Canggu rewards a slow few days more than a packed itinerary. The beaches and surf schools are the reason most people come, but the town's other draw is that everything else, cafes, coworking, yoga, rice fields, is genuinely good and close together, so you can fill a day without booking anything in advance.
This guide runs through what to actually do once you're here. For where to stay, how to get around and the wider picture, see our Canggu travel guide.
Surf Canggu's beaches
Canggu's coast is about 5 km of black volcanic sand running from Berawa in the south to Pererenan in the north, and surfing is the main event on all of it. Batu Bolong is the easiest place to learn, with long, forgiving waves over sand and surf schools working right off the beach. Echo Beach and Pererenan have faster, reef-influenced waves for surfers who already have some experience.
Our Canggu guide covers each beach and what it suits. For lesson prices, board hire and how Canggu compares with the rest of Bali's breaks, see our Bali surfing guide.
Watch the sunset at Tanah Lot
Tanah Lot is Bali's best-known sea temple, built on a rock that's cut off from the beach at high tide, about a 30 to 45 minute drive north of Canggu. It's one of the classic Bali photographs, so come for sunset, when the temple silhouette is at its best and the day-trip crowds have usually thinned out a little.
- Entry costs about IDR 100,000 for foreign adults, paid at the gate.
- You can't go inside the inner temple itself, non-Hindu visitors are asked to stay on the outer grounds, but the clifftop path and viewing terraces are open to everyone.
- Go early evening and expect the grounds to be busy in the run-up to sunset. A sarong isn't required at Tanah Lot the way it is at working temples further inland, but modest dress is still appreciated.
- There's a strip of stalls and warungs near the car park if you want an early dinner after sunset.
Work from a Canggu cafe or coworking space
Canggu is one of Southeast Asia's biggest bases for remote workers, and the cafe and coworking scene is good enough to be a reason to stay a while on its own.
- Cafes cluster around Batu Bolong, Berawa and the Pererenan side streets, most with fast Wi-Fi, smoothie bowls and flat whites aimed squarely at people working through the morning.
- Coworking spaces with day passes and monthly desks are easy to find, such as Tropical Nomad and BWork. A day pass runs roughly IDR 150,000 to 260,000, with monthly memberships working out cheaper per day.
- If you only need a table and an outlet for an afternoon, most cafes are happy to have you linger over one drink, though the popular ones fill up by mid-morning.
Walk the rice fields around Pererenan
A few patches of rice field survive between Canggu's built-up strips, mostly towards Pererenan and Tibubeneng. They're not the dramatic terraces you'll see in Ubud, but they're a genuinely quiet, green break from the traffic and the beach crowds.
- Go early, before 8am if you can, both for the light and to beat the heat.
- Paths run along the field edges and irrigation channels; a scooter or bicycle covers more ground than walking, but either works for an hour or two.
- Treat it as a bonus half-morning rather than a full day out. If rice terraces are the main thing you want to see, the Tegallalang terraces near Ubud are the bigger, more famous version.
Take a yoga class
Drop-in yoga classes run all over Canggu, from sunrise flow to evening yin, in styles from Vinyasa to Ashtanga. A single drop-in class typically costs IDR 120,000 to 200,000, and most studios sell class packs or monthly memberships if you're staying a while. No booking is usually needed for a first class; just check the studio's schedule and turn up 10 to 15 minutes early.
Canggu's nightlife
Canggu's nightlife starts at sunset, not midnight. Beach bars along Batu Bolong and Echo Beach, including Old Man's, fill up for happy hour as the surfers come in, and that's the atmosphere most people come for rather than a big night out. Later on, a handful of bars and small clubs around Batu Bolong and Berawa keep going into the evening, but Canggu is quieter and more laid-back than Kuta's club strip. If you want a proper night out, most people head to Seminyak or Kuta instead.
Day trips from Canggu
Canggu makes a good base for day trips in a few directions:
- Ubud (about 1 to 2.5 hours by car): the Tegallalang rice terraces, the water temple at Tirta Empul, and the Mount Batur sunrise trek if you're willing to leave before dawn.
- Uluwatu (about 1 to 2 hours): the Bukit's reef breaks for stronger surfers, Uluwatu Temple on the cliff edge, and the Kecak fire dance at sunset. See our Bali surfing guide for the breaks by level.
- Seminyak (a short Grab or Gojek ride): a more polished strip of beach clubs and boutiques if you want a change of scene without a long drive.
Canggu on our trips
Both our Bali trips start in Canggu with sunset at Batu Bolong and an early surf lesson, and our dedicated surf trip spends three nights here before moving on to Uluwatu and Ubud.
