Bali: 11 Essential Things to Do (2026 Guide)

On the north-east coast, between the black slope of Mount Agung and the Lombok Strait, Amed and Tulamben string together seven fishing villages with grey-black volcanic sand beaches lined with colourful jukungs. The local legend is the USAT Liberty: a US cargo ship torpedoed in 1942 by the Japanese submarine I-166, then pushed back into the sea by the 1963 Mount Agung eruption, where it now rests between 3 and 29 m deep, just 30 m from shore. It's one of the only wrecks in the world accessible by diving and snorkelling straight from the beach — no boat, no entry from the surface, just a step into the black pebbles. You'll cross paths with tight schools of bigeye trevally, stonefish, nudibranchs, and in the cooler season, sometimes a Mola Mola at first light. It's also the counterpoint to the touristy south: no traffic jams, no Gojek, just local warungs at 35,000 IDR for nasi campur.

Sidemen is what Ubud was before Eat Pray Love: a valley 30 km east, framed by Mount Agung on one side and the Unda river on the other, where stepped agriculture still moves to the rhythm of the centuries-old subak. People come for the walks through steep terraced rice fields, for the local production of arak (palm spirit) and endek (traditional ikat weaving), and for hillside lodges that go for 600,000 to 1.5 million IDR a night with breakfast and a view of Agung. No mall, no chain, no Starbucks — at night, you hear frogs and the gamelan from a nearby temple. It's the perfect antidote to the overloaded south, 1 hr 30 by road from Ubud, and the ideal base to reach Besakih, Tirta Gangga, and Tulamben without the crowds.

In Ubud, the morning always opens with the scent of incense on the canang sari laid in front of every shopfront. The town breathes at the pace of a gamelan. Cultural capital of Bali at 600 m altitude in the rice fields of the Gianyar regency, Ubud became famous in the 1930s thanks to the painter Walter Spies and the craft villages of Mas (wood), Celuk (silver), and Batuan (painting). You come here to walk the Campuhan Ridge at sunrise, watch the black-crested macaques in the sacred forest of Mandala Suci Wenara Wana (700 individuals, open 9 am to 6 pm, entry 100,000 IDR on weekdays), take a cooking class, or sit through a gamelan session at the Puri Saren royal palace. It's the only base from which you can reach everything by scooter in 30 minutes: Tegallalang, Tirta Empul, Goa Gajah, Tegenungan.

At low tide, you cross the salt puddle and touch the foot of the rock: that's the whole point of Tanah Lot — a temple perched on an islet that the rising tide circles in. Founded according to tradition by the Javanese sage Dang Hyang Nirartha in the 16th century, it's one of the seven sea temples (pura segara) that form Bali's spiritual coastal belt, guarding against ocean spirits. The rock has eroded so badly that a Japanese-funded programme in the 1980s rebuilt more than a third of its base in concrete made to look like stone. The result is invisible but explains why Tanah Lot still stands. People come for the silhouette at sunset, to bless their forehead at the fresh-water spring that bubbles out below the rock, and for the black-and-white sea snakes kept in a nearby cave (20,000 IDR tip). With more than 500,000 annual visitors, it's Bali's photo icon — provided you get there well before the 5 pm bus.

Uluwatu starts with the void: 70 m of limestone cliff dropping into the Indian Ocean, and up top a black-stone temple facing the setting sun. Built in the 11th century by the sage Empu Kuturan then expanded in the 16th by Dang Hyang Nirartha, Pura Luhur Uluwatu is one of the nine directional temples (kayangan jagad) that protect the island, dedicated to Sang Hyang Widhi in his Rudra form. The local stars are the long-tailed macaques: primatology studies have shown they practise barter — they steal glasses, phones, and flip-flops to trade them with the temple guardians for food. The cherry on top: the Kecak fire dance, a daily performance at 6 pm where 70 bare-chested chanters form a living circle around a fire pit and mime the Ramayana. No other temple in Bali combines this level of geological, cultural, and choreographic staging.

