Canggu, Bali, Indonesia 2025

For this year’s National Holiday, I decided to visit the island of Bali for six nights. The holiday this year, which commemorated 76 years since modern China’s founding, was eight days long. This provided an opportunity for a longer beach vacation at a location a bit further away than my usual go-to destination of Thailand.

I’ve visited Bali several times before, including as recently as two years ago. You can read more about those visits to Canggu and Ubud in the previous posts. For this trip, we decided to focus on Canggu as we had a great time two years ago but were held back by our first bout of Covid-19.

Blossom Eco Luxe Villas

We chose to stay in the same boutique hotel as last time, the Blossom Eco Luxe Villas. We booked a one-bedroom pool villa for about HKD 2,300 per night or USD 1,800 for six nights. This price included breakfast and afternoon tea at the hotel’s excellent restaurant called Sari, and one 60-minutes massage for two people.

The hotel has aged gracefully over the past few years and has grown. We were placed in Villa 117 at the far end of the grounds. We understood from Budi, the Operations Manager, that they doubled the number of villas since our last visit. This was excellent to see as we felt the team deserved all the success in the world.

GFX100S II 25.5mm ISO-1600 1/20sec f/5.6

GFX100S II 22.1mm ISO-1600 1/10sec f/5.6

Even with double the capacity, they’ve managed to maintain the excellent service and friendly vibe that we fell in love with the time. I recognized some of the same people working there from our 2023 visit, which is always a great sign that the management treats their team well.

The hotel has an amazing restaurant attached to it called Sari. It has to be one of the best “free breakfasts” included in a hotel anywhere in the world. The quality of ingredients and the care put into the food was beyond 5-star luxury hotel breakfasts. The free breakfast included one main dish, one fresh fruit drink and one caffeine drink. We tried western and Indonesian choices and found them all to be perfect.

The afternoon tea included a caffeine drink and some small dishes chosen based on the fresh ingredients available that day. We noticed the restaurant got busy with paying customers from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM everyday. It appeared to be especially popular with the remote working crowd.

The spa was housed in the same complex as the hotel and Sari restaurant. It had the same minimalist natural aesthetic used throughout the hotel. The facility was clean and beautiful and the masseuse very good. I’m still shocked that we got the villa, breakfast, afternoon tea and the massages for only USD 266 a night. This had to be one of the best deals in all of Bali.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to choose a good villa in Bali. After a hot day out, it makes it so nice to come back home to your own private pool with space to stretch out and relax. We spent a lot of time in our pool, with the little Marshall speaker playing our favourite music and glasses full of our favourite wines.

Restaurants

Bali for me is all about relaxing, food, enjoying services at reasonable prices and the incredibly warm and welcoming people. So let’s shift focus to the amazing restaurants we visited on this trip. The restaurant scene has evolved in Canggu over the past two years, in a very good way! We barely scratched the surface in our six days and still came away with global top-tier experiences.

Santanera

Our first dinner in Canggu was at Santanera, where we met up with some friends from Beijing who also happened to be visiting Bali. The food and vibe were amazing. Our waitress was very helpful and provided the perfect recommendations. Every dish we had here was made to perfection. The live band and packed restaurant created the perfect vibe for our first night and our friends’ first experience in Bali.

Masonry

After dinner, we headed over to Segno, but the doorman told us it was a bit quiet and to come back later, so we headed over to Masonry. We visited Masonry twice on our last visit so we limited ourselves to drinks this time. The place still has the vibe and great service that we fell in love with first time. While we didn’t eat their food this time, the fact in was jammed full of people every time we walked by indicates it’s still the place to be.

Bottega Italiana

On our second day, after the always amazing breakfast at Sari (actually, the breakfast was too good and we ended up overeating that day), we headed over to Bottega Italiana for cold cuts and a few glasses of Aperol Spritz, followed by excellent Italian wine.

