UBUD
Located 1 hour from Kuta and just high enough to be noticeably cooler than the coast, Ubud is the calm and peaceful cultural centre of Bali. Although there has been tremendous development over the past few years, Ubud has managed to remain relaxed and beautiful. Features include galleries, museums, excellent restaurants and amazing views of ravines, rivers, terraced rice fields and surrounding natural villages.
In order to appreciate Ubud it is advisable to stay more than a day as one of the best ways to see the area is to walk or cycle rides through the spectacular scenery.
BALI BIRD PARK
The Bali Bird Park is located in Gianyar approximately 30 minutes from Kuta and features over 1000 birds including 250 exotic species - a spectacular rain-forest walk-in aviary - the famous Komodo Dragon and 2 hectares of tropical gardens. The restaurant serves an a-la-carte and buffet lunch.
PULAU MENJANGAN & PEMUTERAN Located on the north west coast of Bali, Labuhan Lalang is the place to get a boat to Pulau Menjangan (Deer Island), an unspoilt and uninhabited island reputed to be one of the best diving and snorkelling areas in Bali with a vast array of tropical fish and coral.
Pemuteran is close by and is bounded by ocean on one side and National Park on the other. In the evening one can watch the sun drop down over Java while listening to both Balinese and Moslem priests chanting from the mosques and temples in the area.
PADANG BAI Along with Benoa harbour, Padangbai is the port for the ferry service between Bali and Lombok.
Located 54 km from Denpasar on the East coast of Bali, Padangbai offers some excellent diving on the coral reefs around Pulau Kambing and Gili Toapekong.
TULAMBEN
A short drive north of Amed lies Tulamben, also famous for diving and snorkelling with the prime attraction here is the huge WW II wreck of a US cargo ship, the Liberty, torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1942. According to locals the Liberty sat on the beach at Tulamben until 1963 when the violent eruption of Gunung Agung toppled it beneath the surface of the ocean where it remains today. Whatever the course of events it now lies 40 or 50 metres offshore and can be seen by both divers and snorkellers.
Sanur was a quiet fishing village and one of the places favoured by Western artists during their pre-war discovery of the island.
Sanur stretches for about 3 km along an east-facing coastline, with landscaped grounds and restaurants of boutique hotels fronting right onto the beach.
Without the noise and confusion of Kuta this delightful village has much to offer and is a perfect location for a relaxed vacation. It also hosts an active artistic and entrepreneurial business community.
Located in Ubud, the Monkey Forest is a small but dense forest inhabited by a handsome band of monkeys, and beautiful temples.
SANGEH MONKEY FOREST
Near the village of Sangeh, about 20 km north of Denpasar. This forest of approximately 6 hectares, is filled with giant nutmeg trees that
can grow up to 40m high. The main attractions are the hordes of Balinese monkeys that inhabit both the trees and the temple, Pura Bukit sari, located in the heart of the forest.
BEDUGUL & LAKE BRATAN
Bedugul is located on the main north-south road between Denpasar and Singaraja in cool damp mountain country - an excellent base for walking trips around the lakes and surrounding hills. There are several places to stay near the lake and there is also an interesting temple, botanical gardens, an excellent golf course and a variety of activities on Lake Bratan itself.
CANDIDASA
In 1983 Candidasa was just a quiet little fishing village, since then many hotels, losmen and restaurants have been built turning it into a resort area. Due to the development that took place, much of the beach disappeared, compensated by many hotels with swimming pools located right on the coast. Close by is the town of
Amlapura the capital of the Karangasem District, where three palaces dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries are decaying reminders of Karangasem's period as a kingdom. Candidasa has the full complement of shops, moneychangers, bicycle, motorbike and car rental to mention just a few of the tourist essentials.
TANAH LOT
Located on the south west coast, Tanah Lot is possibly the best known and most photographed temple in Bali. The pagodalike temple sits on a small, rocky islet, surrounded by water at high tide and otherwise accessible by a ramp. Despite the commercialism, few sights compare with the dramatic view of the sun dropping behind the ocean and silhouetting the temple which is venerated as a holy site believed to be guarded snakes.