At the foot of Mount Agung (3,142 m), clinging to 1,000 m altitude, 23 interlocking temples on six black terraces form Pura Besakih — the largest, oldest, and holiest temple of Balinese Hinduism. The megalithic foundations may be 2,000 years old, Hindu worship has been documented here since 1284, and the Gelgel dynasty installed the state temple here in the 15th century. During the 1963 eruption that killed more than 1,000 people, lava stopped a few metres from the main Pura Penataran Agung sanctuary — a fact the Balinese read as divine protection. People come for the 17th-century lotus throne (Padmasana), for the silent processions of the pemangku priests, and for the vertiginous perspective on Agung when the clouds lift. Authority Besakih inaugurated a new forecourt and electric shuttle system in 2023, which wiped out the old shakedown by self-appointed "guides".

As you wind down the serpentine road from Pacung, the soft green of Jatiluwih's stepped rice terraces opens out over 600 hectares — Bali's foundational image, without the selfie sticks. Inscribed in 2012 on the UNESCO World Heritage list under "Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy", Jatiluwih is the showcase of Bali's communal irrigation system, which dates from the 9th century and covers close to 20,000 hectares across the island — 1,559 cooperative subaks managed by 50 to 400 farmers each. The Tri Hita Karana philosophy ties human, nature, and the divine together via the pura ulun danu (lake temples) and the collective regulation of water. On site: four marked walking loops from 1 to 5 km, warungs perched above the terraces (try the nasi merah, local red rice), and unmatched quiet.

At 3:30 am, headlamp on, you start up the 1,717 m of Gunung Batur on a black volcanic gravel trail that still smells of sulphur. It's an active stratovolcano, last erupted in 2000, set inside a double caldera formed 29,000 then 20,000 years ago, and listed since 2012 in UNESCO's Global Geoparks Network. At the top, the sunrise lights up Mount Agung first across the way, then Lake Batur below, then Lombok's Mount Rinjani on the horizon — fifteen minutes of pure magic. The descent goes through live fumaroles where the guide steam-cooks your eggs in volcanic vents. The summit is mandatorily run by HPPGB (Kintamani's local guides association): no climb without an official guide since the 2024 crackdown, with checkpoints along the trail.

Nusa Penida — literally "the priests' island" in Balinese — is Bali on a Jurassic Park budget: 203 sq km of limestone cliffs dropping into a turquoise sea, beaches reached by 400 steps carved into the rock, and 65,800 inhabitants who speak a distinct Balinese dialect. Famous Kelingking Beach has the shape of a T-Rex leaning over the water, viewed from a belvedere 200 m above the sand; Diamond Beach and Atuh Beach share the south-east point with their rock spires; Broken Beach (Pasih Uug) forms a natural arch open to the ocean; underwater, Manta Point and Crystal Bay (1,419 ha of coral) guarantee manta ray encounters year-round. It's also a bird sanctuary: the Bali starling reintroduction programme went from fewer than 10 birds in 2005 to over 100 by 2009.

Fifteen minutes north of Ubud, the Ceking valley carves out an amphitheatre of stepped rice fields stitched together by the subak system since the 9th century: this is Tegallalang, Bali's Instagram rice terrace. Smaller than Jatiluwih but more dramatic in relief, in recent years it has sprouted a cloud of Bali Swings (giant swings over the void), photo "love nests", and balcony cafés. The rice field is still actively farmed: you'll cross paths with barefoot farmers in the water at first light, and some accept a 10,000-20,000 IDR tip to walk across their plot. It's the spot for travellers who haven't got time to reach Jatiluwih but still want the postcard shot — provided you turn up at the right hour.

In Tampaksiring, a natural spring rises from the ground at 18°C into two rectangular black-stone pools fed by 30 spouts — this is Pura Tirta Empul, founded in 962 under the Warmadewa dynasty and dedicated to Vishnu. Balinese visitors perform the melukat purification ritual here: you step into the water and bow three times beneath each spout, following a precise order (left to right, skipping the 27th and 28th, which are reserved for funeral rites). Beyond the spiritual experience open to foreigners, the complex unfolds across three courtyards — jaba pisan, jaba tengah, jeroan — typical of classic Balinese architecture. A 2017 local study found bacterial contamination (E. coli) at some spouts: bathing remains allowed but avoid swallowing the water.