Tirta Empul
This important temple one km north of the Tampaksiring village was founded as early as 962 AD. It is not as spectacular as Gunung Kawi a few km’s away, but absolutely worth a visit. Even if this is one of the oldest sites on Bali much of the structures are relatively new, it was completely [...]
Tegenungan
This lovely waterfall in the Petanu river is located in Tegenungan close to Kemenuh, 7 km southwest of Gianyar city. The waterfall has a height of about 30 meters. It is not frequently visited in spite of it’s close distance to most of the tourist centers on South Bali. The place can be hard to [...]
Tampaksiring
Tampaksiring was long time ago a center for the Hindu religion on Bali, and has within it’s borders two of the most sacred temples and relics on the island; Tirta Empul and Gunung Kawi. The Tampaksiring area is part of the Gianyar district and located about 40 km north of Denpasar and 14 km northeast [...]
Mas
Just south of Ubud you will find the small Mas village, which is the place to go to find wood carvings and other good quality crafts made of wood, like furniture. Even if Mas means gold, it is basically woodcarving that has brought fame to the place. Some of the best woodcarvers on Bali today [...]
Gunung Kawi
Gunung Kawi is the largest and maybe also the most impressive of the old monuments on Bali. Like Goa Gajah this site is around 1.000 years old, probably built at the end of the 11th century. Gunung Kawi was first discovered by Europeans in 1920, even if the local population had knowledge of it a [...]
Goa Gajah
The mysterious Goa Gajah (elephant cave) is one of the oldest relics on Bali. The exact time of origin is uncertain, but archeologists estimate the cave to have been built around year 1022 AD. This was long before Majapahit entered the island, and also hundreds of years before the first Europeans set foot here. The [...]
Gianyar
Traditionally Gianyar has been the richest district on Bali, today about half the population here works in the tourist industry. Gianyar city is the administrative center of the district, while Ubud is the cultural capital and has the largest population. Gianyar city is located about 23 km from Denpasar, and is a junction for north [...]
Bedulu
Bedulu was once capital of the old Balinese kingdom Pejeng; a long tongue of land between the Petanu and Pakrisan rivers. Today this area is home to some of the most famous and appreciated monuments and relics on Bali, like Yeh Pulu and Goa Gajah. Pejeng was the last kingdom that surrendered to the Majapahit [...]
Sanur
Sanur is the area on Bali where mass tourism first got a foothold. The 11 floor high Bali Beach Hotel, the first large hotel on Bali, was built in 1965. It is still the highest building on Bali, due to a law made after the completion that bans any building higher than a palm tree. [...]
Denpasar
Over the last 20 years Denpasar has seen an incredible growth, and has taken over for Singaraja as the capital of Bali. The city used to be the capital of Badung, but became in 1992 together with Sanur, Benoa harbor and Pulau Seringan a separate district. The name means something like “close to the market”, [...]
Bali Facts
Total area of Bali is 5.623 square kilometers, the island is 145 km long and 80 km wide. The capital is Denpasar on the southern part, the second largest city is Singaraja on the north side of the island. Parts of Bali consist of several large volcanoes, according to old beliefs home of the Gods. [...]
Singaraja
Singaraja was once the center of trade on Bali, as well as the capital of the island. Traders from all over Asia have arrived here since the 10th century, trading goods like weapons and opium in change of fresh water, food, cattle and slaves. Singaraja means “lion king”, while there are no lions here, the [...]
Lovina
Lovina is a coastal area located just southwest of Singaraja in the Buleleng region. It covers an area of about 8 km including the Anturan, Tukad Mungga, Temukus and Kalikbukbuk villages. Lovina has a growing number of shops, restaurants and hotels, but is not by far as crowded as Kuta. The hotels are spread along [...]
Buleleng
Northern Bali was the first Balinese region under rule of the Dutch. This took place as early as 1848, 60 years ahead of the rest of the island. Over land this region were isolated from the rest of Bali until the Dutch in the 1920′s built a road towards the south. The population is mainly [...]
Kintamani
A lovely trip is guaranteed if you travel to North Bali and choose to follow the road over the mountains via Kintamani. Here you find all aspects of Balinese nature, passing rice fields, volcanoes, lakes, forests and small villages. You can easily drive from south Bali to Singaraja in one day, but to be able [...]
Gunung Batur
The Gunung Batur volcano has also given name to the largest lake on Bali and to a village. The volcano is still active and the smoke is constantly seeping out of the mountain which is located inside a huge caldera. The top is 1.717 meter and had it’s last eruptions in 1917 and 1926. The [...]
Bangli
High up on the southern slopes of Gunung Batur, Bangli has a temperate climate which maybe is among the most comfortable on Bali. Once this was the capital of a kingdom, now it is the capital of the Bangli region. The town is spread out along the main road and do not have a large, [...]
Uluwatu
The Bukit peninsula is located on the southernmost part of Bali, just south of the airport. Bukit is different from the rest of Bali, it is dry with sparse vegetation, similar to several places by the Mediterranean sea. In former days it was used as hunting fields for the raja’s of Denpasar. At the southern [...]
Seseh
Seseh is located on the southwest coast of Bali, north of Kuta and Canggu. This is a lovely cultural landscape with fertile rice fields, traditional villages and a nice coastline. Pantai Seseh is by the Hindus considered as sacred, like several other beaches on the island. People from the Mengwi district come here before Nyepi [...]
Sangeh
Sangeh is a small village 20 km north of Denpasar, and home to one of the large attractions on Bali; the Bukit Sari monkey forest. Bukit Sari is famous for it’s old temple and of course the many macaque monkeys which rules the forest. The temple, Pura Bukit Sari, is probably built in the 17th [...]
Perean
Along the main road from South Bali to Bedugul via Mengwi, about 30 km from Denpasar, you will pass through the small Perean village. Perean sits in a typical agricultural area, with beautiful rice fields and a large variety of vegetables and other crops. The village is best known for it’s old temple, Pura Yeh [...]
Nusa Dua
On the northeast coast of the Bukit peninsula is Nusa Dua with it’s many luxury hotels. These hotels are not frequently visited by backpackers, and you could easily empty your bank account here. The rooms are normally priced in US dollars, on some hotels you have to prove that you are a guest to enter. [...]
Mengwi
Mengwi is famous for the unique Pura Taman Ayun state temple, which was the most important temple in the Mengwi kingdom before Mengwi was conquered by the neighbouring Badung and Tabanan in 1891. Mengwi was at that time a large kingdom stretching all the way to East Java. Taman Ayun was built in 1634 by [...]
Sunset on Kuta Beach
Kuta with it’s large assortment of hotels and restaurants in all price layers is without doubt the largest tourist area on Bali. Originally Kuta was just a small fishing village, but since the 1970′s it has seen a huge growth in tourism. The Kuta district today can be separated in four areas. Tuban is furthest [...]