Last updated on October 10, 2024
A lot of people complain about the tourism in Bali, and it’s fair enough. The proliferation of guesthouses and villas that are quickly filling the rice fields and shorelines of the island is alarming and painful to watch – and the traffic is abominable.
Ubud is one of the places that has been hit particularly hard, and what we hear was a quiet town is now teeming with tour buses and endless vendors vying to make a buck from the tourist dollar. We’ve gotten used to it, and managed to carve a life behind the tourism screen in what is still a richly cultural and beautiful town.
However, many visitors to Bali never get past the initial shock of tourism, traffic and touts, and leave believing the island has been ruined. It’s likely these people never got beyond Ubud, Kuta and some of the other “must sees” of the island. We wish they’d ventured to Central Bali…
Discover central Bali
That’s what we did when Steve had three days off in a row for the first time since our trip to the Gilis. We were almost tempted to go to the beaches down south for an antidote to Ubud’s spiritual tourism and my self-imposed austerity experiment, but in the end the centre won.
We’d met the owner of an interesting-sounding hotel in a tiny village and liked his stories of a land suspended in time. It sounded like the perfect place for a break, and ended up exceeding all expectations. We’ll share the stories from the unique Village Above the Clouds next week, but for now here’s what we did while there…
We set off on our trusty Scoopy scooter. Have I mentioned how much we love this thing? It’s the key to freedom in Bali. That is, until it breaks down, which it decided to on the morning of our trip. I told a friend of our predicament. His response: “That’s so typical. You know Ubud is a vortex?”. Two hours later and we were lucky to make it out.
Within moments of heading north, the landscape opens up with rice fields stretching for miles (one of the things Bali is famous for). The smell of cloves intermittently fills the air, cockerels line the roadside, and you pass compound upon compound of local families. One of our favourite sites were gates like the one above, marking each new village.
Our hotel was close to a famous temple on Lake Bedugal – Pura Ulun Danu – which we visited in the early morning.
Clouds filled the sky, but flowers offered their colour…
…alongside charming boats on the lake.
From Lake Bedugal, the road climbs to a ridge alongside Lake Buyan, taking you level with the clouds.
At the end you descend to Lake Tambligan, the smallest and we think the most special. There are no motorised boats on this lake, only the canoes you see above.
It’s surrounded by temples,
…with towers that stretch to the sky,
..guarded by guys that look like this,
…and intricately woven doors.
Later we went to Jatiluwih…
…a seemingly endless expanse of terraced rice fields,
…and shades of every green.
Our days of riding were perfectly ended with a trip to Angseri hot springs. You can walk there from Village Above the Clouds but we went by motorbike (not recommended as the road is terrible). Despite the bumpy ride, the destination was worth it – some of the most idyllic hot spring we’ve ever come across. There were only a few other people there, affording us relative seclusion to marvel at the springs…
…and lie in blissful contemplation.
Who says Bali has been ruined?
See this post by Passport Symphony for 18 more hidden gems in Bali.
Our road trip itineraries
UK: Best UK road trips | Best Scotland road trips
Europe road trips: Amalfi Coast, Rome and Tuscany road trip | Best Europe road trips | Best France road trips | Best Greece road trips | Best Italy road trips | Iceland road trip |Best Portugal road trips |Slovenia road trip | Best Spain road trips | The most colourful road trip in Europe (France, Italy and Switzerland)
USA: Boston to Maine road trip | Ultimate California road trip | New England road trip | Pacific Coast Highway | San Francisco to Seattle | Southern USA road trip | The best USA road trips
Africa road trips: Cape Peninsula road trip
Australasia road trips: New Zealand North Island road trip | New Zealand South Island road trip
That looks and sounds incredible! I think it’s really important (when a person has the time & means) to try to explore the more out-of-the-way, less touristy aspects and places of a destination. Of course, the tourist stuff can also be quite fun and informative, but you gain such a different perspective, I feel, by venturing to the more hidden places.
It reminds me a little of Murakami’s short story “Thailand” – a character leaves her normal hotel and routine and ventures into the countryside, into the lesser known places in a bid for exploration. Bit of a random connection, but it’s been in my head lately. 🙂
Ooooh I must read that story. I do love Murakami. Venturing off the beaten path does often hold some of the best surprises.
Oh my, that looks lovely! Some of the rice field landscapes remind me a bit of what we’ve seen here in the Ecuadorian countryside (except I don’t think they’re growing rice!) Adding this area to the (never-ending) list…
Ha! I’m also pretty sure they’e not growing rice out there. I loved Ecuador. Have a great time there! Have you been to Vilcabamba? We were living there for a month.
wait a minute, I want to know why Ubud is a vortex! Is it like the Bermuda Triangle where things just disappear?
Ha! Go there and you might find out!
Such beauty from Bali – a place I definitely want to get back to and looking at your photos, maybe explore a bit more of the ‘off the beaten track’ places; beautiful! 🙂
Thanks Toni. We definitely recommend visiting the lakes. They’re gorgeous!
I always love your photo stories – you take such beautiful pictures! Your road trip looks wonderful, and definitely makes me want to do more exploring next time we are in Bali 🙂
Thanks Hannah. I was just thinking the same about your photos. Gorgeous!
Thank you Hannah. We wish we’d had more time to explore Bali. This little taster really showed us what was on offer – it’s an incredible place.
We loooved Bali and Ubud is definitely a place we could spend a lot more time in (even if it was better 10 years ago :-p) We spent about 2 hours in Kuta and couldn’t stand it. While Bali has it’s tourist traps there are always authentic experiences if you look hard enough. We also stayed in the small town of Padangbai for a couple of days and had a crazy run in with an exercism ceremony!
That sounds like a true Bali experience! Amazing 🙂
We went to Padangbai en route to the Gilis but didn’t get to see much of it. Next time…
As an enormous fan of road trips, I salute your escape away from the madding crowds. As for places ruined by tourism and such – yes, they exist, but they are most often a tiny speck of a whole country or region. There’s a lot of us lucky travelers around, so “untouched” places are becoming more and more remote. Hell, even Antarctica is getting packed with visitors. Nonetheless, pristine beauty is still very much available everywhere in our extraordinary world – we just need to dig deeper and roam a bit further to the left. Beautiful photos, kudos! Good luck!
Thank you! It’s so true that a little digging will reap great rewards. I do find it uneasy to complain about tourism when I am one of the culprits!