We visited Canggu (pronounced Changgu) in 2025. After visiting Bali probably a dozen times, we thought it was time to check out influencer central on this now crowded little island. Canggu is also where friends of ours have lived & worked for years, they’d recently left, saying it had changed too much. So what did we think of Changgu? Is it worth visiting? We’ll tell you.
Canggu Bali
So here’s what we thought of Canggu. Was it worth visiting? Yes. I like to find out what places are like for myself, and it was fun to explore. Would I go again, no, never.
Honestly, I like staying in Kuta better than Canggu, and our favourite part of the island is still Ubud. Some say Ubud is destroyed by tourism, but if you know where to go, it’s still lovely. We have a post on visiting Ubud today.
Canggu Influencers and Digital Nomads
Admittedly, I’m a blogger and was a digital nomad for years. I’m not today, by choice. Blogger does not equate to influencer, I don’t do those things.
There were so many individuals taking selfies and talking to camera that you wouldn’t even believe. Everywhere you went, somebody was brandishing a camera, usually at themselves or at the activity on the street.
I don’t like it. I go to a country to experience the country and to learn, not to take photos of myself, so it kind of irks me. I reserve my right to be irked, and I support their right to try and earn a living that way and to be digital nomads. But it’s very in-your-face in Canggu.
This is real, this it what Canggu is like today. If you want fancy gyms, tattoo studios, Western food and coffee shops, Canggu has that. The facilities are there to serve this clientele. But there’s not much in Canggu that feels like Bali.
My husband is a gym expert, an Ironman and a former champion powerlifter, he went to look at these gyms and potentially use them. His verdict was this, the gyms were superb, incredibly well equipped, but really expensive, he walked away. Our choice is usually to book a hotel with its own gym these days.
That said, we enjoyed the Greek food in Canggu and even visited a British pub for lunch. The Italian food in Ubud was also excellent, Indonesian food does get old pretty fast. There wasn’t a traditional warung anywhere to be seen in Canggu.
I believe Japan has recently taken measures to curb overtourism and its negative influence, by banning videography in certain areas. Hopefully, it works for Japan, and maybe Bali would be improved by something similar.
Canggu Traffic
Canggu was pretty much gridlocked when we visited. To be fair, a lot of the tourist parts of Bali are gridlocked today. But nowhere was as bad as Canggu.
The traffic jams are mostly filled with tourists on scooters. We saw some very bad driving.
We took an Uber to Canggu from near the airport in Kuta. The one-way systems along the coast don’t help, but once we reached Canggu, the traffic just didn’t move.
If you plan to base yourself in Canguu to see the sights of Bali, the traffic will probably make that difficult.
Canggu Beach
The beach sucked. I’m not pulling any punches here. There are other beaches in the area, and maybe they’re nicer, but this was the beach as we walked south from Canggu town.
There was a dirty, smelly creek flowing into the beach, the sand was full of plastic and cigarette butts and the beach itself was covered in deck chairs.
It’s good for surfing, there were a lot of surfers. I hope they were having fun. We’re not surfers, we’re scuba divers, so that doesn’t appeal.
It’s not a beach I’d ever want to visit again. But I’m glad I went to find out. Honestly, I’ve never seen a nice beach in Bali, but we’re not beach-goers, so it doesn’t matter to us. My favourite beaches are on the Mediterranean.
There are a lot of beach bars behind the beach. We walked along there and looked at the menus, but there wasn’t anywhere we wanted to eat. Eating on the beach is one of my favourite things in a lot of countries, but not here.
I believe the beach was devastated by flooding in September 2025, so maybe it’s different now.
What We Liked About Canggu
We had fun, a new place is always fun.
We liked the traditional Balinese architecture that’s sparsely dotted around town. One or two rice fields were remaining, but it wasn’t very scenic. Chef found nicer areas when he got out of Canggu itself on his morning runs.
I loved being able to get a coffee early in the morning and bring it back to our hotel room. The coffee in the hotel was terrible.
I liked where we stayed, it had a small pool and lovely, but small, gardens. I always love to look at the gardens in Bali. The Balinese are incredible gardeners, and the climate is similar to ours back home, I get inspiration here.
We had fun trying the various restaurants. We hadn’t had Greek food in ages, it’s not available where we live. It was reasonably good.
Should You Visit Canggu?
If you’re a family with kids, on a budget, probably not. If being stuck in traffic annoys you, no. If you enjoy quiet, beautiful beaches, no. If you’d like to see the sights of Bali, no. Otherwise, yes, go ahead. It’s OK, it’s just not for us. We’ll stick to Ubud, or better yet, Vietnam. If you want to learn more about visiting Bali as a family, our guide to Bali with kids is here.
Have you been to Kuta? Maybe you love it. Tell us about that in the comments, we’re all about helping people and growing understanding of each other, never knocking people down.
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