We tried all these Canggu cafes and decided to write about them so you can see which are the best cafes and which are ones you probably don’t need to waste your time on.
Just a note on Instagram. Don’t use Instagram to judge the quality of a cafe as we found absolutely zero correlation between a cafe’s awesome Instagram feed and the quality of the food. Some with poor Instagram had good food and coffee and some with fantastic Instagram feeds which served up rubbish.
Satu-Satu Coffee Company
Located about halfway down Jalan Pantai Berawa, Satu-Satu is a popular modern cafe serving typical Canggu cafe food and coffee in a concrete & brick building with a large open air area out the front.
The coffee here is as to be expected — excellent. The food is an eclectic mix of bowls, healthy plates and even some pasta. We didn’t try the food, but it looked quite good so it’s probably worth a try.
Satu-Satu Coffee Company
Jalan Pantai Berawa, Canggu
Opening hours: 08:00 – 16:30
Instagram: @satusatucoffeecompany
Coffee: Rp25.000 (tax already included!)
WiFi: 10down/25up (full cafe, faster when empty)
Hungry Bird
When we entered this cafe, it felt more like an Internet cafe than a place which served food and coffee because every single table was taken up by at least one person, and sometimes two people, using laptops. And as customers queued out the door and stood around looking for a seat, those on laptops tapped away.
One of the reasons this place is popular with the digital nomad crowd is because the internet is incredibly fast. But the coffee here is also excellent and one of the best I’ve had in Bali so far.
The food here is pretty standard with burgers and sandwiches, rice and noodles and an assortment of pancakes. This is a no bowl zone!
Service here was dull and we didn’t see a smile from any of the staff. Maybe they were frustrated with the number tables being occupied by laptops.
Whatever the case, the coffee is great and internet really fast. Come here if you’re a digital nomad or want a quick coffee. And get here early if you want a good seat.
Hungry Bird
Jalan Raya Semat 86, Canggu
Instagram: @hungrybirdcoffee
Opening Hours: 08:00 – 17:00, closed Sundays
Coffee: Rp25.000 (tax already included!)
WiFi: 30down/50up (full cafe, faster when empty)
The Moose Espresso Bar
Co-located with MyWarung® on Jalan Batu Belig, The Moose Espresso Bar is touted as the place to come to enjoy great coffee in a warung environment. Truth be told, it feels like a normal cafe to us and the prices are high even by most Bali cafe standards. That said, they do offer a breakfast packet which is what we had.
For a place wanting to be known for coffee, they were off to a bad start. Almost the whole outside of my cup was coated in spilt milk. Somehow someone had made the coffee really badly and didn’t bother to clean it up before serving. The flavour of the coffee was good and I quickly forgot the spilt coffee issues, despite having sticky hands every time I picked it up.
The breakfast packet they offer is reasonable value. A coffee, breakfast (eggs, pancakes, smashed avo), fruit juice and fruit platter all for Rp80.000++. The fruit plate is tiny, but enough. My pancakes were dry, quite simple, but tasty all the same. I didn’t really enjoy them.
WiFi wasn’t working when we visited, so we can’t recommend it as a place to open a laptop. This is a good cafe, but with so much competition these days, it’s going to have to lift its game in a few areas to stay relevant on the Canggu cafe scene.
The Moose Espresso Bar
Jalan Batu Belig 8A, Kerobokan
Instagram: @themooseespressobar
Opening Hours: 08:00 – 01:00
Coffee: Rp32.000 (plus 15.5% tax)
WiFi: Not working
Livingstone Cafe Bakery
When you enter Livingstone, you’re immediately interrogated about numbers of people, inside/outside and then ushered towards a table. If you want to sit where you want, just ignore the person at the door — it’s an attempt at good service which is horribly grating.
The space is large and there are plenty of spots to set up a laptop. Unfortunately the WiFi is quite slow although quick enough for emails and web browsing.
The flat white I had here was a good one and definitely worth a stop if you’re on your way past. The energiser was awesome with lots of mint and ginger to freshen up your day. A decent cafe, but feels a little fake Western for us.
Livingstone Cafe and Bakery
Jalan Petitenget 88x, Kerobokan
Instagram: @livingstonebakery
Opening Hours: 07:00 – 22:00
Coffee: Rp35.000 (add 16.5% tax)
WiFi: 2down/2up (seems to be capped speed)
The Avocado Factory
What a fantastic concept for the Instagram generation! For the crowd who loves avocado, this place is everything you could hope for. All menu items feature avocado, but they’re more than just avocado dishes.
