Bali What and Where

Badung Regency

Uluwatu Temple
Uluwatu means " the head of stone", one of the most spectacular Hindu temple along the coast line built by a high Hindu priest from East Java named Dang Hyang Dwijendra in the 16th century. This beautiful temple is located on top of a stiff limestone cliff about 90 meters above the Indian Ocean. This place is great to visit for having fun with the monkeys living around the temple and watching sunset.

Kuta Beach
Kuta is the busiest tourist area on the island because of its beautiful beach which has a clean soft white sand stretching long and wide from the south to the north around 25 kilometers. The beach is great for surfing, swimming and sun-bathing while watching a beautiful sunset. Not only for fun, Kuta is also a paradise for those who like shopping and night life.

Nusa Dua
Nusa Dua is the youngest tourist resort in Bali. Most of big and fancy 5 star hotels are located on this area. The development of this resort was booming in 1980's but very well cared and controlled by Bali Tourism Development Center (BTDC). It has a wide and long soft and clean sand beach which is best for marine sport like jet sky, speed boat, banana boat, parasailing, snorkling and many others. A famous golf course, Nusa Dua Bali Golf Course, and Kris Galeria are located on this area. There is a free shuttle bus taking people from one hotel to the others based on schedule.

Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK)
GWK is a statue of Wisnu, the God of protector, on His mythical bird, the great Garuda. It will be the landmark of Bali as the center of Hinduism. The size of the GWK statue is 146 meter high and 283 meter above the sea level. The bird's wings is 66 meter wide and the total weight is 4000 tons. The statue is made of mix copper and brass welding and several parts coat with mosaic of gold. The 146 meter high consists of two parts, the principal constituent of the statue and the pedestal functioning as the central of world cultural forum and other purposes. The statue will be the highest one in the world and the whole project is still in progress. At the meanwhile, people can see about 15% of the statue which is 22 meter high and the whole thing is planned to be completed in 2005.

Taman Ayun Temple
Taman Ayun means " a beautiful park", the biggest and the most beautiful royal family temple built in 14th century. This temple is surrounded by moat and has a beautiful park setting. The yard is big and it has absolutely amazing carving in the main entrance and its shrines. This temple is located in Mengwi village

Serangan Island
This island is also popular as "turtle island" because of one reason that long time ago, the beach around the island used to be the place of turtle laying eggs during the full moon but not anymore because more and more people live on this island. But people can see turtle park with many kinds of turtle on that small island. A very important Hindu temple named Sakenan Temple is located here and every 210 days there will be a big and colorful ceremony on this temple participated by most people from all over Bali.

Kapal Village
Kapal is a very special village for Balinese people because this village is the center of temple and shrines production. Beautiful little shrines and temples are found along the road side. Not only temple and shrines, the villagers also make beautiful craft made of clay like pottery, statue, vase etc. There is also an old and important temple in this village called Sada Temple.

 

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Denpasar Capital City

Bali Museum
Bali Museum is an ethnographic museum built in 1932 in the heart of Denpasay City. It has a unique architecture because the construction is a combination of temple and palace structure. The building consists of three different complex representing Karang Asem, Buleleng, and Tabanan regency. The three buildings have a splendid collection of Balinese art, culture and tradition remains, Neolithic stone implements and many other things from ancient time.

Bajra Sandy Monument and Museum
This great monument is built just right in the middle of Renon Square where usually people do exercise early in the morning and just having refreshment around in the late afternoon. The building has just finished a few years ago and it has a shape of a priest bell called "Bajra" which is used when the priest is leading ceremony. This monument is now considered to be the land mark of the city. The most unique thing about this place is that the whole construction is made of lava rock with beautiful structure and carving.

The Art Center
The Art Center named "Taman Werdi Budaya" is very special place set in a beautiful city garden with typical Balinese design and architecture. It represents the greatness of Balinese art and culture where the traditional Balinese art festival and exhibition is held for a month every year, usually from the middle of June till the middle of July. The big event is also participated by some other countries like Japan, Korea, etc. This place is like a museum for the old things and a nursery place for a new and young creation as well as to introduce all kinds of art and cultural products in Bali.