We loved sitting out on the small patio overlooking the main road while enjoying the food and drinks. Their bread was incredible and when paired with their excellent cheeses and meats, it made for the ideal place to hang out during the day. We noted the restaurant gets full in the evening so it would be best to make a reservation if you plan to go during peak times.

Mei Mei

For our 10-year wedding anniversary, we chose to celebrate it at Mei Mei and were very happy with that choice. It’s a very beautiful restaurant with excellent Southeast Asian food and warm and friendly staff. They asked if we were celebrating any special occasion and when we informed them that it was our 10-year anniversary, they arranged for a small cake without any prompting from us.

I love this kind of service and really appreciated the team’s approach. We chose the set menu which was excellent, with everything tasting very fresh and again perfectly made. It’s a lot of food so come prepared with a near empty stomach to really enjoy the set menu.

Sari Kitchen & Community

Even though Sari was part of our hotel where breakfast and afternoon tea were included in our hotel rate, I would be remiss to not mention them as a standalone restaurant, because they serve truly great food. For breakfast, the Beef Rendang Omelette for example was super tasty and unique and their various wellness foods were all very, very good.

Yuki

Yuki had to be one of our favourite experiences in Canggu. This gorgeous restaurant served up Japanese food in a chic and perfectly designed environment. Owned and operated by seasoned Balinese food and beverage experts, Yuki Canggu and their sister restaurant Mei Mei provided us with Michelin Star level food and service.

I’d recommend going around sunset to enjoy the golden light, blue hour and then chilling to the vibes as the DJ spins up the night. We loved this place so much, we were tempted to make the 2-hour drive to Uluwatu to visit their other branch and their new Italian venture, Osteria Luna.

Lulu Bistrot

We recently visited Paris and Cannes so visiting a French restaurant in Bali was going to be risky. Matching Paris at French cuisine is a very high bar, however Lulu Bistrot exceeded that bar. The steak frites were made to perfection and the wine recommendations were spot on. The ambiance transported us back to some of the beautiful spots we visited in Le Marais.

The service was so good that when an Australian group across from us accidentally set a menu on fire, without missing a beat, the staff gently grabbed the burning menu, folded it to suffocate the fire and then continued taking the order as if nothing happened. This demonstrated a very well trained team!

Entrecote Brasserie

After the amazing dinner at Lulu, we tested our luck by going for French cuisine again at Entrecôte Brasserie, a very cute place packed full of people on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, this was our only meal that was a miss, albeit still a 7/10. The most off-putting thing part was the food court style washroom that was jarring after the otherwise beautiful restaurant.

Sazon and Taru at the Regent

Across the street from our villa was the new and very luxurious Regent Hotel. The Regent is IHG’s luxury brand, so we had high hopes for their restaurants. We visited Sazon, their Spanish tapas restaurant for Sunday brunch and Taru, their Indonesian food restaurant for lunch. Both restaurants were beautiful, but completely empty.

At Sazon, there was only one other table besides us, even though the restaurant is enormous; Taru, was also empty. Notwithstanding the lack of any vibe, the food was very good. The set menu brunch at Sazon had an absurd amount of food, so if you go, make sure not to eat the night before. We had to ask the staff to half-portion the main paella and still could not come close to finishing all the food.

Coffee Shops

Fold Café

On at least two mornings, we found ourselves craving the Pistachio buns at Fold Café. This small coffee shop was always busy with scooters filling up the front yard. Based off our two experiences there, we can appreciate why this was the case; their pastries are heavenly! I would recommend sitting on the front porch, or if the sun is too overbearing, head up to the second floor where you can overlook the front yard or watch the pastries being made in real time. My favourites were the Pistachio Bun and the Custard Bun.

Copenhagen Café

On one of our long walks, we saw a “busy area” on google maps and decided to visit the area. We came across Copenhagen Café and loved the vibe of this small coffee shop. We had some pastries which were again excellent (this seems to be the theme in Canggu where everything is high quality).

