Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport to Sanur
About 14 km east of DPS, generally 25–45 minutes. The counter taxi is ~€18, Grab/Gojek cheaper, and a booked car suits families heading on to the islands.
Sanur, DenpasarMatt Croxson / Wikimedia, Public domainSanur is the low-key east-coast alternative — a long calm-water beach, a paved seafront path, older established resorts, and the fast-boat harbour for Nusa Penida and Lembongan.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Sanur, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €15). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €31) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €31 | €15 | Private transfer |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €62 | €15 | Private transfer |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €124 | €15 | Private transfer |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €6, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Private transfer
The easiest option with kids or a pile of dive bags — reserve the right-size car and a seat for a toddler, all for a fixed ~IDR 260,000–370,000. Sanur is a common first night before the morning fast boat.
Where to catch it: Met at arrivals; child seats can be requested when you book, and the vehicle is sized to your group.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsTaxi
Flat IDR 300,000 (~€18) per car. A dependable set price to the seafront hotels, with no meter to watch.
Where to catch it: Buy the Sanur/Renon-zone fare at the counter just beyond arrivals.
Best for small groups in a hurryTaxi
Around IDR 100,000–170,000 including the airport fee. Sanur's main roads are app-friendly, so pickups and drop-offs here are less fussy than in Canggu or Ubud.
Where to catch it: Request from the ride-hail lounge after clearing arrivals; drivers meet at the set point, not the terminal doors.
Best for small groups in a hurryShuttle
About IDR 520,000 per car to Sanur. The value is the bundled island bus pass — Sanur is on the Kura-Kura shuttle line, so you can ride it around later at no extra fare.
Where to catch it: Kura-Kura greeter in the arrivals hall for the booked car.
Best for budget travellersSanur & Denpasar in photos
Buying tickets in Denpasar
Bali has no airport train. The budget option is the Trans Metro Dewata bus at a flat 4,400 IDR, linking Ngurah Rai with Kuta, Denpasar and Sanur; the stop sits just outside the airport grounds, a short signposted walk from the terminal. Otherwise use the official prepaid taxi counter in the arrivals hall, where you pay a fixed fare upfront (commonly around 100,000-150,000 IDR by zone) — no meter, no roadside negotiation.
Taxi scams & safety in Denpasar
Decline the men calling "taxi, transport" as you exit — those unofficial touts overcharge heavily. Grab and Gojek are now officially allowed to pick up, but only from the dedicated ride-hailing lounge in the car park, not the arrivals curb; note their fares include roughly 250,000 IDR in airport fees, so they can match a counter taxi. Book only real Bluebird cabs through the app to avoid copycats using a similar blue livery, and expect a late-night surcharge.
Getting from DPS to Sanur
Sanur sits about 14 kilometres east of Ngurah Rai, and the drive usually takes 25 to 45 minutes depending on when your flight lands and how the bypass is moving. It is the calm, older-established end of the coast — a long sheltered beach, a flat paved seafront to walk, and resorts that have been running for decades. It is also the harbour where the fast boats leave for Nusa Penida and Lembongan, which is why so many travellers treat it as a first night rather than a final one. If you are island-hopping, the drive from the airport is really the first leg of a journey that continues by boat, and that changes how you should think about it.
Sanur as a first night before the island boats
Most fast boats to Penida and Lembongan leave in a cluster through the morning, roughly between 8 and 11, and they do not wait. If your plane touches down in the late afternoon or evening, chasing a same-day crossing is a gamble you will lose more often than win — bags, immigration queues, and the transfer all eat the clock. The steadier plan is to land, get to a Sanur hotel near the beachfront, sleep, and roll down to the harbour the next morning with time to spare. That is exactly why the beach fills with people who look relaxed rather than rushed: they have built a buffer night into the trip. Pick a hotel on the north end near the boat jetties and the walk to your crossing becomes a five-minute stroll with a coffee.
The counter taxi, the app, and the gap between them
Two straightforward car options wait past arrivals, and they are priced very differently. The official airport taxi counter sells a flat fare to the Sanur zone — IDR 300,000, about €18, per car, no meter to watch and no negotiation at the kerb. It is the dependable choice if you would rather not open an app while herding tired kids and a luggage trolley. Grab and Gojek, ordered from the ride-hail lounge after you clear the hall, run far cheaper: somewhere around IDR 100,000 to 170,000 with the airport fee folded in, so roughly €6 to €10. The catch is small — drivers collect from a designated ride-hail point rather than the terminal doors, so you walk a short way to meet them. Sanur's main roads are wide and app-friendly, so the pickup and the drop at your hotel are less of a scramble here than they would be down the lanes of Canggu or Ubud. If price is the deciding factor and you can manage the short walk, the app wins clearly.
A booked car when the dive bags and a toddler travel with you
The reason to reserve a private transfer ahead of time is control over the vehicle, and that matters most to exactly the crowd Sanur draws. A driver from Welcome Pickups meets your flight, and when you book you can request a child seat and a car sized to your group — useful when the boot has to swallow dive bags, a stroller, and a fortnight of family luggage. The fare is fixed at around IDR 260,000 to 370,000, roughly €15 to €22, agreed before you leave home, so there is no doing sums in a currency you landed with an hour ago. For grandparents travelling with grandchildren, or a group heading straight for the morning boat, the certainty is the point: the right seats are in the right car, and the price does not move. It costs more than the app and a little more than the counter taxi, but it removes the two things that fray tempers on arrival — the wrong-sized vehicle and the haggle.
The Kura-Kura option if you plan to island-loop by bus
There is one more choice worth knowing. The Kura-Kura Bus runs a booked airport transfer to Sanur at about IDR 520,000, near €31 per car — plainly the dearest door-to-door run here. Its value is not the ride itself but what comes bundled with it: an island bus pass. Sanur is a stop on the Kura-Kura shuttle line, so once you are settled you can hop the bus around Bali later at no extra fare. If your plan is a few unhurried days working outward from Sanur before the boats, that pass can pay back the higher transfer price. If you are only overnighting before a morning crossing, it is money spent on a network you will barely touch — so weigh it against how you actually intend to move.
Decide by your flight time first. Land in daylight with a boat booked, and the private car or counter taxi gets you to the jetty end of Sanur with the evening to prepare. Land late, and the smart move is simply a good night's sleep by the beach, with the crossing waiting for you in the morning.
