Planning a trip to the Island of the Gods? Here are our top things to do in Bali plus the actual 6-day Bali itinerary that we used for our Sep-2022 trip! Enjoy!

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Things to do in Bali (6-Day Bali Itinerary)

Below is the 6-day itinerary for our Sep-2022 Bali trip.

Bali Itinerary: Day 1 (Ubud)

• Ubud
  • Ubud Palace
  • Saraswati Temple (aka Ubud Water Palace)

Ubud

A small town located in the uplands of central Bali, it is the cultural and artistic heart of the island. In addition, Ubud’s proximity to breathtaking rice paddies, stunning waterfalls and grandiose temples ensured that it is one of the top destinations for all visitors to the island.

Ubud Palace

Located at the centre of Ubud town, the palace is the official residence of Ubud’s royal family. Only a small section of the palace is open to the public and it takes just a few minutes to explore. (Admission is free)

Saraswati Temple (aka Ubud Water Palace)

A stone’s throw away from Ubud Palace, this small Balinese Hindu temple is dedicated to the goddess Saraswati. The temple is popular for its lotus pond. (Admission is free)

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Day 2 (Central Bali)

• Ulun Danu Beratan Temple
• Jatiluwih Rice Terraces

Ulun Danu Beratan Temple

One of the top visitor destinations in Bali, Ulun Danu Beratan Temple is an ancient Hindu temple built on the shores of the serene and panoramic Lake Beratan (~1200m above sea level).

Construction was believed to have started in 1634 by the King of Mengwi, I Gusti Agung Putu. Such is its prominence, the temple was featured on a previous edition of the Indonesian 50,000 rupiah note. To date, Ulun Danu Beratan remains one of the most important Hindu temples in Bali.

Jatiluwih Rice Terraces

The largest rice terrace in Bali, Jatiluwih Rice Terraces is the epitome of Bali’s picturesque rice fields and its unique irrigation system. Its rolling hills and Instagram-perfect rice paddies ensured that Jatiluwih is at the top of the list for most visitors to Bali.

With over 600 hectares of fertile rice fields, Jatiluwih Rice Terraces represent the Balinese Subak system (a unique cross-village cooperative network) that enables the success of the centuries-old farming activities on the island. Such is the uniqueness and importance of the Subak system that it has been inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage Site since June 2012.

Fun Fact: Former US President Barack Obama and his family visited Jatiluwih Rice Terraces in 2017 during a private visit to the island.

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Day 3 (Central/Eastern Bali)

• Tegenungan Waterfall
• Kanto Lampo Waterfall
• Kintamani (Mount Batur and Lake Batur)
• Pura Tirta Empul

Tegenungan Waterfall

One of the most popular waterfalls in Bali, though the water can be murky at times. Approximately 10km from Ubud town. (Admission ~Rp 20K)

Kanto Lampo Waterfall

Another popular attraction near (~11km) Ubud. Kanto Lampo is a cascading waterfall that although lacking in height, is relatively wide and has clear clean water. With its cascading rockface, visitors could easily climb onto the rocks at the bottom of the falls.

In our view, Kanto Lampo is way more enjoyable than Tegenungan Waterfall. (Admission Rp 10K)

Kintamani (Mount Batur and Lake Batur)

Mount Batur is an active volcano in the northeast part of Bali. The stratovolcano is at the centre of two concentric calderas formed between 20,000 and 30,000 years ago. Lake Batur is the volcanic crater lake located at the southeast section within the calderas.

Kintamani is a small village located along the southwestern rim of the outer caldera and offers stunning panoramic views of both Mount and Lake Batur. Numerous restaurants and cafes dot the village, most of which offer a bird’s-eye view of the area. Highly recommended to patronise one of these restaurants/cafes to enjoy the food and spectacular views!

Pura Tirta Empul

Pura Tirta Empul is a Hindu Balinese water temple 15km north of Ubud. Also known as Holy Spring Water Temple, the complex is famous for its holy spring water, where locals and tourists can perform purification rituals according to Hindu customs. The spring water originates from a natural pool within the temple complex. (Admission Rp 50K)

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Day 4 (South Bali)

• Melasti Beach
• Padang Padang Beach
• Uluwatu Temple

Melasti Beach

Situated at the southern-most point of Bali, the soft white sand of Melasti Beach is set against tall cliffs and plays host to several clubs and resorts. (Admission ~Rp 10K)

Padang Padang Beach

A small but famous surf spot in southern Bali. The beach was prominently featured in the movie “Eat Pray Love” by Julia Roberts. (Admission ~Rp 15K)

Uluwatu Temple

Uluwatu Temple is approximately 1hr (by car) from Denpasar Airport (DPS). Majestically built on a 70m high cliff projecting into the Indian Ocean, the temple is renowned for it’s panoramic sea views and charming sunsets. One of the most popular temples in Bali.

