If you’re trying to weigh up whether to visit Canggu or Candidasa in Bali, we can help you make up your mind. Our head-to-head guide compares each of these fantastic areas on the island in several categories that are relevant to visitors to help you make an informed decision about your trip.
There’s no bad place to holiday in Bali, but if you want to have an amazing experience, then it always pays to be informed, right? So, let’s take a look at Canggu and Candidasa and see which one might make for your ideal holiday.
About Canggu
Canggu was once a sleepy town on the coast only inhabited by the occasional surfer or backpacker seeking some time away from the hustle and bustle of Kuta and Denpasar.
However, it’s been totally transformed in the last decade or so and it’s now the most popular town in Bali with visitors.
That’s because it’s got something for everyone. There are coworking spaces with digital nomads typing away furiously, surfers on every beach catching some of the finest waves on the island, friends dancing the day away at FINNS Beach Club, nature lovers in the rice fields, and so much more.
Canggu’s lively and vibrant streets are filled with Instagram-worth cafes, energy filled bars and pubs and some of the best dining options known to man.
Sure, Canggu may be leaving its days as a backpacking haven behind but now? It welcomes people from all walks of life to enjoy the most amazing holiday experience.
About Candidasa
Candiadasa or, sometimes, Candi Dasa is on the opposite side of the island from Canggu. It sits on the less visited East Coast of Bali where you can enjoy epic sunrises rather than sunsets.
The town is best known for its Lagoon (the Candidasa Lagoon, in fact) and it’s much smaller than Canggu and nearly everything in the area is arrayed around a single road, Jalan Raya Candidasa.
It’s got a quiet and peaceful fishing village vibe, and while there are coffee shops, bars, restaurants, etc. they are fewer and further between than in Canggu.
Many people go to Candidasa just to chill out at a resort and enjoy the sight of the ocean lapping against the beach. It’s a great place to enjoy snorkeling and diving.
However, in recent years, the beach in Candidasa has been very limited as a project to extract minerals from the local reef caused the beach to be washed away and while it is recovering, it’s a long way from its glory days.
Canggu or Candidasa? – A Breakdown Of Each Area
Our head-to-head comparisons all work in the same way, we’ve devised a series of categories that are most likely to be important to someone planning a holiday or stay here in Bali and then using our local knowledge, we compare each town in each category.
That means, no matter what our final score comes out to be, you can decide which area works best for you and any people coming with you for your holiday based on what matters to you most.
What Are The Hotels, Resorts, Etc. Like?
Candidasa has a nice range of resorts but it’s a limited range of resorts. When we hit up Booking.com to confirm what was available in the area, they had fewer than 60 properties available for our dates.
You can find plenty of mid-range resort options at most times of the year in Candidasa, but there’s a distinct lack of both budget and high-end accommodation options in this area.
Canggu, on the other hand, for the same date range had almost 2,000 properties to choose from! Because the area has become Bali’s most popular tourist destination, there are all niches of accommodation to choose from too.
While hostels and guesthouses are thinner on the ground than they once were, you can still find decent budget accommodation in Canggu, it’s just a little more expensive than it was in the pre-pandemic years.
There is a wealth of mid-range accommodation, some excellent 5-star hotels and resorts, and a huge range of villas from fairly simple all the way up to places that you’d expect A-list celebrities to stay in.
In short, if you need a certain type of accommodation, you’re much more likely to find it Canggu and that means that Canggu wins this category.
Where Is The Best Place For A Party?
Candidasa is very much not a party destination. It’s a place for long, slow evening meals by the seashore before heading to bed for a restful night’s sleep and an early morning walk down to appreciate the sunrise.
There are no nightclubs in this area, and very few bars and pubs, and the majority of them don’t open late. In short, if you want nightlife, you don’t want to go to Candidasa. It’s the kind of place to sleep off a hangover, not do the drinking to get one.
Canggu is different. It’s currently the top nightlife destination in Bali and that’s, at least, in part due to the presence of the world’s best beach club, FINNS Beach Club which provides the most famous and exciting party experience on the island.
It’s also home to endless bars, pubs and clubs and there’s no doubt that if you want a raging night out, you can easily find what you’re looking for in Canggu.
Thus, Canggu is our preferred destination for nightlife lovers. However, if you want a quiet night’s sleep, you might prefer Candidasa.
Which One Is Best For Shopaholics?
There are a few stores in Candidasa but not that many and the majority of them sell either beach essentials or everyday living essentials.
It’s not a place that gets enough visitors to support a vibrant shopping community.
