The Canggu Shortcut is one of the most infamous roads in Bali. If you spend much time travelling between Canggu and Seminyak, sooner or later the Canggu shortcut will tempt you to see if you can beat the traffic by taking a more direct route through the rice fields.
However, it’s not infamous for nothing and before you opt to hit the Canggu shortcut for the first time, we’d recommend working through our guide to the Canggu shortcut and making sure you know what to expect – as things can get pretty hairy on the narrow lanes particularly if you’re new to driving in Bali.
Why Does The Canggu Shortcut Exist?
Bali is one of the world’s most desirable tourist destinations. Forbes ended 2024, by declaring the island to be the most attractive bucket list destination on Earth.
This means that a lot of people come to Bali each year and even more people are dreaming about spending some time on the island.
Canggu was, until fairly recently, an undiscovered gem and you’d find a few surfers and maybe the most adventurous digital nomads in the area but almost no-one else.
However, as Kuta grew, Seminyak bloomed and then, like Kuta, it ran out of room for further development and Canggu, as the next area along the coast, began to pick up the slack.
Canggu is now the most popular destination in Bali and the infrastructure in the area has grown incredibly over the last few years.
Sadly, the local government hasn’t been able to keep up with this boom and traffic is only one of a dozen priorities in this developing nation. So, the roads are pretty much the same as they were when Canggu was a sleepy backwater.
That means, there’s much less space per car or bike than there was once on the roads.
Traffic jams have become ubiquitous on the island and the Canggu shortcut is simply a response to the problem of too much traffic that has been agreed upon by the locals to help get from the Berawa area to Seminyak in a sensible amount of time.
What Are The Benefits Of The Canggu Shortcut?
For drivers, there are three core benefits of using the Canggu shortcut:
- It saves them time – if you want to go from Jalan Pantai Berawa to Jalan Pantai Batu Bolong, there’s no faster route between the two than the Canggu shortcut.
- It’s beautiful – the rice paddies and fields might be receding but this area is still reasonably attractive and it’s nice to drive through the backstreets of Canggu and appreciate the area
- It’s easy – Canggu and Seminyak are both places that people want to be and being able to move freely between them is a serious benefit of the Canggu shortcut
Where Do I Find The Canggu Shortcut?
The Canggu shortcut begins on Jalan Pantai Berawa and it’s not far from the world’s best beach club – FINNS Beach Club.
You’ll find that it starts at Jalan Subak Canggu and then runs all the way through to Jalan Anggerek.
We should note that you cannot fit two cars side-by-side on the Canggu Shortcut and that means cars are only allowed to enter the Canggu Shortcut from the West end.
We’d note that because the road is so narrow that the Canggu Shortcut is best not attempted using a car at all. It’s faster to follow the main road between Canggu and Seminyak, instead.
How Long Is The Canggu Shortcut?
Assuming that you don’t get stuck in traffic, the Canggu Shortcut will take about 15 minutes for you to drive the full length. You can enjoy some pretty parts of the countryside as you follow the road but it’s getting more built up every day.
Is It Safe To Use The Canggu Shortcut?
No, not really. This shortcut is a series of very narrow paths running through private property and it’s not a formal road system at all.
There’s no room for cars to pass each other on the Canggu Shortcut at any point and trying to do so will see one car lying in a ditch.
It can also be super busy and that makes the Canggu shortcut very challenging for most drivers.
We would note that accidents are a common feature of the shortcut traffic and people have died there too.
What’s The Canggu Pole?
The Canggu Pole is a traffic pole that is meant to help split the road in two for cars to pass each other, but as the road is too narrow for this – the traffic pole just confuses everyone.
And given the pragmatic Balinese spirit, it usually gets pulled down by an angry local within 24 hours of being erected. This happens so frequently that it’s something of a local in-joke.
FAQs
Where Is The Shortcut In Canggu?
There are two shortcuts in Canggu now. The original “Canggu shortcut” which is the one the article above is about and that links the Batu Bolong area to the area around Berawa.
This “shortcut” is a somewhat informal road that runs through the local rice paddies and while the view of the rice fields is nice, the road surface isn’t great and you might not want to ride a scooter down this shortcut unless you are an experienced driver.
