East Bali Day Tour

Photo credit @_kengar

This is one of my favourite tours, taking in the Bat Cave, Virgin Beach, Water Palace and Gates of Heaven. It’s a long day, but much of the driving is through the picturesque Karangasem countryside with its small villages and beautiful valleys and ricefields and having lunch at Virgin Beach is always a great idea. When I make a 5-day itinerary for people an East Bali Day Tour is always on the list.

Pura Goa Lawah – The Bat Cave

Pura Goa Lawah (Bat Cave Temple in Balinese) was built in the 11th century by Mpu Kuturan, one of the early priests who introduced Hinduism to Bali. The temple complex is built around a cave opening that is inhabited by hordes of bats which fly out over the temple at dusk to feed on insects.

Pura Goa Lawah - East Bali Day Tour
Pura Goa Lawah – East Bali Day Tour

There are some local guides touting for business but it’s only a relatively small temple complex so you don’t really need one. The best time to visit is when some of the locals from the nearby villages come for their daily prayers in the morning.


Virgin Beach

Virgin Beach is awesome. It’s what the southern beaches used to be like. Less crowded, clean seawater due to the currents, great swimming with quite low swells and a working fishing fleet at the southern end of the beach.

It’s not usually crowded because it’s a little off the beaten track and there are a number of warungs lining the shore where you can grab some lunch and a cold beer. They also rent out daybeds quite cheaply (around IDR 50k each) but you should bring your own towel. There are toilets at the northern end.

Virgin Beach - Fishing Fleet - Bali Holiday Secrets

Being the son of a commercial fisherman I’m always fascinated with fishing fleets in other countries and the long narrow outriggers used in Bali are slowly becoming redundant in the face of large-scale fishing trawlers from other countries pillaging the local fishing grounds. So it’s a welcome sight to see so many boats still operating from this beachfront.


Tirta Gangga – The Water Palace

I love Tirta Gangga. It’s one of my favourite Balinese temples, quite unique in design and the roads around this area overlook some truly beautiful valleys and ricefields.

Tirta Gangga is the former royal palace of the Kingdom of Karangasem located in Eastern Bali. The one-hectare complex was built in 1946 by the late King of Karangasem but was almost completely destroyed by the eruption of Mount Agung in 1963, having since been rebuilt and restored.

Tirta Gangga - Bali Holiday Secrets
Tirta Gangga – East Bali Day Tour

One of the unique features of this beautiful temple complex is the stepping stones across the fish pond. The ticket booth sells fish food which can be used to entice the Koi up to the edge of the steps laid out across the main fish pond allowing for spectacular photos.

You can read more about Tirta Gangga including day tours, location and entrance fees.


Lempuyang Temple – The Gates of Heaven

The temple is in a spectacular setting, with a steep climb up several stone stairways to get to the top of the temple complex with views looking back down the valley and across to Mt Agung, the active volcano that disrupted flights in 2018. the temple is also known as The Gates of Heaven, being the highest altitude temple in Bali.

One of the reasons I like this tour so much is being able to visit Lempuyang Temple in the afternoon, as the mornings have become exceptionally busy with tourists getting there to queue up before dawn in order to get sunrise photos. If you want to get there at dawn then I highly recommend a Lempuyang Temple Sunrise Tour.

East Bali Day Tour - Lempuyang Temple - The Gates of Heaven
East Bali Day Tour – Lempuyang Temple – The Gates of Heaven

Along with that popularity comes issues, and waiting in line in the early morning can take 1-2 hours, and then there is another queue of tourists waiting to take their photos in front of the temple gates. Aad those photos that make it look like the gates are reflected in a pool of water are fake – they’re made using a mirror placed underneath the camera lens.

Having said that I love Lempuyang Temple and think visiting in the afternoon is better because it’s much less crowded. Mount Agung is usually covered by clouds from late morning, but I’ve been here 3 times ad have been lucky enough to have the clouds part for a brief look at majestic Mount Agung.

Although the temple gates get all the Instagram attention I think the steps leading up the temple are the most spectacular feature.

Read more about Lempuyang Temple.


What is and isn’t included?