Canggu is, after Seminyak, one of the best places on the island to go shopping. There are boutique stores, unique markets, etc. galore and you’ll find both local designers and international talent in the area.
There are also excellent homeware stores, art galleries, and much more. There’s even a broad choice of supermarkets with international food selections.
If you want to shop, you have to choose Canggu over Candidasa and that’s why it wins this category too.
Where Will I Get The Best Food?
There are some decent restaurants in Candidasa and if you enjoy local food, then places like Ganesh Lodge and Warung Bintang will deliver some truly tasty treats.
There are also some places offering more international fare like Vincent’s which has some decent live jazz performances while you eat.
However, it all pales into the background, when compared to the wealth of dining options in Canggu.
Canggu has the island’s most famous party restaurant in the form of Monsoon. It has endless fine dining options.
You’ll also find in the mid-range that nearly every international cuisine is represented and whether you’re in the mood for authentic Japanese or Italian, you can easily find it in the area.
Then, there are endless local warungs offering both excellent Indonesian and Balinese dishes as well as value international options.
In the end, Canggu wins this hands down because it’s a foodie’s paradise, though we promise you won’t go hungry in Candidasa, it’s nowhere near as exciting for its dining scene.
Comparing Beaches
Unfortunately, Candidasa doesn’t really have much in the way of a beach. A reef mining project a few years back went badly wrong and destroyed the natural erosion protection for the area’s beaches.
While the beaches have recovered a little, there’s no doubt that Candidasa’s beaches have a long way to go before they return to their former glory. You can enjoy watching a narrow strip of sand along the shore at certain times of day, but that’s about it.
Canggu is home to some of the island’s best black sand beaches, and while not everyone is enamoured with black sand, it’s soft and plentiful.
It also looks amazing at sunset when the sun starts to dip below the horizon of the ocean and the light show is reflected in the water trapped in the black sand.
Candidasa’s beaches are great for swimming and snorkeling and Canggu’s are awesome for surfing.
Once again, though, Canggu is going to be the winner in the contest of the best beaches and isn’t that what island holidays are all about?
Which Is The Prettiest Place?
Beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder and that means this is our most subjective category.
However, both Candidasa and Canggu have their unique visual appeal. Candidasa has that small coastal village vibe and some gorgeous surrounding countryside.
Canggu has that brash appeal of a place going somewhere but there are still rice fields, beautiful beaches, and more to enjoy.
Overall, we think we’re going to call this category a draw. They’re just too different to pick a winner.
Where Will I Have The Most Things To Do?
Candidasa is a sleep village and while there are things to do if you’re prepared to make long-ish excursions around the area such as temples, water gardens, mountain hikes, etc. there’s no doubt that there’s not very much right on the doorstep.
Whereas Canggu is full of things to see and do and if you ever run out of things to do, then there are even more within a very short drive in places like Seminyak, Kuta and Ubud.
This is one of the reasons that Canggu is super popular with tourists, staying in the town guarantees you’re never bored and thus, Canggu wins this category easily.
Which Area Do The Expats Prefer?
Candidasa certainly sees a reasonable number of expats choosing to make their home there.
That’s because some folks are attracted to the quieter lifestyle it provides and others are attracted to the overall lower cost of living in this village compared to the more popular beach towns. Many of the expats in Candidasa are retirees stretching out their retirement income as far as it will go.
You’ll find that living in Candidasa can offer a certain sense of community that’s easier to pick up on than it is in bigger towns.
However, this comes at the cost of having far fewer available amenities and many expats who live in this area will need to make frequent trips to other parts of the island for groceries, clothing, etc.
Canggu, on the other hand, is one of the most popular areas on the island with expatriates, this is in part due to the fact that many (or almost all) of the expat jobs on the island are in the tourism industry and there’s no bigger tourist draw in Bali than Canggu.
It also has all the amenities that an expat could need right on the doorstep and while it is slightly more expensive to live in the area than in Candidasa, many feel that the convenience of being in Canggu is worth the premium.
There’s no doubt that based on the numbers, at this moment in time, expats in Bali prefer to live in Canggu in preference to Candidasa. We can’t see that changing any time soon, either.
Which Area Is Most Popular With Digital Nomads?
There’s nothing to stop digital nomads from heading to Candi Dasa and there are certainly a few cafes and restaurants where you will be able to work comfortably all day long for the price of a few drinks and some food.
However, Candidasa is not really a digital nomad destination and there are no coworking spaces, no coliving spaces, no digital nomad meetups, etc. That means nomads out this way tend to be self-starters happy to work out of their villa or hotel room.