Avo chocolate mousse, incredible avo burgers and nasi campur with avocado. The burger was brilliant, soft bun, tasty bacon and just enough avocado.
Coffee here is also very good and worth coming for on its own. We couldn’t get on the WiFi because of the ridiculous sign-in procedure, so we don’t know how fast it is. Despite WiFi issues, this is a fantastic cafe!
The Avocado Factory
Jalan Tanah Barak 52, Canggu
Instagram: @theavocadofactory
Opening Hours: 07:00 – 23:30
Coffee: Rp30.000 (add 15.5% tax)
WiFi: couldn’t get it working
Vida Cafe
If organics and superfoods are your thing, then Vida is your place. A wonderful menu of bowls, salads, pancakes and burgers greets you when you arrive and it all sounds fantastic.
We tried the French toast and burrito and both were quite good, but not without some problems. The burrito was super bland, but also super healthy. The French toast was loaded with way too much fig paste, but was otherwise pretty good.
The coffee here is also top notch and worth stopping in for. 
It’s a crowded cafe with mediocre WiFi and not really a great place to work but that doesn’t stop some people setting up here anyway. This is a fantastic place for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but do note that it is one of the more expensive cafes in Canggu.
Vida Cafe
Jalan Pantai Batu Bolong 38A, Canggu
Instagram: @cafe_vida_bali
Opening Hours: 07:00 – 22:30
Coffee: Rp32.000 (add 15.5% tax)
WiFi: 6down/6up
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is quite different to many other cafes in Canggu in that it has a tiny menu, a small seating area and isn’t too close to where most tourists are staying when in town.
The coffee here is excellent and it’s extremely strong. But not bitter. Just strong. They often have a deal which combines a yummy cinnamon scroll and coffee for Rp35.000 which is a great way to have afternoon tea.
A funky little place away from the madness closer to the beach. We love it!
Copenhagen
Jalan Padang Linjong 71a, Canggu
Instagram: @copenhagencanggu
Opening Hours: 07:00 – 16:00
Coffee: Rp25.000 (add 15.5% tax)
WiFi: 13down/18up
Milu
With the success of Nook in Umalas, the same group has opened up a bigger establishment in Canggu and it’s a beauty.
A lovely airy building with massive deck overlooking a rice field greets visitors and it’s easy to spend a few hours here with friends drinking coffee and eating smoothie bowls.
And it’s one of those typical Canggu menus with breakfasts, bowls and burgers. The smoothie bowl was excellent, but we were a little disappointed with the coffee. It was OK, but steamed to within an inch of its life and miles below Bali standard these days. At dinner, we had ribs and some tapas and most of it was excellent.
It’s a fantastic cafe to open a laptop in and WiFi is reasonably fast, even though the cafe was near full when we were there. Definitely a favourite in the area.
Milu
Jalan Pantai Berawa, Canggu
Instagram: @milubynook
Opening Hours: 08:00 – 23:00
Coffee: Rp28.000 (add 16% tax)
WiFi: 10down/20up (half full cafe)
Ruko Cafe
Located on the road to Pantai Berawa, this tiny cafe is something of a hit with those living and staying nearby. Every time we’ve been, it’s been packed to the brim with people sipping on coffee and downing bowls and burgers.
The coffee here is strong and excellent. Certainly worth coming for. We haven’t eaten here before, but the meals we’ve seen other people have look good.
The crowd here seems a little older than the Echo Beach crew and we even spotted some non-white people which was refreshing.
Tables here are limited the WiFi was broken last time we visited. No matter what the staff did, the WiFi wouldn’t come back on again. Probably not a great place to open the laptop.
Ruko Cafe
Jalan Pantai Berawa 99, Canggu
Instagram: @rukocafe
Opening Hours: 07:00 – 16:30
Coffee: Rp30.000 (no added tax!)
WiFi: not operational (on a 2nd attempt we got a choppy 20down/40up — maybe they still have intermittent problems)
Cinta Cafe
With mediocre ricefield views and a menu of breakfast, bowls and burgers, Cinta (pronounced chinta) Cafe is funky little cafe reminiscent of many other cafes in the area.
Good coffee, good western food, neat little view and fast internet. It’s actually all you need if you want a lazy breakfast, quick coffee or even an afternoon on the laptop. It’s a really relaxing place.
