Diamond Head Road

Living in Sanur 

Four months ago, our family moved here from Hawaii not knowing much about the island of Bali or where we would settle down. We spent the first month hopping from hotel to hotel in areas like Ubud, Seminyak, and Jimbaran. By the end of that month, we were all exhausted and desperate to find a place to call home.

We decided to put a deposit down on a really beautiful house in Jimbaran within walking distance to the beach even though the town didn't totally fit our family's needs. As it was a new house and needed one more week to be completed, a friend offered his house in Sanur for us to hunker down while he was away on business. To be honest, I hadn't given Sanur too much respect or allowed the time to explore it due to all of the negative things I had read on the web: boring, nothing to do, crummy beach, etc. Read More …

As soon as we arrived in Sanur, I realized how wrong I had been. We made our way to the 3-mile long boardwalk along the beach and rented two bikes with kids' seats. Unlike other towns on Bali, Sanur actually has sidewalks and old growth trees - sounds simple, but it's little things like this that make a town work for a family. Sanur may not have the "cool factor" of Seminyak, but it's really the only place in my opinion that works for a family with young kids. 

Within the first two days of staying here, I was on the hunt for a home of our own and found one almost directly across the street from our friend. We bought two bikes - don't even have a car - and can ride to the boys' school, well-stocked grocery store, gourmet market, beach and boardwalk lined with hotels, restaurants and cute pockets of white sand all within 10 minutes of our house. 

There are many families from all over the world with young children here and our neighborhood is the perfect mix of local Balinese and Western expats. On Sundays, the Batu Jimbar Cafe on the main drag of Danau Tamblingan turns into a bustling open market where everyone gathers to catch up and enjoy a fantastic breakfast and quality time with old and new friends.