BALI · INDONESIA
Volcanoes before dawn, temples at dusk, the island in between.
Mount Batur sunrise treks, Nusa Penida snorkelling, Ubud rice terraces, Uluwatu temple sunsets and 300 tours across the island.
Only here
Where the island earns its name.
Beaches and temples you can find across Southeast Asia. An active volcano at sunrise, thousand-year rice terraces and the manta rays off Nusa Penida belong to this island alone.
Before dawn
Mount Batur at Sunrise
The alarm goes at 2am. A guide leads you up the dark trail to the rim of an active volcano, and you watch the sun come up over the caldera with Lake Batur far below and Mount Agung across the valley. Breakfast is cooked on volcanic steam vents at the summit. The descent takes you through black lava fields.
- 1 Mount Batur Sunrise Hike and Natural Hot Spring Option
- 2 Mount Batur Sunrise Hike with Breakfast
- 3 Mount Batur Sunrise Jeep Tour with Optional Activities
The island next door
Nusa Penida by Boat
A fast boat from Sanur crosses to an island where the sea cliffs drop 200 metres and the T-rex headland at Kelingking is the most photographed landform in Indonesia. Below the surface, manta rays circle Manta Point year-round. The snorkelling at Crystal Bay and Gamat Bay is some of the clearest in the archipelago.
- 1 Nusa Penida All-Inclusive Day Trip
- 2 Nusa Penida day trip: boat, 4 snorkeling, Manta rays & Land tour
- 3 Bali Nusa Penida West Private All-Inclusive Tour
Living landscape
The Rice Terraces
The Tegallalang terraces north of Ubud are carved into a steep river valley, each level flooded and planted in rotation by the subak irrigation system — a UNESCO-recognised cooperative that has managed Bali's water for a thousand years. Walk the narrow paths between the paddies and you are inside a working farm, not looking at one from a car.
- 1 Ubud: Monkey Forest, Jungle Swing, Rice Terrace, and Water Temple
- 2 Full-Day Tour to Water Temples and UNESCO Rice Terraces in Bali
- 3 Ubud: Monkey Forest, Water Temple, Rice Terrace, Waterfall
The full-day classic
The day trip everyone starts with.
If you have one full day on the island, this is how most visitors spend it. Rice terraces, temples, waterfalls and the cultural heart of Bali in a single go.
The classics
Bali’s Most Popular Day Tours
Ubud, Nusa Penida, Mount Batur, Uluwatu. The day trips the island is built around.
Where to begin
The experiences a Bali trip is planned around.
The volcano before dawn, the island across the strait, the waterfalls in the jungle, the rice terraces you walk through and the cooking class that teaches more than food. Each one a full day.
The boat day
How to do Nusa Penida.
A fast boat from Sanur takes 45 minutes. The island is bigger than it looks, so the route you pick decides what you see. Three ways to spend the day.
The temple circuit
Carved stone, crashing waves, ceremony smoke.
Tanah Lot sits on a sea rock that floods at high tide, its silhouette the most photographed sunset on the island. Uluwatu hangs 70 metres above the Indian Ocean where the Kecak fire dance runs every evening at dusk. Tirta Empul’s holy springs have drawn pilgrims for a thousand years.
See the best temple tours →Balinese kitchen
What you bring home from Bali.
A morning at a family compound in the hills above Ubud, hands in the spice paste, lunch made from what you picked at the market an hour earlier. The cooking classes teach more than recipes — they teach the flavours behind the ceremony offerings and the family meals you see everywhere on the island.
See the best cooking classes →The terraces
A thousand years of carved water.
The Tegallalang rice terraces north of Ubud cascade down a steep river valley in carved green steps. The subak irrigation system that feeds them is a UNESCO World Heritage cooperative — one of the oldest continuously working agricultural systems on earth. Walk the paths between the paddies and you are inside a living farm.
Rice terrace tours →Before sunrise
Set your alarm for 2am.
Mount Batur is a live volcano. The trek to the caldera rim starts in darkness and ends at dawn, with breakfast cooked on volcanic steam vents and Lake Batur glowing far below. Jeep tours run the same route for those who want the sunrise without the two-hour climb.
- 1 Mount Batur Sunrise Hike and Natural Hot Spring Option
- 2 Mount Batur Sunrise Hike with Breakfast
- 3 Mount Batur Sunrise Jeep Tour with Optional Activities
By pace
Pick a day by how hard you want to go.
Bali runs the full range. Temple purifications and hot springs at one end, volcano treks and white water at the other, and a long list of quad bikes and jungle swings in between.
Slow and sacred
Temple water, hot springs and spice paste.Tirta Empul purification ceremonies, volcanic hot springs near Mount Batur, and Ubud cooking classes in a family compound.
Full day out
Island boats and volcano jeeps.Speed boats to Nusa Penida for the cliffs and the mantas, sunrise jeep tours up Mount Batur, and the long cycling descents through the rice terraces.
Mud and rapids
Quad bikes, gorges and white water.ATV trails through tunnels and waterfall caves near Ubud, Ayung River white water rafting, and the jungle gorge rides that leave you covered in Bali.
Into the jungle
Waterfalls you have to earn.
Bali’s waterfalls hide behind stone staircases, jungle trails and river crossings that filter out anyone who stays by the pool. Tegenungan is the closest to the road. Tukad Cepung drops through a canyon slot. Tibumana is the quiet one most people miss. Each one is a different kind of morning.
See all 31 waterfall tours →By place
Pick your side of the island.
Ubud for the rice terraces and the temples. Seminyak for the beach clubs and the shopping. Kuta for the surf. Nusa Penida for the cliffs and the mantas. Uluwatu for the sunset. Jimbaran for the seafood on the sand.
By activity
Or pick how you want to spend the morning.
Volcano sunrise if you want the story. Snorkelling if you want the water. Quad bikes through the jungle, cooking classes in a family compound, or a day with a driver and no plan.
Plan it
Three days that cover the island.
First time in Bali? A volcano, the cultural heart, and an island day trip. Three days, three completely different sides of the island.
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