We enjoyed our coffee here and loved the speed of the WiFi. Better still, it never really felt crowded and we would be happy to come here with a laptop for a few hours of work and definitely for another coffee (don’t order the Charcoal Chai! Great for Instagram, awful taste). Definitely worth a visit when in this part of Canggu.
Cinta Cafe
Jalan Pantai Berawa 69, Canggu
Instagram: @cafecinta
Opening Hours: 08:00 – 22:00
Coffee: Rp30.000 (add 15.5% tax)
WiFi: 21down/40up (few customers)
Secret Spot
Once a secret spot, this place is a secret no more. It’s got a good reputation for serving up healthy raw food, vegan fare and a whole bunch of bowls. If you’re into healthy food, you are going to love this place.
We love the fit out of this tiny little vegetarian cafe, especially the upstairs area where you have a choice of indoor or outdoor seating. Kick back on a lounge or tiny table and enjoy yourself. It’s a fantastic space. But don’t expect to pull out your laptop and get any work done. It’s not that kind of place.
Our drinks here were excellent and we recommend coming for a coffee if you need a caffeine hit, but also for some clean food if you’re feeling bloated from too much nasi goreng, burgers and pancakes from other eateries. Prices here are slightly lower than average for this kind of place.
Secret Spot
Jalan Pantai Berawa 44, Canggu
Instagram: @secretspotbali
Opening Hours: 08:00 – 22:00
Coffee: Rp27.000 (no tax!)
WiFi: 28down/37up (not full of laptops, so probably always fast)
The Shady Shack
Located on a small road on the way down towards Echo Beach, The Shady Shack is possibly the hippest cafe in Bali right now. Persistently full, the service is often slow and inattentive.
If raw, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free is your thing, The Shady Shack is your place. We don’t have dietary restrictions and usually head for the tastiest item on the menu, but at Shady Shack we struggled for something to get our teeth stuck into. It’s a massive menu of bowls, breakfast, kale and fruit which has its place, but is extremely niche in its appeal.
We ordered a lot of stuff and most of us were a little disappointed with what we got with flavours that underwhelmed. But it’s all healthy! And if you’re in need of healthy food, this might just be the place for you.
For Instagram, this place is heaven. Beautifully presented dishes, clean ingredients and lots of colour. It’s every Instagrammers dream. But for us, it’s mostly smoke and mirrors with the dishes looking far better than they taste.
Prices here are sky high, but you pay for the freshness and quality of the produce on offer. It’s not a place to come and work, so leave your laptop at home and just enjoy the food. Coffee is excellent.
We’re not fans of this place due to lack of flavour in the food, but this opinion is not a common one. The Shady Shack is extremely popular, especially with the health-conscious.
The Shady Shack
Jalan Tanah Barak 53, Canggu
Instagram: @theshadyshack
Opening Hours: 07:30 – 22:30
Coffee: Rp32.000
WiFi: 13down/14up
Motion Cafe
Motion Cafe is a Canggu special with an ultra modern menu of healthy food, vegetarian meals and the odd burger with real meat. There’s no doubt who the target market is here with all-day homemade granolas, protein waffles, paleo plates and lots of salads.
Prices here are about average for Canggu and you’ll find that it’s often packed due to the great combo of sensible healthy food, good flavour and reasonable prices. But as with many health food cafes, you have to be careful what you order lest you end up with something bland — like the awful banana coconut bread we had. 
The coffee here is excellent as it has to be in Indonesia these days. There is no room for bad coffee.
Although this is a smallish cafe, people still do come here with laptops and use the fast WiFi. A good healthy choice in Canggu.
Motion Cafe
Jalan Batu Bolong 69b, Canggu
Instagram: @motioncafe
Opening Hours: 07:00 – 22:00
Coffee: Rp30.000 (tax already included!)
WiFi: 12down/42up
Parachute
Another cafe for the Instagram crowd (of which we are reluctantly members of), Parachute has gained a reputation due its incredibly photogenic canopy made out of an old Australian Army parachute. So is this place another triumph of style over substance? In many ways, yes.
Let’s start with the coffee. It’s excellent & one of the best we’ve had in Bali. They’re serving up coffee from 1/15, the Jakarta-based roaster and that place is still one of the best in Jakarta.
But the food. This place is apparently run by a former 3 Michelin star chef. If that is true, I cannot for the life of me understand what is going on here with the food. It doesn’t make sense.
