Hello peeps. I am back with my Bali series of articles. Yesterday I shared with you all the 4 places to visit in Ubud, on foot or scooter. Today I shall share with all of you a few places around Ubud, in various parts of Bali, for which you need to schedule a tour or book a driver.
In case you missed the Part 1 of the series, click ‘Here’
Now Bali is a huge island, quite contrary to what few people believe. It takes quite some time to travel from one place to another.
So when you decide to book any kind of tours please keep in mind you will have to take into consideration the time to travel from one attraction to another. So I would suggest you all to book places by grouping them together, e.g. North Bali attractions,East Bali Attractions or South Bali attractions,etc. So one day maybe you can do the north, the other day the south etc. Also, it depends a lot on where you will be staying in Bali. Following this grouping of places reduces the travel time and makes you less fatigued. This idea was followed by us, thanks to my genius husband.
We did two scheduled private tours booked on Klook, Both the days, we had two different drivers.
On the first day when we decided to tour around we decided to see the Northern and kind of westernish/central part of Bali.
We booked a private car and driver to travel to these spots. I would definitely recommend traveling with your own booked car instead of going with people in a tour like other countries. Why? Because first of all it’s quite cheap to book a private tour in Bali, so why not and second of all you are away from the hustle bustle and scurrying of other people and can decide which all places you would like to visit and how much time you would like to spend at each place.
We highly recommend this driver called Roy. His contact no for any bookings is: +62- 817383656 ( This is just a good will gesture from us. We found him to be funny, witty and he was very friendly and spoke with us throughout our journey. We were never bored throughout our journey all thanks to him. We even had 2 cups of ‘Sumatra’ Coffee at his brother’s shop at Tanah Lot and they didn’t charge us. Such a nice man! )
We began our tour in the morning at around 8 am and reached back by around 7 pm. The traffic in Bali also makes the time shorter or longer, so best to start early in the morning to reach back in time.
So here are the 4 places we saw that day:
1.Taman Ayun Temple
It is also called ‘Pura Taman Ayun’ Temple. It is surrounded by a wide, elegant moat, which in the earlier days was the main temple of the Mengwi kingdom, which survived until 1891, when it was conquered by the neighbouring kingdoms of Tabanan and Badung.
The temple was built in 1634 and extensively renovated in 1937. It’s a spacious place to wander around.
We went in the morning so there were only a few tourists like us around and it was quite calm and scenic.
The inside of the temple has basically shrines which are covered by huts and the signature multitiered design.
We spent around 45 mins at this place.
There is an entry free which you will have to pay to get inside.
Entrance Fees: IDR 20.000 ($2 Singapore Dollars/ ₹97.79 INR)
I would suggest not spending more than 45 mins exploring this place since there are even more beautiful places than this one to explore. But yes, it’s a good place to visit to get the feel of ancient Indonesian culture.
2. Ulun Danu Beratan Temple
This temple is one of the places in Bali which I really liked. It is located in the middle of the lake, hence it is also called as floating temple, but it depends on the high tide or low tide to see it in floating form.
Nevertheless, it is very picturesque and the entire campus is quite huge. The lake is beautiful and the view is breathtaking. The air is fresh and you feel amazing as you breathe in the fresh air and feel the wind blowing across your face.
The only thing we didn’t like here is that the actual temple is closed. One cannot visit the inside of it. You have to view it from the outside only.
So the entire entrance fee is mostly for the view. Yes, you will see a picturesque garden, lovely lake, the boats are cute and make for a good scene and the temple looks beautiful from the outside. So yes, go there more for the views than visiting the actual temple.
As Indians, we really are used to our temples being open for all, so this was a bit of a disappointment.
Apart from that, I would say this place is really very beautiful for all your photos and nature gazing.
It definitely is a must visit temple in my Bali recommendations. I would say you can spend an hour or little bit more at this place.
