One of the beauties of this island is that you can escape into forest, into jungle, hike a mountain, boat on a lake, bathe in hot springs, or sample mountain markets in the very same day that you find yourself sitting on a beach sipping a coconut. I can think of a few places where this is possible elsewhere in the world as well, but may only be possible in the summer months. In Bali, you can do it most of the year (but half of the year is rainy and would slow down your travels.)
I scheduled a lunch stop in Lovina, along the northern coast of Bali. It was probably a bit out of the way for a lunch stop, but it was actually a good stop before our next few stops and gave us a chance to see the slower pace of life on Bali's northern coast. This area is known for dolphin sightings and fishing, so we enjoyed a large Indonesian fish lunch overlooking the water at Raggon Sunset, which had a parking lot for our driver to take a break in, as well as street food vendors if he didn't want to eat at the restaurant with us (he didn't.) As a secondary reward for driving out to Lovina, we also got to see some wild monkeys at a lookout point along the mountain road.
After lunch, we headed back toward the hills, but this time through a different road to a Buddhist Temple named Brahma Vihara Arama that I'd seen mentioned in only a few places. There was only a small entry fee of 20k IDR, and since we were wearing long pants, no need to borrow a sarong. There were several different temples, gardens, and stairs throughout the grounds, each with something unique to offer. I was invited to be part of a small prayer ceremony, which was a really special moment in this location.
I didn't find too many guided tours of Northern Bali, and when I did, they never quite gave me the variety I was looking for, so I set out to create my own Northern Bali tour itinerary based on research and maps, and then hired a private driver who was willing to work together for the whole day. I sent the driver my itinerary and he sent me back a quote and confirmed he could find all the places. The private driver was about 800,000 IDR from Canggu for the day, and he was with us from 8:15am - 8:15pm.
Our first stop was the Candikuning Bedugul Market, where we found a variety of dried or fried snacks and mountain fruits that don't often show up in beach markets, like strawberries and snake fruit. The market stall sales people wanted to start every sale at 200k, which is too high for almost everything there, unless you're buying multiple items. Start your bargaining with an insulted look like they are out of their mind and a 20k offer and if you don't like the price you end up on after some back and forth, remember there are 10 other stalls that offer the same thing.
Our next stop was nearby at Ulu Danu Beratan Temple. It's a little weird because at first it feels like an amusement park with cartoonish characters in a very nicely landscaped park with an admission fee, but inside this lovely landscaped park is an actual working temple and community center that is used by the local community, but there's also a couple restaurants and pay toilets as well, even though you've already paid to enter the park. Like I wrote on Instagram, it's better to have this park that is available to visitors, than to have a private resort cut off the access, so embrace the capitalism and enjoy the views. I actually did get to hear part of a traditional ceremony happening inside the temple on a Saturday afternoon, and there were some funny community games happening in the pavilion nearby for a community event. It was overall a pleasant place to wander, take lovely photos, and observe a tiny bit of local every day life and culture.
I scheduled a lunch stop in Lovina, along the northern coast of Bali. It was probably a bit out of the way for a lunch stop, but it was actually a good stop before our next few stops and gave us a chance to see the slower pace of life on Bali's northern coast. This area is known for dolphin sightings and fishing, so we enjoyed a large Indonesian fish lunch overlooking the water at Raggon Sunset, which had a parking lot for our driver to take a break in, as well as street food vendors if he didn't want to eat at the restaurant with us (he didn't.) As a secondary reward for driving out to Lovina, we also got to see some wild monkeys at a lookout point along the mountain road.
After lunch, we headed back toward the hills, but this time through a different road to a Buddhist Temple named Brahma Vihara Arama that I'd seen mentioned in only a few places. There was only a small entry fee of 20k IDR, and since we were wearing long pants, no need to borrow a sarong. There were several different temples, gardens, and stairs throughout the grounds, each with something unique to offer. I was invited to be part of a small prayer ceremony, which was a really special moment in this location.
After climbing steps in the bright sun on the hillside, I was glad the next stop was going to be taking a dip in some water at the Banjar Hot Springs. I'd looked at several hot springs sites, and this was closest to the Buddhist temple and had plenty of facilities like lockers, bathrooms, changing rooms, and had spring pools that were decorative in the traditional Balinese style. Unfortunately my phone died and I didn't get too many photos, but you can see more photos elsewhere online. There were market sellers on the way in if you didn't bring a towel or sarong and wanted to buy one on site. It was nicely maintained, but in that rustic campground kind of way, rather than a 4 star hotel resort kind of way, and had a series of different pools and fountains that gave you more or less water pressure against your body and shoulders or soaking depth.
Driving deeper into the hills on switchback mountain roads, we made our way to Munduk Waterfall. The first half of the cement trail was fairly even with a mild slope, but just after the Enjoy Cafe, the trail becomes a steep set of stairs leading down to the waterfall, which isn't an issue on the way down, but really gets the heart pumping hard on the way back up- but only for a solid 5 minutes. This location was much less crowded than the waterfall we'd been taken to on our guided tour. There were only about 5 people at the falls when I arrived, and then it was just me for a good 5 minutes before anyone else came along. The cafe was also a great place to stop and catch my breath on the way back up- so it's a nice and easy trail with some heart-pumping moments.
The views on the drive back were spectacular with plenty of roadside places to pull over, get a bite to eat, sit on a little pagoda, and watch the sunset over the mountains and lakes. Perhaps if it had only been me, I would have stopped the car, but Alex gave me all the looks that told me he was done for the day. Seeing how difficult the switchback roads were, I also didn't want the driver to have to navigate the switchback mountain roads and critters at night either. If you were going to add a last stop to this trip, there's a very touristy spot called Wanagiri Hidden Hills that has all the instagramable photo spots and tourist traps included, or you could just stop at one of the roadside cafes like Warung Wedang Sari which has an easy place to pull over, get a drink and some rice or meat, and get beautiful views from outdoor pagodas without the touristy stuff.
Even though we cancelled our last scheduled stop of the day to head back to our place sooner, the driver still offered to take us to a Luwak Coffee place. Apparently a lot of Luwak Coffee stops give drivers a bonus for bringing visitors nearby. If you hire a guided tour or a taxi, you're likely to be offered Luwak Coffee at some point, and for some reason, often as a last minute stop before heading back home. Since we'd already done a Luwak Coffee tasting, we skipped the offer and headed back onto easier roads before the sun went down.
PS. Because I did it on the last post, I figured I'd do it again...
Documenting the work that went into this blog post:
10 hrs researching destinations and routes in advance
1 hr communicating in advance with driver
12 hrs traveling & photographing
6 hrs to create 7 instagram posts
8 hrs to write, edit, link, format, and add posts to blog
=== 37 hrs ===
Output:
Blog Wordcount: 1,269
Instagram Wordcount: 1,692
Instagram Hashtags: 135
Instagram Locations Tagged: 7
Total Images/Videos Shared: 50
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