Padangbai
Padangbai is a popular place to stay for travelers who are on their way to or from Lombok. There are also public boats leaving regularly from here to Nusa Penida. The village is located in a lovely bay, with the large ferry terminal and a long beach surrounded by green hills. A large part of [...]
Gunung Agung
Gunung Agung is Bali’s highest and most sacred mountain. It is 3.142 meter high and can be seen from almost everywhere on Bali and from the neighboring islands, but most of the time it is covered by clouds. The best time of year to see the mountain is August to September and of course early [...]
The Banda Islands
The Banda Sea is one of Indonesia’s deepest oceans, at the most more than 6.500 m deep. It spans a large area, all the way to Sulawesi in the west. At the center of the sea south of Seram there are a small group of ten islands plus some uninhabited small corral islands, called the [...]
The Aru Islands
The group of islands called Aru are located just west of West Papua in the Arafura Sea, which stretches all the way to West Papua to the east and Australia to the south. Aru is the easternmost group of islands in Maluku, they consists of about 85 islands totaling an area of 8.563 sq. km. [...]
Tirta Gangga
Tirta Gangga is a small village built on an altitude of about 500 meters, seven km northwest of Amlapura. Tirta Gangga means “water from the Ganges”, and the place is known for it’s “water palace” and beautiful surroundings. In many people’s opinion this is among the most beautiful areas on Bali.
Tenganan
When Majapahit conquered Bali in 1343 there were some Balinese who did not accept this change of rule, and therefore built their own villages in remote areas. The descendants of these people are today known as Bali Aga or Bali Mula, meaning “the original Balinese”. They still live in villages like Tenganan in East Bali [...]
Goa Lawah
There is no doubt why Goa Lawah, the bat cave, has got this name. Thousands of noisy bats fill the air in and around the cave, with a sharp smell of bat droppings covering the ground in a thick layer. It is also said that pythons live inside the cave, feeding on the bats. The [...]
Danau Bratan
The Danau Bratan lake is located inside the old caldera of the now extinct Gunung Catur volcano. The lovely area around the south and west side of the lake is known as Bedugul (see separate article). Not far from here are the Danau Buyan and Danau Tamblingan lakes, two of the four large lakes on [...]
Bedugul
Bedugul is the name of the area south and west of the Danau Bratan lake. Taking the road passing Bedugul is the fastest way to travel from the southern tourist areas to Singaraja and North Bali. From the south the road passes through some steep terrain before Bedugul, with a very scenic landscape. The Taman [...]
Nusa Penida
Nusa Penida consist of three islands; the large Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. The islands are under administration of the Klungkung district. A common way to travel here is by public boat from Sanur to Lembongan. You can also sail from Padangbai directly to Nusa Penida, which will bring you to Sampalan on [...]
Semarapura
Even if many still use the old name Klungkung, the official name of this city is today Semarapura. Most maps and signs now use the name Semarapura. The biggest attraction here is the Taman Gili (island-garden) complex, consisting of Bale Kambang and Kerta Gosa within a large garden. In the western part of the garden [...]
Klungkung
Klungkung is one of the smallest districts on Bali, but as a former center of the Gelgel dynasty it is also one of the most important historically. It includes Semarapura city, Goa Lawah and the three Nusa Penida islands. 1343 was a particular important year in Balinese history, when the island was conquered by Gajah [...]
Jatiluwih
There is no doubt that Jatiluwih is among the most beautiful places and can offer some of the best scenery on the entire island of Bali. The place has a particular charm even if the weather, which can change dramatically within minutes, is rainy and cloudy. Everywhere you look you see green rice fields and [...]
Gunung Batukau
Gunung Batukau is the second largest mountain on Bali (2.275 m), and only Gunung Agung is of higher religious importance. The slopes are covered with rainforest, apart from West Bali National park this is the only wilderness region of any significance left on the island. The mountain is located in the Tabanan district, and is [...]
Balinese identity
There is probably no group in Indonesia more aware of its own ethnic identity than the nearly 2.5 million Balinese. Inhabitants of the islands of Bali and Lombok and the western half of Sumbawa, Balinese are often portrayed as a graceful, poised, and aesthetically inclined people. Although such descriptions date back six centuries or more [...]
Balinese Dance and Drama
Arts on Bali flourished already centuries ago, even before the warring but artistic Balinese kingdoms of the 16th century. Inscriptions say that already around 1000 AD Bali had puppet masters, poetic singers and musicians. These artistic activities and endeavors were further patronized by the feudal lords and sustained by their religious rituals. Economic stability of [...]
Yeh Panes
About 12 km north of Tabanan city, along the road to Pura Luhur Batukau, you will find the holy springs of Yeh Panes Penetahan. Today they are surrounded by the charming “Yeh Panes Natural Hot spring and Spa”, and for a small fee you can come inside and have a look or take a bath [...]
Tanah Lot
Tanah Lot is located in the Tabanan district southwest on Bali, only a short distance from Kuta and Denpasar. With it’s beautiful location and architecture it is one of the most characteristic temples on Bali, and for the Balinese the most sacred of the sea temples along the southern coast of Bali. On a clear [...]
Tabanan
Tabanan is the capital and commercial center of the Balinese district with the same name. Tabanan is full of small industries and Chinese owned shops, and the architecture is not very attractive. But the city has won a number of prices for cleanliness and is maybe the best organized town on Bali. There are many [...]
Kerambitan
Kerambitan is located six km. southwest of Tabanan, and is a small agricultural district full of green rice fields. The most important village here is also called Kerambitan, known for its old beautiful buildings, as well as traditional dance and music, wood- and stone carvings. The name Kerambitan is probably derived from the Sanskrit word [...]
Balinese Painting
In Bali today we can still find the overwhelming variety of traditional arts, from sculpture to painting, from architecture to music, from singing to dancing, and more important is that we can still find those mentioned arts that pervaded and supported by, what the Balinese call, taksu the divine soul of the arts. Painting as [...]