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With over 20,000 temples in Bali to choose from, it can be a bit overwhelming to choose where to start. To help you decide, I’m sharing all you need to know about my favourite temples in Bali in this post. Spoiler alert: not all temples in Bali are what they look like on Instagram, so I’m showing you the temples as they are.
My favourite temples in Bali
From the temples I’ve visited in Bali, these ones are my favourite:
Tirta Gangga
Tirta Gangga is my favourite temple in Bali for two reasons. First of all, walking over the stepping stones on the water was so much fun! Especially with the fishes swimming around us.
A local saw us posing for our pictures, and threw some fish food towards us. That’s how we got so many fishes in our photos.
As if the fish pond is not enough reason, the garden behind the main pond is also absolutely gorgeous. You’d definitely be missing out if you only go to the main pond and skip the rest of the gardens.
A visit to Tirta Gangga costs IDR 30,000 (less than £2) per person for the entrance fee. You can buy fish food for IDR 5,000 if you like. Unlike at other temples, it is not required to wear a sarong in Tirta Gangga.
Ulun Danu Bratan
When I think of Bali, I picture the Ulun Danu Bratan temple floating on the lake. So a visit to Bali wouldn’t be complete without a visit to this temple.
Because it is such a popular place for visitors, it is best to visit in the morning. When we arrived around 9:30 am, it already was a bit crowded at the entrance. This is where all the tour groups take their pictures together.
As we walked further down the garden, it was still very quiet. We had a pleasant stroll along the lake while being surrounded by colourful flowers. There were plenty of photo opportunities in Ulun Danu with our tripod.
It can be very cloudy in this area of Bali, but we were lucky with the weather. We had good views over the floating temple despite the clouds in the sky.
A visit to the Ulun Danu Bratan temple costs IDR 50,000 (less than £3) per person for the entrance fee. I was wearing a long dress, so I didn’t need to wear a Sarong.
Lempuyang
The Lempuyang temple is also known as the Gates to Heaven. Our private driver warned us that this temple gets extremely busy, so we made sure to arrive at 8 am.
To get to the Gates of Heaven, a local bus will bring you up the mountain from the car park. Make sure you have some cash with you to pay the local bus driver. At the drop-off place, we both rented a sarong for IDR 10,000 each. We then just had to climb some stairs to get to the Gates:
I was all excited to see the Gates of Heaven with their reflections, as I had seen so many times on Instagram. However, as soon as we arrived at the top, I learned the hard way that the “reflections” were nothing but a “mirror trick”. I couldn’t help but to feel underwhelmed and disappointed.
At least we were lucky enough to see the mountain behind the Gates, as there were no clouds in the sky when we visited. I hope that my experience will be a reality check for others, so you won’t feel the same disappointment I did.
Nevertheless, the Lempuyang temple still deserves a place on my “favourite temples in Bali list” because of all its beauty. Just make sure you don’t expect to see any reflections 😊.
Besakih
Be prepared to climb lots of stairs when visiting the Besakih temple. But don’t worry, the views from the top are definitely worth it.
A visit to the Besakih temple costs IDR 60,000 (less than £4) per person. To get to the Besakih temple, Jordi and I climbed on the back of a tour guide’s scooter from the car park. It’s also possible to walk to the temple from the parking, but it will take much longer.
The scooter driver showed us around the vast temple complex and took a lot of pictures of us for a small tip. The most impressive part of the temple complex is on top of the mountain, with the pagoda views.
Map
To make your temple planning even easier, I’ve marked my favourite temples in below map:
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