(Admission: Rp 30K for adults, Rp 15K for children. Might have increased to Rp 50K since 2023)

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Day 5 (Nusa Penida)

• Nusa Penida
  • T-Rex (Kelingking Beach)
  • Broken Beach
  • Angel’s Billabong
  • Crystal Bay Beach

Nusa Penida

A small and relatively undeveloped island 45 minutes (by boat) off southeastern Bali. Day trips (from Bali) to Nusa Penida have become increasingly popular amongst tourists in recent years due to the island’s stunning coastal landscape.

Top things to do in Nusa Penida include:

#1: T-Rex (Kelingking Beach)

The most well-known (and “Instagramed”) attraction on Nusa Penida. “T-Rex” is a spectacular cliff shaped like a Tyrannosaurus, thus its name.

Visitors access “T-Rex” via the parking area at the top of the cliff. From the parking area, visitors could walk a short distance along a narrow and extremely steep stairway for the best view of “T-Rex”.

For those more adventurous, you could continue on the stairway to the bottom of the cliff to reach Kelingking Beach. However, this climb is time-consuming, physically demanding, and not for the faint-hearted.

#2: Broken Beach

Famed for its archway that allows incoming waves to sweep into a waterhole (billabong).

#3: Angel’s Billabong

Stunning natural infinity pool. Though picturesque, the pool is extremely dangerous due to the waves, especially at high tide. For safety, do not enter the pool at all times. During high tide or inclement weather, do not get close to the edge of the pool and stay alert for rogue waves.

(Note: Broken Beach and Angel’s Billabong are located next to each other)

#4: Crystal Bay Beach

A small bay on the western side of Nusa Penida. The bay has a relatively small beach that is slightly shy of 300m in length. There is a popular snorkelling site a short distance off the beach. However, visitors might find it hard to overcome the surf (to get to the snorkelling site) during certain times.

Note that there are no fresh water facilities (washroom/toilet) at the beach.

How to visit Nusa Penida

At the time of writing, roads on Nusa Penida are notoriously bad and undeveloped in numerous parts. Thus, it is strongly encouraged to engage a travel agent who will arrange for a private car with a local driver for transportation on the island. Most travel agents in Bali would provide all-inclusive day tours to Nusa Penida.

Typical West Nusa Penida tour package

• Cost: Rp 650-700k per person
• Cost includes:
  • Return hotel transfer (southern Bali)
  • Return fast boat transfer to Nusa Penida
  • Private tour (private car with driver on Nusa Penida)
  • Lunch with drink
• Sites include
  • Kelingking Beach (T-Rex)
  • Broken Beach
  • Angel’s Billabong
  • Crystal Bay Beach

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Day 6 (South Bali)

• Legian Beach
• Seminyak Beach
• END OF TRIP

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Related posts:

Scuba Diving in Bali

See our other blogs on Malaysia:

• Malaysia: Sipadan/Mataking
  • Sipadan Scuba Diving Travel Blog (Sabah, Malaysia)
  • Mataking Island Scuba Diving Travel Blog (Sabah, Malaysia)
• Malaysia: Sarawak
  • Scuba Diving in Miri (Sarawak, Malaysia)
  • Mulu National Park (Sarawak, Malaysia)
  • Bario: Beauty and serenity in the Malaysian Borneo Highlands (Sarawak, Malaysia)
• Malaysia: Kota Kinabalu
  • Things to do in Kota Kinabalu and Kundasang
• Malaysia: Pulau Tenggol
  • Pulau Tenggol Scuba Diving
• Malaysia: Genting Highlands
  • Things to do in Genting Highlands 
• Malaysia: Johor
  • RUD Karting (Johor, Malaysia)
• Malaysia: Tioman
  • Paya Beach Resort (Malaysia, 2023)
  • Weekend Scuba Diving Trip at Tioman Island (Malaysia, 2016)
  • Tioman Dive Trip (Malaysia, 2015)
• Malaysia: Langkawi
  • Things to do in Langkawi (Kedah, Malaysia)
  • Langkawi Itinerary and Expenses (Kedah, Malaysia) 
  • Where to stay in Langkawi (Kedah, Malaysia)
  • Guide to Renting a Car in Langkawi (Kedah, Malaysia)

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The post Things to do in Bali (6-Day Bali Itinerary) appeared first on Balukoo Travel Blog.

See also our other scuba diving blogs/vlogs:

• Green Island Scuba Diving VLOG (Taitung, Taiwan)
• Sipadan Scuba Diving Travel Blog (Sabah, Malaysia)
• Mataking Island Scuba Diving Travel Blog (Sabah, Malaysia)
• 2016 Tioman Scuba Diving Trip (VLOG) (East Malaysia)
• Tioman (West Malaysia) Scuba Diving (2015 Blog) (2016 Blog)
• Miri (East Malaysia) Scuba Diving (blog)

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Bali: Island of the Gods

Lying along the volatile Pacific Ring of Fire, Bali is tucked between the Indonesian islands of Java (capital Jakarta) and Lombok. Home to approximately 4 million people, Bali is a relatively large island, approximately 153km (east-west) by 112km (north-south). Its provincial capital and main international airport is Denpasar in southern Bali.