Kumbasari Traditional Market
This market is the biggest traditional market for local people. They come from many parts of Bali to sell their product started from early in the morning till about noon and the market is still opened for different kind of product. It is a 24 hour market but the busiest time is early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Traditional market is very interesting to visit because people can see so many things, watch how people sell their product and how the buyers bargain to make a good deal. Shopping in Bali is a matter of art. You need to be passion and smart otherwise you will pay more than the others for the same things.

Bird Market
This market is really an interesting place to visit for those who love bird, Hundreds of bird species are put in the cages for sale. People can see many different type of birds and hear their beautiful sounds. For Balinese people, some kinds of birds bring a good luck to the owner but most people like to keep birds for fun.

Kesiman Village
Kesiman village is very popular for its Balinese traditional Batik handicraft and weaving. Batik is a special textile product used by Balinese people in many occasion like wedding ceremony, funeral ceremony, tooth filling, and other religious activities as well as for a formal event like for official ceremony, meeting, etc. People can see the whole process of the Batik handmade as well as the weaving process.

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Gianyar Regency

Batu Bulan
Batu Bulan is very special village which is famous as the center of stone carving. Along the road side of this village, people can see various kinds of statue representing Gods, demons, Budha, animals, birds, temples, and many other stone things. At the beginning, all the statues were made and bought by Balinese people for the need of temple construction and decoration, but more and more tourists like to take the stone carving home to their country and it has become a big stone carving business now in that village. There are three major kinds of stone carving. The black color is made of lava rock, the white color is made of lime stone, and the grey one is made of sand stone and all the materials can be easily found in Bali.

Kecak & Fire Dance
It is also called Monkey Dance, a very popular traditional Balinese Dance without any music instruments. This dance is performed by a big group of bear-chessted men wearing black and white cloth around the waist and sing a chorus of " Chak-Chak-Chak ". The story is derived from the Graet Ramayana Epic. Then continued by the trance dance, also called Fire Dance. This dance is definitely interesting because the trance dancer will step on the fire while dancing. A couple of little girls will end this show by performing an angel dance for purification.

Barong & Kris Dance
Barong Dance is a religious dance representing the eternal fight between the good, Barong, and the evil symbolized by a horrible looking witch called Rangda. But those are all holy masks which give peace and prosperity to all Balinese people. This dance is highly recommended to see because there are so many things and fun happen during a 1 hour show including trance part at the end.

Singapadu
This village is special for teak wood furniture though now the kinds of furniture has spread to many villages like in Mas, Kesiman, Ubud area, but it was started here. Not only teak wood furniture but also jackfruit tree wood, Mahagoni wood, hibiscus and others, event stone carving is also found here.

Celuk
Celuk village is definitely the center of gold and silver production. Here is the smith house and you may just come to one of the place and ask the artist to make your gold or silver jewelry you like or just choose from their big collections. The silver and gold materials come from other part of Indonesia because in Bali there is no mining. They have a great art mining on their head to make whatever they like or any design people ask them to make.

Mas
Mas Village belongs to Ubud District which is very famous for its woodcarving. Hundreds of woodcarving galleries are found in this village with many artists at works. Woodcarving art works are clasified into three categories, namely ; the grandmaster works usually found in museum and special galleries because of the expensive price and limited products, the master works usually found in very good galleries and the professional works are in most good galleries in Mas Village. While in the art markets or street markets belongs to the works of students and the beginners. The best kind of woods for carving are ebony wood, sandalwood, crocodile wood, hibiscus and mahagony.

Ubud
Ubud is absolutely interesting place to visit because of its art painting and crafts. Ubud is a name of a district consisting of some villages with its own speciality. Besides, Ubud is also very famous resort area located in the hillside with big rivers, rain forest, and rice field. Some world famous hotels are located here, along the river side, like Amandari, Four Season, Bagawan Giri, Alila, Komaneka, and many other beautiful hotels, villa, and homestays around.

Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave)
Goa Gajah means "Elephant Cave" located in a peaceful river side valley. This cave was found in the 11th century but estimated from hundreds of years before. Entering the T-shape cave, there are some niches found used by the monks for meditation. The great Ganesh Statue, a human figure with elephant head considered to be the God of knowledge, wisdom and the evil controller, has been kept inside the cave for thousand years and a Tri Lingam, a symbol of the Hindu Trinity namely Brahma (the creator), Wisnu (the protector) and Siwa (the destroyer), is found on the other corner. This place is one of the archeological site in Bali because there are many old remains found around.

Sebatu Holy Spring Temple
This temple is located in Sebatu village. The temple is one of the most important village temple dedicated to the God of creator, Brahma. The temple is built in a beautiful and peaceful river valley with fresh mountain holy spring. Outside the temple, there are some water fountains used by the villagers to take a bath. Besides, there is a big pond containing many kinds of fresh water fish, lotuses, water lilies, and a beautiful statue of Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge, built in the middle of the pond.

Tirta Empul
Tirta Empul means " Bubbling Water", an old holy water temple built in 960 AD in the village of Tampak Siring. It is really a beautiful temple with some water fountains for different purposes of purification and blessings. High up in the hill is the president palace built by the first president of Indonesia, Sukarno, in 1957. When you come inside the temple area, you can see the fresh water bubbling up from the ground through the black sand along to the water fountains.

Tegalalang
Tegal Alang village has a very beautiful view of rice terraces. Besides, this village is also the center of soft wood carving, colorful and unique designs. You will be amazed to walk along the road side by the art works.

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Jembrana Regency

This regency is the most quite in tourism but still very interesting to visit especially whose who like adventure to track the TAMAN BALI BARAT national park or cross to Manjangan island for diving and snorkeling. This is considered the best park for marine life. There are some important temples as well like Ancak Temple. A turtle preservation organization is located on this area. Here the turtle lay egg on the beach in the full moon and the people with the local government protect them.

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Klungkung Regency

Kertagosa
Kerta Gosa is a traditional religious court hall built in 1622 in Klungkung. This hall is absolutely unique and different from any other building in Bali. Its ceiling is fully decorated with typical Kamasan Painting Style representing cause and effect between life in the world and after death. Next the Kerta Gosa court hall, there is a beautiful floating pavilion surrounded by water full of water lilies and lotuses. Its ceiling is also fully decorated with Kamasan motifs. A beautiful and special museum is also built on this complex. The museum contains many old remains from Stone Age, Bronze Age and many old traditional artifacts. This place is located in the heart of Semarapura City across the great city monument.

Goa Lawah, the Bat Cave
Goa Lawah means " Bat Cave ", a holy Hindu Temple located in a rocky cliff cave. Thousands of long nose fruit bats live on this cave and holy python snake as well. A holy high priest, Mpu Markandeya, arrived here around 1007 and built a shrine to worship the God of Siwa and the spirit of the mythical dragon, Basuki. In the front of this cave is a beautiful soft black sand beach where people make salt in traditional way.

Kamasan
This is a special village with a very different Art Painting style like what people can see in the ceiling of Kerta Gosa, the Court Hall, and in Taman Gili, the Floating Pavilion. There are still many things to see in this regency like the Art Market, the Weaving Village, Sidemen, Temples, etc.

Tihingan
Tihingan Village is famous as the center of Balinese Music Instrument Productions made of a mixture of metal, bronze, copper. A single round metal instrument called " Gong " is considered the chief of all instrument set but it can also be used as something on its own like to welcome and announced that there is a check-in guest just arrived in the hotel.

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Tabanan Regency

Tanah Lot
Tanah Lot means " the land of ocean " is a wonderful Hindu Temple built on a piece of cliff in Indian Ocean shore. This temple is dedicated to the God of Ocean " Baruna " built by a high Hindu Priest name Dang Hyang Dwijendra in the 16th century. In high tide, the cliff is surrounded by water that the temple is like floating. In the bottom part of the cliff there is a fresh water holy spring while on the beach cave there are some holy snakes that guard the temple. In the South and North part of the temple is absolutely beautiful view and best for watching sunset.