Entrance Fees: IDR 50.000 ($4.87 SGD / ₹244 INR
3. Jatiluwih Rice Terraces
The Jatiluwih rice terraces comprise over 600 hectares of rice fields following the flowing hillside topography of the Batukaru mountain range. These are well-maintained by a traditional water management cooperatives dating back to the 9th century.
Jatiluwih is derived from two words. Jati means “real” and Luwih means “good” or “beautiful”. So even the name in the local language lets you know this place is beautiful. When you drive the narrow, winding road to Jatiluwih, you’ll see the beautiful panoramas along the road. This area is the only place in the world that has three annual rice harvests.
This place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The greenery is truly overwhelmingly beautiful and the entire place is truly breathtaking.
The roads to reach the Jatiluwih Rice terraces are small but once you are here, you feel rewarded for your travel.
There are tracks made for tourists to walk amidst the beautiful greenery. There are maps placed to direct you as well.
By the time we reached Jatiluwih, we were famished and were looking for a place to have our lunch. There are only 2 places to eat over there, one of which,the owner and staff were missing (Lol) so we were forced to go to the pricier one. It was called warung Dhea.
The food even though pricey, was worth the money would say, since the quantity of food as huge, and we also got to eat our lunch over looking and taking in the beauty of the rice terraces.
Post lunch, we spent about 2 hours at the place, exploring the rice terraces and simply being awed by the beauty of the nature.
We even found cows and bulls kept in shades, mooing away to glory and since both of us being animal lovers, we played with them for quite a bit of time.
One can actually spend an entire day here, since the rice terraces are quite huge and I was so sad to leave this place and move on to the next.
Nevertheless, with a heavy heart, we said goodbye to Jatiluwih and moved on to the next and final destination of the day.
Entrance Fees: IDR 40.000 ( $3.83 SGD/ ₹ 195 INR)
4. Tanah Lot Temple
We arrived at the final destination of the day for us. Tanah Lot Temple is probably one of the most well known temples in Bali, which is why you will find a lot of tourists here. The place is quite crowded with lots of tourists going in and coming out.
At high tide, waves flood the causeways making it impossible to cross. At low tide, you may cross to view the rock base where the legendary ‘guardian’ sea snakes dwell in crevices.
Onshore temples include many other temples as well.
We didn’t know that there are temples other that Tanah Lot to see, when we went there.
Also, my main disappointment was that did not get to spend more time exploring the place as much as I would have loved to, since I had read about Tanah Lot and was wanting to see this place ever since we decided to go to Bali.
The short 30 mins we spent at the temple were memorable and I would recommend spending over an hour here.
The sea is ferocious as it splashes the Tanah Lot temple and even though the tide was down and people were wading in the water, walking across to see the temple, I somehow did not get an impulse to.
The overall history and vibe of Tanah Lot gave me the feeling of being
“awed and inspired” at the same time.
I wish the tourists who visit this place give it more respect and so do the authorities, because as an empathetic person who feels vibes, I felt this place giving off strong vibes, powerful.
Of all the places I visited, I felt this was the temple that should have been closed to general public, not the other ones.
To anyone reading this and planning to visit Tanah Lot, please be respectful of this place and it’s history. Show your humility and I am sure you will carry lots of blessings back with you! 🙂
Entrance Fees: IDR 60.000 ($5.79SGD/ ₹ 292 INR)
Please note: The parking fees are separate in the places above and the prices keep changing.
Also, most of the temples have attire rules in Bali. It is preferable to wear something below the knees and covering your shoulders. Even if you want to wear shorts it’s okay, they will hand you a Sarong when you go in. Rules vary from place to place and temple to temple.
Thus, our day ended after visiting these 4 places. It was indeed a great day, which I shall never ever forget.
I hope my today’s post proved to be an insightful read for all of you.
Stay tuned for more posts coming up in the Bali series.
Catch you all soon.
A Cupful Of Everything 
Those rice terraces are so beautiful. And yes, I know what you mean by having to pay to visit a temple…
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Hi. Yes indeed the terraces are definitely worth a visit. Thanks for the empathy about the temples 😊 I don’t mind paying if one is allowed to enter inside as well 🙂
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