Canggu is completely different. It’s one of the most popular destinations for digital nomads in Southeast Asia, and second only to Chiang Mai in Thailand (the original nomad Mecca in this region).
There are more coworking spaces than you can shake a stick at and coliving opportunities galore. There are non-stop meetups and even gyms with inbuilt coworking so you can take care of your wellness while you work.
It’s a place that is, quite literally, built for nomads and if a digital nomad loves to surf, then Canggu is a “must-do” spot in Indonesia.
Overall, there’s no contest in this category, Canggu is the best digital nomad destination because it’s set up to make digital nomad life easy.
Canggu Vs Candidasa – Which Town Comes Out On Top?
It’s not often that we have an almost clean sweep in our head-to-head battles but in this case, apart from a tie in the aesthetics category, Canggu wins every single round.
That’s probably not a surprise when you consider that Canggu is Bali’s most popular destination and Candidasa is a very sleepy fishing village.
Of course, if you’re in the mood for a quiet, relaxed holiday away from other people without much to do, Candidasa might still be very appealing to you, but overall, most holiday makers are going to prefer Canggu.
FAQs
Is There Better Nightlife In Canggu Or Candidasa?
There is no contest here, Canggu has much better nightlife than Candidasa. Canggu is the entertainment capital of Bali at the moment and it has dozens of clubs, bars, pubs and nightlife venues for you to enjoy. It also has FINNS Beach Club, the world’s best beach club.
In stark contrast to Canggu, Candidasa is more of a chilled out small town on the coast, it’s a popular destination for retirement and it has very little in the way of things to do after the restaurants in the area kick out.
Canggu is also very close to the towns of Kuta and Seminyak both of which have strong nightlife scenes of their own and help to extend how much partying it’s possible to do without having to travel too far.
However, there’s nowhere close to Candidasa with a reputation for partying. So, if you’re in the mood to party – you should choose Canggu in preference to Candidasa.
Is Candidasa Quieter Than Canggu?
Yes, Candidasa is much quieter than Canggu. It’s a small seaside town with a few hotels and shops to enjoy. Other than that, the area doesn’t have a lot going on and by late evening, the town has pretty much gone to bed.
As we noted above, Canggu is the nightlife capital of Bali, but it’s also the island’s most popular resort town and there is a lot to see and do in the area, as well as endless cafes, stores, restaurants, bars, etc.
That means Canggu tends to be bustling all day long, which always leads to a little noise. Canggu is also part of the busy urban sprawl around Denpasar which also includes Seminyak, Kuta, Legian, Jimbaran and Uluwatu on the same coast and that means Canggu tends to see quite heavy traffic, particularly at the peak hours of the day.
Is It Better To Surf In Candidasa Or Canggu?
Canggu is one of the best surfing destinations in Bali and it’s a popular place for beginners and intermediate surfers to practice their surfing skills.
Echo Beach in Canggu also offers some real challenges for advanced surfers who want to polish up their skills before tackling the biggest surfing challenges on the island in Uluwatu.
While it’s not impossible to surf in Candidasa, most of the year, the waves on this side of the island are fairly small and even beginners might find them too tame.
The seas around Candidasa are better for snorkeling and diving than they are for surfing. Thus, for most surfing enthusiasts, it’s going to be better to surf in Canggu.
How Far Is It From Canggu To Candidasa?
It’s only about 60 kilometers from Canggu to Candidasa by road, however, as traffic in Bali can get pretty hectic at times, it’s going to be a 2-3 hour drive between the two towns and exceptionally busy periods, it might take even longer than that.
So, if you do intend to switch between the two, we’d recommend that you stay in the town for a few days to enjoy what it has to offer rather than trying to dash back and forth in a day, as you’d only spend most of your time in a car.
How Much Is A Taxi From Candidasa To Canggu?
A taxi from Canggu to Candidasa (or vice versa) will cost around 450,000 IDR (that’s about $30 USD or $45 AUD) one way. That’s using the Grab or Gojek ride-share platforms. You will probably find that your hotel will charge you a bit more for a taxi.
You should be aware that you can rent a private car and driver for 8 hours for about 500,000 IDR (only $3 USD or $5 AUD more). So, if you want to explore the area around Candidasa that might work out more economical.
Final Thoughts On Canggu Or Candidasa
While both Canggu and Candidasa have their charms, as you can see from our head-to-head analysis above, Canggu is likely to appeal more to most tourists.
There’s more to see and do in and around Canggu and it has the most glorious sunsets in Bali, whereas Candidasa is more about sunrises and lounging around by the pool in your resort, because there’s not so much going on.