Alas Kedaton
Alas Kedaton means " Jungle Kingdom ", but probably a monkey kingdom because the place is very popular for its tame monkeys living around. There is also a 300 year old Hindu Temple in the middle of the monkey forest. And high up on the trees, big fruit bats are resting during the day time. It is a big fun to visit this place because of the monkeys, bat and temple.

Batu Karu
Batukaru is a 2000 meter high mountain with its clear fresh water stream and thick rain forest covers around. Many people like to hike up to the top of this mountain to see some birds and animals in the wild. In the foot of Batukaru Mountain there is an important beautiful temple named Batukaru temple. It is really nice and cool and peaceful here.

Jati Luwih Village
This village is really the most beautiful country side with its breathtaking view of rice terraces with mountain background and palm trees as well as rivers. A scenic route driving a long the quiet country road passing small villages, coffee and spices plantation will make the eyes always open to enjoy and of course with many stops to take pictures.

Beratan Lake of Ulundanu Temple
Beratan is a name of the Lake and Village. This place is very famous for its beautiful park setting consisting of many kinds of flowers and trees. Its spectacular floating temple called " Ulun Danu Temple "dedicated to the Goddess of the lake is absolutely unforgettable place to take a picture. It is so nice and cool and beautiful as well. People can hire a traditional paddle boat or speed boat to go around the lake or enjoy the jet sky and parasailing from the other corner of the lake.

Candi Kuning Market and Botanical Garden
This market is located in the village of Candi Kuning which is very popular for its fresh fruits, vegetable, spices, flowers, and souvenirs. It's a beautiful place to stop just for looking around or having a hot boiled corn. 5 minutes drive from the market is the only Botanical Garden on this island with its beautiful tropical garden setting consisting of many kinds of flowers, trees, green house, and many other things.

Bali Nirwana Resort and Golf Club
Beautiful resort next the Tanah Lot temple just in the middle of rice field and palm trees. The resort also has a beautiful 18 hole golf course toward the Indian Ocean. It's a great place to stay or just having a short visit to enjoy the view of Tanah Lot Temple with its great sunset.

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Bangli Regency

Batur Mountain / Lake / Village
Batur is a name of the volcano, lake and the village located in Kintamani District. This place has the most breath-taking view of mountain surrounded by its crater lake and the remain of black lava from its eruptions in 1917 and 1927. This 1717 meter high volcano is very worthful to climb. It takes only 2 hours to get to the top and you will see a spectacular view of Bali with its surrounding ocean and sunrise.

Kehen Temple
It is a 13th temple with a unique design and construction. The wooden bell called "kulkul" which is usually put is a tower, but here people put it high up in the banyan tree which is considered a holy tree in Bali.

Trunyan Village
This special village is located across the lake of Batur. The unique thing in this village is its cemetery. The villagers do not burry the dead body. When somebody dies, the corpse is put under a tree in the cemetery. People can come and see this village and its graveyard by taking a boat from Kedisan village because there is no road for car to this village.
On the other side of this lake there is a big hot spring swimming pool called " Toya Bungkah". This pool is the best place to visit after climbing mount Batur .

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Buleleng Regency

Singaraja City
Singaraja is the capital city of Buleleng Regency which has the biggest area among all regencies in Bali. Just North of the mountain chain from the west to the east belongs to Buleleng Regency, It used to be the capital city of Bali before Denpasar. The first Dutch aggression was started from here in 1880s. There are many remains of the Dutch influence here like the old harbour, building, churches, etc. Besides its interesting and historical places, this city has a unique tradition called Sapi Gerumbungan (bull races) held every year to celebrate the city's birthday.

Bali Handara Kosaido Country Club
This golf course is considered to be one of the 50 best golf courses in Asia - Pacific. The beauty of its garden setting and a cool weather make people enjoy not only the game but also the surrounding.

Tamblingan and Bulian Lake
It is the center of strawberry farming. From up the Puncak Sari we can have a great picture of the lake and mountain. There are many monkeys along the road as well.

Gitgit Waterfall
Gitgit is the most spectacular waterfall on the island. The fresh clear mountain water volumes remains big flowing along the rainforest river side. The big water falls unbroken from 45 meter high rocky cliff. The 500 meters path to this waterfall is absolutely nice walk with beautiful view of spices trees, coffee plantation, rice field and rain forest. People can swim down the natural pool under the fall.

