuta or out on the Bukit peninsula, there are several Bali day trips to tempt you. I’ll be mentioning just a one here in the above-mentioned vicinity, and it is a place of touristic and cultural interest rather than a surfing beach, although there are also a couple of decent surf spots.

Of course if you’re staying in the relative countryside of the Bukit and you want a lively urban destination, you’ll probably head once or twice to Kuta, Bali’s main resort city. Conversely, if you’re staying at a hotel or resort in Kuta and you want to experience authentic Balinese villages, see the Uluwatu temple and surf the peninsula’s legendary waves, you’ll surely head to the Bukit. These are two no brainer Bali day trips, but what else is in the vicinity?

Bali Day Trips

Sanur Kite Festival. Pic: I Nengah Januartha (Flickr CC)

Why not try Sanur? What was once the principal resort spot on Bali for the rich and famous is now a bit sleepier. Good news, if you want something middle of the road – not too busy like Kuta, but more developed than the Bukit. At less than a half hour’s drive east from Kuta, it’s one of the most convenient and worthwhile Bali day trips. What’s more, it’s relatively cheap and still very Balinese. It can be a bit of a let down if you travel in search of an “authentic Bali experience” only to find restaurants and accommodation run by Australians.

From a travel piece in the Jakarta Post:

The beach, for example, is a hub of ceremonial activity, the streets full of Balinese architecture and at the right times overflowing with religious symbolism, and almost every street has a warung (street stall) dedicated to the mass production of offerings. In many other resort areas this is simply not the case and the genuine Balinese influence has been displaced or severely watered down.

If you like kites (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?) Sanur is home to an annual Kite Festival on Padang Galak beach for three days every July.

Here is part of a description from Thailand’s The Nation:

Around 1,121 kites participated in the three-day event there with each of them requiring more than 10 men to make them fly. So many men are required because the variety of kites, including traditional Balinese designs, are huge, some more than 15 metres long When 30 kites were flown simultaneously in one session, the situation became chaotic, as hundreds of men tugged the strings on the vast dried out rice fields just 20 metres from the beach.

See? Sounds like something to see and not lame at all! Sanur is definitely a qualifier for one of the top Bali day trips I can think of, whether you’re there for the kite festival or not.

Bali Day Trips

Small temple in Sanur. Pic: Thomas Galvez (Flickr CC)

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