The other short cut connects Jalan Raya Canggu with Jalan Raya Kerobokan and while this too passes through some rice fields (though you can no longer see them as they’re obscured by a large fence running around the perimeter), it’s a proper road.
It’s also one of the busiest stretches of road in Canggu and far from reducing journey times, it often acts as a bottleneck that traps traffic between the two roads.
What Is The New Shortcut In Bali?
The latest shortcut in Bali, as far as we know, is the one between Jalan Raya Canggu and Jalan Raya Kerobokan.
This was only opened in early 2024 and was designed to relieve some of the most intense traffic on the island.
It initially appeared to have been a great success but the shortcut has now become a bottleneck for even worse traffic jams.
Is Canggu A Party Town?
If you want to party, you can certainly find a party in Canggu. If you head to FINNS Beach Club, for example, you will find one of the island’s best party destinations near Berawa Beach.
The Berawa area has plenty of other pubs, restaurants, etc. too for you to have a ogoo night out.
The Batu Bolong Beach area is also a good place for partying. But much of Canggu is quite sedate and laidback and once you get away from the main beach areas, you’ll find that the parties are fewer and further between.
Is There A Main Street In Canggu?
There are three areas that could be considered “main streets” in Canggu. There’s Jalan Pantai Batu Bolong which is the busiest part of town and is home to many shops, restaurants, bars, etc.
There’s also Jalan Pantai Berawa which is not quite as busy but still has a huge number of shops, bars, restaurants and also the world’s best beach club, FINNS Beach Club.
In addition, you could consider Jalan Raya Canggu – the arterial road through Canggu to be the busiest road of all, and it’s certainly home to a lot of shops and a few cafes and bars. But generally, this road is more often frequented by locals rather than tourists and there are fewer amenities and places of interest on Jalan Raya Canggu than on the two beach roads.
What Makes Canggu Special?
Cangu was once a “hidden gem” of Bali. It was made up of three small villages each with its own road leading to a beach and while these beaches were lovely, Canggu was a quiet sleepy backwater of Bali.
Today, Canggu is nothing like this. It’s the most popular part of the island with visitors and you will find that this is because it has a great balance between “old traditional Bali” and “modern tourist Bali”.
Tourists, digital nomads, fitness fans, and much more come to Canggu because of the amazing facilities.
The biggest draw in Canggu is FINNS Beach Club, the world’s best beach club, and an incredible 15% of visitors to Bali choose to visit FINNS during their trip! You could even infer that you haven’t really seen Bali at all if you haven’t been to FINNS.
Other local facilities include FINNS Recreation Club (which includes a bowling alley, trampoline park, and much more) with the best gym in the area and an awesome restaurant in the form of Bistro C.
There are also a ton of boutique stores in Canggu where you can pick up the latest fashion items and look amazing without bankrupting yourself.
This area is also home to some of the best bars and restaurants on the island and there’s something for everybody from humble warungs to high-end fine dining that will blow your taste buds away.
Overall, Canggu is simply the most appealing destination to tourists on the island because it has so many facilities when compared to other parts of the island.
Is Canggu Too Touristy?
No, we don’t think so. The traffic might impact on your travel time, particularly on the main roads of the area but overall, the infrastructure in Canggu is excellent and people choose the Canggu area because it still has a nice balance between classic Bali and modern Bali.
If you don’t want to spend too much time in cars, the best thing to do is to stay in Canggu and then take the occasional day trip from the area to other places that you want to see.
Then you can enjoy Canggu without too much travel and still see the best of the rest of Bali, it’s quite an experience and you will be glad that you spent time in this popular vacation spot.
Final Thoughts On “Saving Time” With The Canggu Shortcut
The Canggu shortcut is the most famous shortcut in Bali and the idea is a good one, to tackle the traffic jams in a way the local government has been struggling to do.
Unfortunately, because it’s a very narrow road, the Canggu shortcut often sees as much traffic as it tries to prevent on the main road and it’s easy to get stuck on the route.
If you live in Canggu, the Canggu shortcut is part of day-to-day life and most people will want to discover it on their first time in the area. But they may decided to opt for travel in places with wider lanes once they see how little space remains on this road.