The East Bali Day Tour includes being picked up from your hotel or villa by an English-speaking, trustworthy and knowledgable driver with an immaculately maintained 6-seater air-conditioned SUV. Fuel, applicable taxes and 10 hours allocated time from pick up to drop off are all included.

The seating configuration is 1 in the front passenger seat, 3 in the rear and 2 more in the rear-most fold-down seats. If you prefer more room you can upgrade to a Toyota Innova, which is slightly larger and roomier, and far more comfortable for 5 or 6 passengers.

Also includes tickets for the shuttle bus from Lempuyang Temple car park and temple entrance fees.

Not included: Food and beverages or entrance fees for all the other attractions.


East Bali Day Tour Map

Here’s a route map using Seminyak as a departure example, but we can pick you up from anywhere in South Bali.

East Bali Day Tour

East Bali Day Tour Itinerary

08:00 am – Pick-up from Hotel or Villa

It’s better if you have already had breakfast and ready to go by 8:00am. Your depature time is however, completely up to you and can be specified on the booking form below.

9:30 am – Pura Goa Lawah

The Bat Cave. 55km from Seminyak, around 1.5 hours.

10:30 am – Virgin Beach

Great spot for lunch. 25km from Goa Lawah, around 45 minutes.

1:30 pm – Tirta Gangga

Beautiful countryside. 17km from Candidasa, around 45 minutes.

3:30 pm – Lempuyang Temple

The Gates of Heaven. 10km from Tirta Gangga, around 45 minutes.

06:00 pm Drop-off to Hotel or Villa

88km from Lempuyang to Seminyak, around 2.5 – 3 hours.
Total tour is 176 km round trip from Seminyak.


It’s worth every penny, trust me!

I did the temple tour and had a blast! My driver Kadek was an absolute sweetheart. As I was on my own he walked me to the different entrances and made sure I got where I needed to be. As a solo traveller you might think this is a bit expensive, it's worth every penny, trust me!


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9 Comments

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  1. Dear Michael,
    We are landing in Bali on 14th August at 8:10am. I was wondering if it was still possible to do this tour on 14th Aug itself or will it be too tiring/not enough time to do everything?

    Thanks
    Sachin

    • Hi Sachin,

      You could potentially do the East Bali Day Tour, if you’re not too tired after your flight.
      Are you considering getting picked up from the airport and directly going on the tour? Or after you’re settled at your hotel / villa?

      Safe travels,
      Michael

      • I was thinking after we have checked into the hotel in Ubud. But guess that would be too late to do the tour if we start by 11-11:30am?

  2. Hi Michael,

    A couple of questions about the East Bali Day tour,

    1. We are going to staying in East Bali (undecided location) and may need dropping in Padang Bai. Is this possible rather than being picked up in South.

    2. How much are the other entrance fees to the various places? Just to make sure I have enough cash on the day.

    3. Will the driver on this tour be able to come with us and wait in line for us? You mentioned this in your other article about private drivers.

    Many thanks,

    Ben

    • Hi Ben,

      1. Yes, you may choose your pick-up location and simply communicate with your driver your intended final stop.

      2. For the Lempuyang Temple, the tickets / entrance fees are included
      Tirta Gangga – IDR 30k (extra 10k to swim)
      Virgin Beach – IDR 15k
      Goa Lawah – IDR 30k

      This prices might be slightly changed.

      3. Yes he/she will be able to assist with that.

      Safe travels,
      Michael.

  3. Dear Michael,

    we are planning our trip to Bali end of March and have several questions regarding your tours:

    1. In particular this East Bali tour, is it possible to have a pick-up in Ubud and a drop-off in Canggu? We’d like to combine transfer between hotels with a tour.

    2. In general, we plan to stay about 12 nights in Bali (different locations) and take different day tours but also just spend some days in our hotels. From what I understood, we would need to book either day tours or a private driver for concrete days, since we will not need a car every day. Am I correct?

    3. Is there any other way to contact you without posting a comment? I have not found a contact form, but I might have overseen it : )

    Looking forward to your reply.

    Thanks,
    Svitlana

    • Hi Svitlana, to answer your questions:
      1. Yes. Just choose Ubiud as your pickup and tell your driver you want to end the day in Canggu.

      2. Correct.

      3. Reply to the notification email you will recieve from this comment.

      Safe travels, Michael

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