ELEPHANT PARK Located 20 minutes north of Ubud in the cool jungle of Desa Taro, the park offers you a chance to hand feed, touch and interact with the mainly Sumatran elephants in an exotic landscaped atmosphere. Elephants can be seen immersing themselves in the cool waters of the park lake or grazing peacefully in the surrounding grounds. Safari rides are also available at the park including children's mini rides.
Enjoy the Elephant Safari Tour, an experience you will not forget, as you sit high atop an elephant in a traditional teak wood chair, and sway to and fro through the cool jungle of Taro.
WATERBOOM PARK & SPA
Located in the heart of Kuta, the Waterboom Park offers plenty of activities for the family including more than a kilometer of top quality water slides winding through landscaped tropical gardens or a leisurely voyage down the Lazy River.
KINTAMANI & LAKE BATUR
The village of Batur was formerly sited in the Batur crater until a violent eruption of the volcano in 1917 and again in 1926. The village was relocated to the crater rim and the surviving shrine was placed in the new temple Pura Ulun Danu. This temple is of considerable importance and is one of Bali's nine directional temples.
The villages of Batur and Kintamani now adjoin each other. The spectacular views are well worth a visit and for those more energetic, the climb up Gunung Batur is well worth the effort and affords spectacular views of sunrise and sunset from the top.
BESAKIH TEMPLE
First constructed more than 1000 years ago and perched nearly 1000 metres up the side of Gunung Agung is Besakih Temple, Bali's most important temple. Comprising 30 seperate temples situated on seven terraces up the hill, Besakih is one enormous complex.
It is large, very well kept, but not always open.
LOVINA
Located on the north coast of Bali is famous for it's dolphins - boats sail out before dawn to take visitors beyond the reef where the dolphins play and en-route are treated to a view of the sun bursting out over the volcanoes of central Bali. Stunning sunsets are also viewed from Lovina. There are many places to stay at a reasonable rate and there is good snorkeling on the reef.
SEMINYAK & KEROBOKAN
As Kuta & Legian grew, they spread further north to the areas of Seminyak and Kerobokan. There is a profusion of restaurants, shops and bars and many western business people residing in Bali tend to live in this area.
NUSA DUA
Nusa Dua is Bali's top-end beach resort and is located south of Kuta and Sanur on the eastern side of the sparsely populated Bukit Peninsular. The beach here is very pleasant and there is often good surf outside the protected reef areas. Nusa Dua is a special tourist designated region with lush gardens and all facilities.
TEGALLALANG
Noted woodcarving centre near Ubud.
KLUNGKUNG
Once the center of Bali's most important kingdom. Klungkung now is a dusty busy market town with pony-drawn carts providing an exotic touch. It is here that the famous Klungkung school of painting was developed. Klungkung is also noted for the Kerta Ghosa (hall of justice) and it's connecting water palace, where disputes that could not be settled locally, were brought. It remains the palace of the Dewa Agungs
Turtle Island
Very close to the shore, south of Sanur and close to the mouth of Benoa Harbour, is Pulau Serangan (Turtle Island). At low tide you can actually walk across to the island. Here turtles are captured and fattened in pens before being sold for village feasts. Turtles are now being protected on the west coast of Bali due to dwindling numbers and tourists are advised to refrain from eating any turtle meat or buying products made from turtles.
Jimbaran is a small upmarket resort area, home to The Four Seasons and InterContinental Hotels. Located just beyond the airport, south of Kuta, Jimbaran Bay is a crescent of white sand beach and blue sea and is famous for it's many fish restaurants situated on the beach offering the freshest fish brought in by local fishermen each day.
Benoa Harbour is the major port for the south of Bali and a haven for visiting yachts. Benoa village has become the centre for all sorts of watersport activities including scuba diving, windsurfing and para-sailing.
Kapal is the garden gnome and temple complex centre of Bali and is located in south west Bali.
Tabanan is in the heart of the rice belt of southern Bali and also a great centre for dancing and gamelan playing. Nearby a road turns down to the coast through Kerambitan, a village noted for it's beautiful old buildings including two 17th-century palaces. There is some beautiful scenery on the way to Negara, the capital of the Jembrana District, but far less tourist development. The road continues to Gilimanuk, the terminals for ferries which shuttle back and forth across the narrow strait to Java.