We ordered the pork belly on English muffin, but it was simply a bacon and egg McMuffin… you cannot describe it as pork belly. Just 2 strips of thin bacon. And the muffin was a little under done for our liking — it was quite dense and doughy. The taste was good, but it was extremely disappointing. (* on Instagram this dish seems to have large fluffy muffins, thick pieces of pork belly and a beautifully cooked egg. Compare the difference)
The coconut & granola parfait was equally disappointing with soggy granola on top from it sitting in the fridge for too long — the crunchy bits had soaked up all the moisture in the fridge. The flavours were ok.
The cream filled donut was very good and on a different level to the other 2 meals we had. So strange.
Maybe we were unlucky and maybe lunch and dinner meals are better. But at this point in time, we just don’t buy the Instagram hype. Come for a coffee and perhaps a donut, but leave it at that.
Parachute
Jalan Subak Sari 13 No. 4-8, Canggu
Instagram: @parachutebali
Opening Hours: 08:00 – midnight
Coffee: Rp35.000 (add 15.5% tax)
WiFi: 11down/12up
Machinery
Located so far from the beach that few people think to visit, Machinery is a quiet cafe which attracts a few people with laptops and not much else.
Tables here are perfect for setting up a laptop on and the WiFi is reasonably fast. Coffee prices here are around average and the quality is good.
We also checked out a pork wrap which hit the spot nicely. What we really liked about this place is that it wasn’t trying to be the next Instagram sensation and not trying to be a one hit wonder like many cafes in Canggu. This place has substance and does good coffee, tasty food, is unpretentious and isn’t likely to win any Instagram awards. Hoo-fucking-ray!
Machinery
Jalan Pantai Batu Bolong 35, Canggu
Instagram: @machinerycafebali
Opening Hours: 07:30 – 20:00
Coffee: Rp32.000 (no added tax!)
WiFi: 14down/11up (bunch of people with laptops in cafe)
Nüde
This large cafe is extremely popular with a large outdoor seating perfect for the masses as they chow down on fantastic gluten free options, big breakfasts, burgers and bowls. It’s a pretty standard menu which tries for substance over style. In other words, don’t come here looking for the latest instagrammable dish — come here for flavour.
The coffee I had here was mediocre and nothing compared to the best in Canggu. But if you’re looking to set up a laptop, there’s plenty of space and the internet is stable, but quite slow due to how many people are using it. So a coffee while surfing away on your laptop is not a bad thing despite the deficiencies in the coffee department.
The rosti stack was excellent and the rest of the menu looked equally appealing. It’s not instagrammable in the ultra-modern sense, but you can still get good photos without sacrificing flavour like you often have to do with good-looking food.
We’re fans of Nüde!
Nüde
Jalan Raya Pantai Berawa 33, Canggu
Instagram: @nudeincanggu
Opening Hours: 07:00 – 22:00
Coffee: Rp28.000 (add 15.5% tax)
WiFi: 2.3down/1.4up (full cafe)
Gypsy
Gypsy is a little bit of an anomaly as far as cafes in this part of Canggu go. They shun style over substance and go all in on good food. And even though their focus is on taste, you can still get a few instagrams here.
The breakfast menu here is a bit light on options, but things really open up at 12 when a bunch of fantastic burgers and sandwiches are served. We tried the French toast, mille crepes and hash browns and were pleasantly surprised with how good they were.
Coffee here is fantastic, the WiFi fast and there are a few places to work from. Because it’s a small cafe, it’s probably best to limit your time here on laptops anyway. One of our favourites in the Echo Beach area.
Gypsy
Jalan Batu Mejan, Gang Catu 1, Canggu
Instagram: @wearegypsy
Opening Hours: 08:00 – 22:00
Coffee: Rp28.000 (add 15.5% tax)
WiFi: 25down/31up
Not long ago Cahill’s Lookout used to be just a dirt track on the side of a suburban road with very few visitors. But it was improved a couple of years back to include a reasonable car park and a nice concrete path. And now it’s often packed with sunset hunters including the odd small tour bus. But it’s worth it.
Lincoln Rock is a booming place mainly because it looks a bit like Wedding Cake Rock in the royal national park. Well, sort of. It’s flat… and you can get photos at it. And lots of people go there. So yeah, you can too.
If you’re further up the mountains than Katoomba, there are a couple of good spots in Blackheath for sunset. The first one is Blackheath Lookout.
