Author · Things To Do In Sanur
Co-founder & writer — Things To Do In Sanur
Mark, somewhere on the Sanur beach path with a coffee, as usual.
I'm Mark, one half of Things To Do In Sanur. Along with my wife Bec, I've been coming back to Sanur for over a decade — and this site is where we share everything we've learned, from the best breakfast spots and markets to where to stay and which day trips are actually worth it.
Bec and I are small-town Aussies who've been travelling together for over 26 years and have visited more than 45 countries, almost always while working full-time jobs rather than as digital nomads with endless time. Bali — and Sanur in particular — is the place we keep coming back to. Nearly everything on this site comes out of trips we've actually taken: the hotel we stayed in, the warung we ate at, the market we got up at dawn to visit, the day trip we booked and did ourselves.
I grew up in a small country town a couple of hours east of Melbourne and still live in regional Victoria today. I'm self-taught — no background in web design, writing or SEO, just a lot of years figuring it out by trial and error while working full-time. Blogging started back in 2016 and grew from there. On this site, I handle most of the writing and the reviews; Bec edits and co-writes, and she's the one who hunts down the best breakfasts and knows the Sanur markets inside out.
Mostly the practical, first-hand stuff that actually helps you plan a trip to Sanur: honest hotel and accommodation reviews, where to eat and drink, the markets and shopping, and day trips from Sanur that are worth your time. If a hotel's breakfast is overrated or a "must-do" is really a tourist trap, I'd rather tell you than repeat what everyone else has copied from everyone else.
A few examples of that approach:
We book and pay for most of what we review ourselves. Where a post includes an affiliate link, it's disclosed, and it never changes what we actually say about a hotel, a café or a day trip. If something wasn't good enough, we say so.
I'm not a travel agent or a journalist. I'm a traveller who's spent a lot of time in Sanur, who checks things first-hand and with our Balinese friends on the ground, and who'd rather tell you a market is a rip-off than pretend everything's perfect.
I've been part of Travel Massive, the global travel industry community, since 2015. Travelpayouts interviewed me in 2024 about how blogging and affiliate marketing actually work for a family of self-taught Australians doing it alongside full-time jobs. FeedSpot ranked Bec and me in their Top 70 Australian Family Travel Influencers for 2026, ABC News featured our family travels in 2021, and we've written for Klook on their own blog — about our Nusa Penida day trip, which you can do straight from Sanur. We’ve also partnered with brands including Discovery Parks, who featured our family on their site.
A lot of what we cover comes with video too, filmed on the day. Subscribe on our TikTok to see the hotel rooms, the food and the honest reactions that don't always make it into the written post.
Things To Do In Sanur isn't the only thing we run. Depending on where you're headed, these might be useful too:
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Mark 
The Holiday Inn Sanur breakfast is the best value walk-in hotel breakfast we’ve found in Sanur at 150,000 IDR plus tax. Our honest review — what’s included, the standout Indian food station and tips for getting the most out of it.
Unlike Bali’s popular beaches at Kuta and Seminyak, Sanur’s beach does not have a main beachfront road. The beach has to be accessed through a number of smaller streets and alleyways leading from off Jalan Danau Tamblingan — the main street running through Sanur. Each access point leads to a different section of the 7km … Read more
The Prama Sanur Beach Hotel is one of Sanur’s most talked-about places to stay. It is a massive 428-room resort that guests either love or hate. After spending four nights here we can see the pluses and negatives of this Sanur Beach Hotel. This is our honest Prama Sanur Beach Hotel review covering rooms, facilities, … Read more
The weather in Sanur, Bali is one of the most common questions we get asked. The weather is the number one thing that can affect any holiday. In Bali the forecast often says rain — should you be worried? The short answer is no — and in this article we explain why, with a month-by-month … Read more
Griya Santrian asks you to pay nearly twice what you would spend at many nearby Sanur hotels, around $250 to $300 AUD per night. As Sanur regulars who have stayed at hotels, homestays and villas across Sanur, we spent three nights here to find out if it truly delivers enough extra value to justify the … Read more
Getting into Bali involves a few steps that can seem quite overwhelming for first timers. Getting a tourist visa, paying the tourist tax and filling in a customs declaration all need to be sorted before you land. You need to go to a number of different websites to complete the Bali arrival process and they … Read more
Every day, from early morning to early evening, fast boats travel between Sanur and Nusa Lembongan. For many visitors to Bali, a few days on Lembongan is a natural part of the trip. It is a smaller, quieter island that is easy to reach and worth the effort. Several companies run boats from Sanur but … Read more
The Palm Garden Hotel sits on Jl. Kusuma Sari in South Sanur, tucked behind high walls away from the main road. It is a mid-range hotel that suits couples, singles and families who want a clean, comfortable base in a good location without paying resort prices. Semawang Beach is about a 5 minute walk away … Read more
When researching a holiday in Sanur, Bali, you will often see the area described in sections: North Sanur, Central Sanur and South Sanur. For first-time visitors this can be confusing when trying to decide where to stay. This guide covers everything you need to know about the southern end of Sanur, including where it is, … Read more
From the moment you walk through the traditional Balinese door into the courtyard at Arena Living Sanur, you get a sense of the place. It is quiet, tidy and removed from the traffic noise of the bypass road out front. It is a mid-range hotel sitting slightly away from the beach and the main strip, … Read more