It’s been a couple of days since we boarded the ‘fast boat’ from Sanur to Lembongan but I had a few notes from Sanur I wanted to include.
Sanur is a much more urban environment. Almost a bedroom community to Denpasar, its daily uproar of the city spills into this beach area. The beach is a 5km stretch of sand. With the one afternoon we had there we did not even get to the end of the beach. The sand area is quite nice, lots of room for very many people. A paved path stretches the entire beach, from one end to the other. There is a variety of hotels and venders aligning the walkway, many warung’s (small Indonesian eating establishments), restaurants, trinket sellers, lounge renters and bicycle rental places. The water itself doesn’t look too pleasant. A lot of rocks and weeds. I noted this is a low tide, at high tide the water may extend far enough up the sand to make for a more pleasant swim. It was 2.30pm and the beach was basically deserted except for a few grey hairs lounging on the fancier hotels lounges. At 6pm there were a few local types on the beach and in the water. Maybe because it was cooler or maybe they came down after work. One of the advantages of this location is the ocean breaks far from shore so the water’s edge is quite calm. I think this is the main attraction to the particular beach in a country of beaches.
The busiest place was one block off the beach on the street where all the restaurants were. The traffic was like any other Asian city street, constant. The sidewalks were crowded and most of the restaurants had a few patrons. I did find the restaurants a bit expensive, at least compared to Ubud and now to Lembongan but there is always one or two with reasonable prices.
Our hotel, Alit Beach Resort, has seen better days. Right on the beach it has a prime location. By the grounds and the buildings, I think it may have been quite fancy in the past. But it has not been maintained and is quite shoddy. It could be the land is worth more than the trouble of a resort so the owner is just waiting for the right offer.
For me this would not be an ideal place to spend a week or so. Chilling on the beach is not my thing. There were a few surfers out passed the water break and the waves looked formidable but I don’t have time to learn another sport so all I will do is watch and admire. There is also a spot where some kite boarders are gathered and it looks like a really good area for that with a very strong on shore breeze blowing. I did see a couple of dive shops but I did not read anywhere in my research that this is a good place to dive. If your purpose is relaxation this might be a place to come but otherwise I don’t think it is worth more that a couple of hours of touring.