Just head over the railway tracks from Blackheath and follow the signs. If not, this map will help.
Hargraves is one of my favourite spots for sunset in the Blue Mountains primarily because it has such a massive area where you can set up your rig, take in the peace and quiet and basically avoid other humans.
Sunset Rock is famous for sunsets, funnily enough. And it’s very unpopular. That is, I’ve never seen another person there. Maybe that’s because it’s high up in the Blue Mountains at Mt Victoria, away from public transport. Also, I’ve only ever been there in winter.
If you’ve flown on a 787 in economy before, you know what the deal is. Narrow seats, large overhead storage bins, nifty tinted windows.
I find sleeping on a 787 really difficult. It’s all the more difficult when there is a metal entertainment unit under the seat in front like there was for me. If you have big feet and long legs, you can’t fully stretch out both legs under the seat in front of you and it greatly disturbs your sleep. How on earth I can buy an iPad with 256gb of memory that’s as 1cm thick and yet we still have entertainment units the size of a 1990s PC is beyond me. It needs to be fixed.
After many hours of trying to get comfortable, I was finally able to sleep. I think I got close to 6 hours of on and off sleep which is the minimum I was aiming for on this 12.5 hour flight.
The staff. I haven’t flown on Western airlines much over the past decade so I’ve gotten used to Asian and Middle Eastern service. And I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how friendly the BA crew. Not that over the top sickly sweet thing you can sometimes get, but a genuine pleasantness that is sometimes missing from the Asian airlines. And they felt much more professional than some of the Asian airlines as well. If there was an emergency, you felt that they had things under control.
We ordered the Biang Biang Inspired Noodles, Duck Confit Rice Bowl and a couple of drinks. We loved it all.
The Biang Biang Noodles were thick & wide sheets of pasta topped with crushed peanuts and chilli oil. For me, the noodles were slightly too thick and wide, but you do sort of need something big for all the saucy goodness to rest on.
The drinks were a fermented ginger drink and a sour plum thing. Both were delightful and something quite different from typical cafe drinks.
One thing to note is that coffee is not available here. And usually for me that’s a cardinal sin. But I agree with the owners that coffee just doesn’t fit in this cafe. And that’s kind of refreshing.
Internet here is very fast at 30mbps down and 20mbps up and there is plenty of space for opening a laptop if you need to get a few bits and pieces done.
If you’ve got no cash, don’t come here.
Your other options are going to be spread throughout the country and there doesn’t appear to be any one large concentration of hotels. During my research Hotel Restaurant Kulm looked like a good option especially because it has fantastic views and only cost $110 per night (
The mountain road is worth going up whether you’re catching the bus or driving your own car because the views are phenomenal especially as you go up through the residential area of Triesenberg. You can even stop here and grab a bite to eat at one of the local restaurants, but be warned that they can be very expensive (think US$50 per person or more).
But if you’re on a budget, there are plenty of cheap options. Liechtenstein like any other country has fast food options such as McDonalds as well as supermarkets where you can buy pre-made sandwiches. It just depends on your travel style.
The cafe itself has a great fitout and is frequented mainly by foreigners. I’m not sure why. Maybe because it’s next door to the hostel or maybe just because it’s the best cafe in the area. Whatever the case, don’t expect to see many (any) Malaysian faces.
This is one of those hotels that asks for a RM50 deposit on arrival and the person at the counter couldn’t speak English so was asking the security guard to translate.
Rooms come equipped with small flat screen TVs, but the channels aren’t good. The wifi took me ages to get working on my iPhone, but once it started working, it was fast and didn’t disconnect me once. I clocked it at 20mbps down and 15mbps up.
There’s a rooftop area which is great for hanging out in and it has a great view of the nearby Masjid Jamek.
Located on a small road off Jalan Pudu, VCR is in an inconvenient and odd location. You have to go out of your way to visit it. And that’s why it wasn’t that busy when I visited. I mean, most tables were filled, but there was no waiting list or anything. And I’d kind of expect a waiting list at a place this good.
The coffees I had here were excellent (RM11). Silky smooth milk, a strong coffee flavour, great temperature.
The fitout is a good one with plenty of tables for singles and couples meaning you can easily set up a laptop here without feeling guilty. And the wifi is good!
I got my lawar medium spicy, but it nearly blew my head off. Soo spicy, but oh so delicious.