Brahma Vihara Arama
Brahma Wihara Arama is the biggest and the most special Buddhist Monastery in Bali completed in 1970. There are many features dealing with Buddhism in this monastery complex like Uruvella Forest, Body tree, Buddhist Stupa, and others and there are also some special features given by the government of Thailand and The Great Dalai Lama from Tibet. This place is located high up in the hill. People may see the beautiful view of the ocean, rice field and mountain. It is so nice and peaceful around this area.

Banjar Hot Spring
Banjar Hot Spring is located in the beautiful and peaceful valley consisting of some hot water fountains and a lazy pool to release tension and healing skin problem. The hot spring is coming out just in the middle of valley surrounded by rainforest of the hill side.

Bulian Village
An old under development village, considered to be cursed for 7 generations by the visible god who was not believed by the villagers because he was born from unmarried little girl. Finally the villagers burnt the little boy because he always disturbed the process of temple ceremony like seating in the front of the priest or climbing up the temple, etc. When the little boy was burnt, her mother also jumped herself into the fire and suddenly the boy flying with the smoke in white clothes and from above he cursed the villagers for not believing him.
The curse is on for 7 generations and it is the end now. The temple of the curse has just been built and people there start having a better life. This is strictly believed by the people in the village because the story was passed down through generations.
Other temple called Majagana temple is being built now to worship the spirit of Ganesa, the God of purification, because the village still need to be purified from the curse influence. Besides the curse, there are many unique things in this village like its temple which is very different from the rest of Bali, its tradition and way of life. Not only that, if people come here they can go see the children at school, dance practice in the temple, cock fight, original local palm wine dance "Genjek", and a very beautiful untouristed place to view the landscape as well as to get involve with the local people.
We will talk more about this village in our special and the only Bali - Go - Round package.

Lovina Beach
This is the most famous tourist resort in the North part of Bali. There are many hotels and restaurants from a very cheap prices to luxury ones. Lovina beach has white and black sand and here people can enjoy dolphin watching, go to hot spring swimming pool, visit the biggest and most beautiful Buddhist Temple, etc. There are many other places of interest people can enjoy in the north like Taman Nasional Bali Barat (National Park) or cross to Menjangan island for diving and snorkeling to view the best marine park, or visiting some other important temples around like Pulaki Temple with its monkeys, Ponjok Batu Temple, Beji Temple, Meduwe Karang Temple, etc.

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Karang Asem Regency

Besakih, The Mother Temple
Besakih is the holiest Hindu Temple among all built by a high priest named Mpu Markandeya in 11th century. The temple is located in the slope of Mount Agung and considered to be the mother temple of Hindu in Bali and beyond. In Besakih Temple Complex, there are some clan temple centers belong to groups of Balinese from the same ancient. The biggest ceremony on this temple is held every 100 years called " Eka Dasa Ludra " to purify the entire world or macro cosmos. Here is where the Almighty, the Supreme God, with all his manifestations is worshipped by all Hindu followers.

Candidasa
Candidasa is a Tourist Resort in East part of Bali. There are many hotels, bars and restaurant here. The sand is dark because of the volcanic ashes.

Tenganan Village
Tenganan is a very special Bali Aga Village which is isolated by hills around beautiful and peaceful valley. The most special thing people can find on this village is a double ikat called " Gringsing " which means " Not Sick ". There are 3 places in the world where this kind of woven textile can be found. The other two places are in India and Japan. In Tenganan Village, the gringsing is considered a holy magic part of the traditional dress used in special ceremony as an amulet to protect the user from the evil spirit influence. Besides Gringsing, this village is also popular for its ATA art and craft. ATA is a strong palm grass grown in the hillside around this village.
A human blood sacrifice is held yearly here. When the ceremony called " Makere-Kere " or " Mageret Pandan " is held, many old, adult and young couples of fighters fight by beating each other with sharp thorny pandanus leaves till the body scratched and bleeding while the young girls are watching the show wearing gringsing.