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What to see, what to wear, and which famous photograph is not real.
Temples & culture
These are not monuments, they are in use. There will be ceremonies going on while you are there, offerings on the ground you should walk around, and areas that visitors do not go into. A sarong and a sash are required at all of them and are handed out at the gate. Cover your shoulders and you will be fine everywhere.
On the edge of the cliff at the south-west corner of the island, with a drop straight into the sea. Go late in the afternoon — it is the best light and it puts you there for the Kecak.
The monkeys at Uluwatu take sunglasses, phones and hats, and they are practised at it. Nothing loose, nothing on your head.
A hundred men chanting in a circle, performed in the open amphitheatre on the cliff with the sun going down behind it. It is the one piece of Balinese performance we would tell anyone to see, and the setting does half the work.
The temple on the rock offshore, which is on the front of every Bali guidebook and is busy accordingly. It is genuinely a good sight at sunset. The approach is a long run of market stalls, which is either part of it or something to walk briskly through.
The spring-water purification pools near Ubud, still used by Balinese families every day. Visitors can bathe, and if you do there is an order to the fountains and a sarong to change into. Go early — it is much quieter and it feels like what it is.
The largest and most important temple on the island, on the slope of Mount Agung. It is a complex of a couple of dozen temples rather than one building, and it is a long way inland — a half day from most places, and a full one from the Bukit.
The split gate in the east with the mountain framed between the halves. Worth saying plainly: there is no lake. The mirrored reflection in every photograph is a piece of glass held under a phone by the man taking it, and the queue for that photograph can run to hours. The temple itself is beautiful and the drive there is long.
There is no lake and never was. If the reflection photograph is the reason for the trip, know that going in — and that the wait for it can be several hours.
Two practical things. Sarongs and sashes are provided at the gate everywhere on this page, so you do not need to buy one. And Balinese ceremonies close roads and temples at short notice, sometimes for a day — if something on your plan is closed when you get there, that is usually why, and we build the days with a second option for that reason.
Asked honestly, answered honestly.
A sarong and a sash, which are handed out at the entrance at all of these, plus covered shoulders. You do not need to buy anything beforehand.
No. There is no lake at Lempuyang. The reflection is made with a piece of glass held under the camera by the photographer at the gate, and the queue for it can run to hours.
Late afternoon. The light is best, and it puts you there for the Kecak fire dance at sunset, which is the thing most worth seeing.
They will take sunglasses, hats and phones, and they are very good at it. Put anything loose away before you go in.
Yes. There is an order to the fountains and a sarong to change into, and it is a working religious site rather than an attraction, so go early and follow what the families in front of you are doing.
