Canggu’s Beaches & Temples: Beyond the Vibes, Canggu, Indonesia

It is one of those destinations that are beguiling to me. On paper, it has all the makings of a place that I would not enjoy: there’s no secret that Canggu has become over-commercialized from a sleepy village into a Kuta of the 2020s generation.

On another hand, much of its development are very hip and Instagrammable-friendly, which strikes a chord with a part of me that enjoys cafe-hopping. So I figured that I just had to visit it once and for all to know whether I love it or not.

It is everythng I expected and more. Canggu is beautiful and atmospheric, especially in the morning when the party crowd is still asleep. It is charmingly bustling as it wakes up. It does get “too crowded for comfort” especially along the beachfront restaurants during the sunset hours, but it is manageable if you know where to look.

Beyond the Instagrammable restaurants, bars and beach clubs, which there are already many guides in Internet covering, Canggu does still have some cultural and natural sites to visit. This comes as a mild surprise to me and it is a lovely destination in its own right.

One of the more authentic beaches of Canggu. Hyper-local and away from the party crowd, as it is only reachable by the coastside when the beach tide recedes. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).