Seen as a tropical paradise by many, Bali is Indonesia’s biggest tourist draw. Almost 80% of all foreign visitors to Indonesia solely visit Bali. Unfortunately, this same reputation has at times attracted the wrong attention, as seen with the dreadful terrorist attacks in 2002 and 2005. Though Bali has amazingly recovered much of its vibe since the attacks.

Many visitors to Bali stay in the southern seaside resort towns of Kuta, Seminyak, Sanur and Nusa Dua. Mainly due to the towns’ fine beaches and proximity to the airport. Consequently, these areas have a high density of entertainment, accommodation and F&B establishments.

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Bali Weather

Being near to the equator, Bali experiences a tropical climate all year-round; warm (~30°C) and humid (~85%). Though there two main seasons (Dry: May to October, Rain: November to April), these are not distinct and the weather on any given period can be very unpredictable. For those indulging in sea-based activities, the sea temperature is about 25°C-30°C, excellent for most activities. For scuba diving, 3mm wet suits would suffice.

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Booking.com

3-Days Scuba Diving in Bali with Crystal Divers

For our Oct-2016 scuba diving trip in Bali, we booked a package with the great folks at Crystal Divers**.

Crystal Divers is one of the most established and popular dive operators in Bali. They are located in Sanur, which is approximately 30 minutes by car from Denpasar airport. Other than their scuba diving business, the company operates a basic “hotel” onsite, complete with a small pool, which doubles up as a training pool for their dive courses.

Before the trip, we liaised with the Crystal Divers team to plan for a 3-days scuba diving package. We specifically asked for a dive at the USAT Liberty shipwreck at Tulamben (northern Bali).

The USAT Liberty is a WW2 US military cargo ship that was sunk by Japanese submarines in Jan-1942. It is the most famous shipwreck diving site in Bali and is a stone throw off the beach in Tulamben in depth of ~15-30 metres.

Below is the list of dive sites (in chronological sequence) that we’ve explored during the 3-days. (Click on the links for Crystal Divers’ write-up on each dive site)

Day#1 | Tulamben (map)

• Drop Off: Beautiful and deep drop off wall
• USAT Liberty shipwreck (2dives)

Day#2 | Nusa Penida (map)

• Manta Point: Cleaning station for giant mantas.
• Toya Pakeh
• SD

Day#2 (night dive) | Sanur (map)

• Sanur Channel

Day#3 | Candi Dasa (map)

• Gili Tepekong
• Gili Mimpang

Below is the VLOG of our scuba diving trip in Bali.

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Crystal Divers Review

Our selection of Crystal Divers was based upon a recommendation from a scuba diving friend. In fact, during our trip, a fellow diver from UK commented that he was recommended to Crystal Divers by a dive shop all the way back in the UK!

True to their repute, everything on our dive trips were well organised and professional. The team (from the admin folks to the dive masters/instructors) was extremely knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. Their rental equipment was also in good condition. From a scuba diving perspective, everything was excellent! Period!

From an accommodation perspective, however, we do feel that there are definitely “rooms for improvement”. (Sorry for the pun!) As mentioned, Crystal Divers operate a basic “hotel” onsite (Hotel Santai). We stayed there for the entirety of our trip and was unfortunate to face some problems with the room (e.g. faulty A/C, no hot shower, faulty toilet bowl). Though it must be said that the hotel staffs did show urgency in trying to fix the problems when they were informed of it. Indeed, when the room problems proved to be too much, they promptly offered to switch us to another larger room.

To conclude, it was definitely an excellent trip and we do hope to dive with Crystal Divers in the near future. Though we’ll probably be considering other accommodation options nearby.

**Note: We are not in any way affiliated nor have any agreement with the companies mentioned herein. All comments herein are based on our genuine opinion.

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1-Day Bali sightseeing

As we have a full day available before our return flight to Singapore, we naturally wanted to explore some of the island’s famed attractions.

Most of Bali’s tourist attractions are scattered throughout the island. However, given our limited time, we logically wanted a region that has a good cluster of attractions.

Ubud: Cultural Center of Bali

Looking at the map, Ubud (in central Bali) seems a good choice. An hour’s drive from both Sanur and Denpasar (airport), Ubud is the cultural center of Bali. The small town has a high density of shops/markets dealing in Balinese craftwork. It is also home/near to a number of renowned restaurants and tourist attractions.

Having decided on the region to visit, we needed to decide on the mode of transport.