Gianyar is the administrative centre of the Gianyar District, which also includes Ubud. In the centre of town, across from the large open space known as the Alun Alun, the old palace is little changed from the time the Dutch arrived in the south and the old Kingdoms lost their power. The Gianyar royal family saved their palace by capitulating to the Dutch rather than making a heroic last stand like the other Balinese kingdoms. Despite its relatively original appearance, the palace, dating from 1771, was destroyed in a conflict with the neighbouring kingdom of Klungkung in the mid-1880's and was rebuilt, only to be severely damaged again in the 1917 earthquake. Nevertheless, it's a fine example of traditional palace architecture, surrounded by high brick walls. The royal family still live in the palace, so without formal invitation you can do not more than look in through the gates. Gianyar's warungs are noted for their fine roast piglet known as 'babi guling'. It is advisable to eat early though, as the warungs often have no food left by the afternoon.
Travelling from Batubulan to Celuk, both of which are en-route to Ubud from Sanur, you move from stone figures to filigree. Celuk is the silversmithing centre of Bali and features a wide variety of jewellery on sale or you can order your own design.
Interestingly, Mas means gold but this town is actually well known for it's woodcarving, especially mask carving. The road through Mas is lined with craft shops and visitors are welcome to drop in and browse through the myriad of items for sale and see the carvers at work.
Perched on the slopes of Gunung Batukaru (Batukaru mountain), but closer to Bedugul is the small village of Jatiluwih, whose name means 'truly marvellous'. The view truly is - and takes in a scenic panorama of southern Bali.
Two most popular routes from south to north are through Kintamani or Bedugul, but the road from Pulukan which branches north from the Denpasar to Gilimanuk road, is an interesting and less used road. This route offers views of the ocean and spice-growing country, runs through an enormous Banyan tree and then spirals down to Pupuan through some of Bali's most beautiful rice-terraces and ends at Seririt situated west of Lovina on the north coast.
Situated on the east coast of Bali lies the town of Amed which has become a popular diving and snorkelling destination over the last ten years. This part of Bali is relatively dry and barren but it is equally stunning as it is the stretch of coast where Bali's mightiest mountain Gunung Agung descends to meet the sea.
Located on the north coast of Bali, Singaraja used to be the centre of Dutch power in Bali and remained the administrative centre until 1953. It is one of the few places in Bali where there are still visible reminders of this Dutch period. Featuring tree lined streets and Dutch colonial houses there are also Chinese and Moslem influnces from Singaraja's time as a centre of administration and trade. For many years the port of Singaraja was the usual arrival point for visitors to Bali but is hardly used now due to it's lack of protection from bad weather. It remains a major educational and cultural centre and apart from two university campuses there is the Gedung Kirtya Historical Library with a magnificent collection of around 3000 old Balinese manuscripts inscribed on lontar (palm).
This national park covers nearly 20,000 hectares of the western tip of Bali. In addition 50,000 hectares are protected as the National Park extension as well as nearly 7,000 hectares of coral reef and coastal waters. On an island as small as Bali, this represents a major commitment to nature conservation. It is advisable to use the local guides to take you for walks through the park.
Nusa Penida, an administrative region within the Klungkung district comprises three islands - Nusa Penida with it's towering cliffs, the smaller Nusa Lembongan to the north-west and tiny Nusa Ceningan between them. Economic resources are limited on Nusa Penida as it has been a poor region for many years and there are few facilities for tourists. The cultivation of seaweed is a recent development but now quite well established and is exported to Japan and Europe.
Most visitors come to this tranquil island for the surf that breaks on the coral reef offshore. This reef is also noted for great snorkelling and diving and protects the beach which is a perfect crescent of white sand with clear blue water and superb views across the strait to Gunung Agung volcano on mainland Bali.
This park houses not only four of the famous Komodo Dragons but also a large collection of crocodiles, lizards and snakes within large tropical gardens. "Feeding Time", a snake and magic show and even crocodile wrestling go to make this an interesting family experience.
The Ayung River is Bali's most spectacular and provides 27 sets of challenging and fun- filled rapids set to a backdrop of wild unspoiled rainforest, towering gorges and magnificent rice paddy terraces.
Located near Pupuan, in West Bali, this spectacular waterfall drops over 100m - especially in the rainy season. Be prepared for a bit of a trek up a steep and at times rough track to get there.