Gigi Susu

Everyday we walked past Gigi Susu, we saw a long queue outside. We don’t like to wait so we didn’t approach the restaurant until the latter part of the trip. Upon asking if they had any seats, we were surprised that they had many available. The queue it turned out was for a specific spot for social media influencers to take a photo with flowers and the shop sign – ridiculous if you ask me!

The coffee and pastries again were excellent at Gigi Susu. We also tried their fried chicken, which was very good, although it did not quite live up to the “very spicy” warning from the friendly waitress.

Coffee Beans

Further to the above coffee shops, we also bought coffee beans to take back for friends from Blacklist Coffee Roasters and Revolver. They both offered single origin local blends available in multiple sizes. The perfect gift for friends.

Bars

Segno Bar

Based on a Japanese style, Segno Bar offers incredibly well made cocktails using fresh local ingredients and twists on the classics. The bar’s focus is on the drinks, so the environment is simple and classy. There was a dress code when we went, however the staff were happy to lend a shirt to cover our upper arms.

Please note that it’s a cigar bar as well, so if that bothers you, ask to be seated in the outdoor patio area. We loved the drinks at Segno and came back twice. The head bartender, Sandy, was super friendly to us and made us feel like we were having drinks in his living room. If not already, this bar deserves to be ranked in the Top 50 Bars in Asia.

My favourite drink there was the Canggu Pornstar – please don’t judge me until you’ve tried it.

Bartolo Bar

While strolling back to the villa one afternoon, we came across a beautiful space called Lulu Bistrot, which we later found out served French food. Attached to the restaurant was a small bar called Bartolo. The drinks were very good and the staff so welcoming that they convinced us to have dinner next door.

Beach Clubs

Bali is all about the beach clubs, but I prefer the more chill ones rather than the usual suspects like Finns. I had a great experience at Ku De Ta in the past and this time found Beach House at the Regent hotel to provide a nice balance between drinks, view, beach accessibility and good music.

If Beach House doesn’t meet your expectations, you can go next door to Como Uma’s Beach Club. The view was better at Como as we could directly see the sunset, and the service friendlier, however the vibe is more family and a bit less chic than the Regent’s version. We didn’t try the food at Beach House, but we did at Como and it was spectacular.

Gyms

Our villa didn’t come with a gym, so we had to find one. We could have gone across the street to the Regent, but we wanted to find something unique. BYND Fitness fit the bill perfectly. While not a fully equipped gym, there were sufficient weights and spaces to complete my Les Mills BODYPUMP and BODYCOMBAT routines.

The design of the gym was very beautiful and in keeping with the Canggu vibe. We went back four times during our six nights in Canggu and loved the experience of working out while watching farmers tending to their fields.

Conclusion

Canggu has evolved and now has world-class food and drinks available around every corner. The traffic problems of the past seem to have gotten better, and will improve dramatically in December when Bali introduces water taxis from the airport to major centres like Canggu, Seminyak, Kuta and Uluwatu.

We didn’t encounter any taxi mafia on this trip and found Grab very convenient, professional and easy to use. Indeed, everyone we came across in Canggu was exceedingly nice and friendly. To some extent, they came across as too nice, but I shouldn’t complain about that!

I withdrew IDR 2.5 million at the airport and left with IDR 2.4 million in my wallet. There was no need for cash with Apple Pay accepted everywhere. For my Chinese readers, I saw Alipay and WeChat pay signs in almost every location so you won’t require any cash either.

The only downside I experienced was that I wasn’t able to find a good place to dance the night away in Canggu. Clubs like The Old Man are from another era. If you’ve been to Canggu and found a good night club, please let me know in the comments below.

Overall, we loved Canggu and will go back again within the next six months. We’ll likely try a stay at the Regent or give other Ekosistem hotel an opportunity given our two excellent experiences with their Luxury Blossom location. I hope you’ve found this post useful.