Getting around Bali

After a brief research, it was clear that there are two main options available to us. We could either rent a car and self-drive, or we could hire a car with a driver. The rental cost of a car (24-hours, no driver) would be ~USD40-50 (we can’t remember the exact quote, but USD40-50 shouldn’t be too off the mark). While the cost of an 8-hours car hire + driver would be ~USD60. Both could be arranged at any local tour agent.

After some deliberation, we opted for the car + driver option. Consideration being that it would free us from the headache of planning the routes and more importantly, from the stress of the dreadful traffic jams so frequent in Bali. In fact, this is also the preferred mode of transport for most tourist visiting Bali.

There are plenty of tour agents around the main tourist towns. One should approach a few to enquire about the prices for comparison. Having said, we found most of the tour agents giving similar quotations.

We ended up booking a car + driver (8-hours) for ~USD60 the evening before. On the morning of the day-trip, the driver arrived at our hotel as agreed. Once on board, he promptly whipped out a picture folder containing images of the major tourist attractions in Bali. We simply pointed to the various attractions we wanted to visit and off we go. Simple!

Below is the list of attractions we visit during the day-trip (in chronological sequence).

Monkey Forest (Ubud)

One of the most popular tourist attraction in Bali. Monkey Forest is a fenced-up park in the village of Padangtegal, Ubud. It is home to ~700 monkeys which roam the park freely. Visitors could buy bananas to feed the monkeys. Do be cautious and do not agitate or get too close to the monkeys as they can be unpredictable. They are known to climb onto visitors or snatch items from them. Entry fee is IDR 40,000 (adult) and IDR 30,000 (child).

Ibu Oka Warung Babi Guling (Ubud)

[Warung = small family-owned restaurant. Babi guling = roast suckling pig]

Babi guling is one of Bali’s most famed cuisine and Ibu Oka is widely recognised as one of the best babi guling restaurant in Bali. Centrally located in Ubud town, Ibu Oka is a major tourist attraction in itself. Set meals are reasonably priced from IDR 50,000-70,000. Without doubt the best dining option in Ubud.

Puri Saren Palace (Ubud)

Also known as Ubud Palace, this is the residence of the former royal family of Ubud. Only a very small section of the palace is open to public. Located on the main street of Ubud, it is a 5 minutes’ walk from Ibu Oka, and directly across the street from Ubud Arts Market. Free entry.

Ubud Arts Market (Ubud)

The largest craftwork market in Ubud, the Ubud Arts Market occupies a few side-alleys in the heart of Ubud’s town. Just opposite Puri Saren Palace. Numerous stalls selling all sorts of craftwork and souvenirs. Items are not tagged and massive bargaining is required; we bought an item discounted by 80% after some friendly bargaining. Bargain only if you’re intending to get the item and do show basic courtesy at all times. Open 8am to 6pm.

Tegalalang Rice Terrace (Tegalalang)

Another famed attraction in Bali, the Tegalalang Rice Terrace is a scenic spot located near Ubud. Its postcard-worthy rice terraces have been drawing so much visitors that many restaurants and cafes have popped up on the hill across the rice terrace, offering visitors a chance to enjoy meals/refreshments with unblocked views of the rice terraces. Definitely a great place to enjoy a cup of coffee while enjoying the scenery and cool weather. It doesn’t appear to have an official entrance, though certain strategically located locals will collect a small entry fee of ~IDR 10,000.

Gunung Kawi Sebatu (Tegalalang)

Gunung Kawi is a series of 11th-century temple and funeral complexes in the town of Tampaksiring, central Bali (near to Ubud). Specifically, Gunung Kawi Sebatu is a temple located in the Sebatu village. Gunung Kawi Sebatu is often confused with a more well-known nearby temple, which is simply known as “Gunung Kawi”.

Though less famous, Gunung Kawi Sebatu is nevertheless a beautiful and tranquil temple with lovely grounds and mesmerising sculptures. In order to enter the temple grounds, visitors are required to put on traditional Balinese sarongs (sashes) around the waist. These are provided for free at the ticket booth of the temple. Entry fee is IDR 15,000 (adult) and IDR 7,500 (child).

See also our other scuba diving blogs/vlogs:

• Green Island Scuba Diving VLOG (Taitung, Taiwan)
• Sipadan Scuba Diving Travel Blog (Sabah, Malaysia)
• Mataking Island Scuba Diving Travel Blog (Sabah, Malaysia)
• 2016 Tioman Scuba Diving Trip (VLOG) (East Malaysia)
• Tioman (West Malaysia) Scuba Diving (2015 Blog) (2016 Blog)
• Miri (East Malaysia) Scuba Diving (blog)

Other related posts:

• How to get to Boracay (Philippines)
• Things to do in Boracay (Philippines)

Things to do in Bali (6-Day Bali Itinerary)

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