Day trip to Central Bali (lake, waterfall and temple)

After spending most of our days in the southern of Bali, we decided to go on a day trip to Central Bali, where the mountains are. This part of Bali is beautiful and a bit colder then the south (more clouds), but we were lucky it was beautiful weather the day we went to this part of the island.

Impression of the trip

A short video of the twin lakes, twin waterfalls and Ulun Danu Temple

Tourists have two possibilities to visit Central Bali. Go on a day trip or stay in Central Bali. When staying in central Bali most people are staying in Munduk. We did not stay here, so no hotel recommendations from us. Saw several other blogs where hotels were recommended. We hired a driver for a day. He picked us up in Ubud and drove us to the beautiful central part of Bali. We stopped at several places: Twin Lake, Banyumala twin waterfall, Ulun Danu Beratan temple and the Jatiluwih rice fields. This article is about the twin lakes, the twin waterfalls and the temple. The rice fields of Jatiluwih are mentioned in a different article.

Arriving at the Twin Lakes

Our driver picked us up at our hotel (Four Seasons Sayan), see other article for a review of this luxurious hotel. http://explorer4experience.com/four-seasons-sayan/ The drive to the twin lakes was around 1.5 hours. It was not very busy on the road, enough traffic, but in Bali traffic can be very bad. The drive was good and relaxed. On the road from Ubud to Munduk you see a lot of coffee plantages. Here they have the famous Balinese cat coffee. We did not stop there to taste the coffee as we had it once somewhere else.

To view the twin lake there are plenty outlook points next to the road. Some view points are in the area of restaurants others are more quiet. The benefit is all view points are free of charge (in 2019).

One of the lakes is called Bayan Lake and the other lake is called Tamblinga Lake. In the past these lakes were one big lake, but now a rain forrest separates the two lakes. We took our drone with us and flew over the rain forrest with the drone. We saw more drones in the air.

The lake is a beautiful spot to start you day in central Bali. There are hikes in the area, we did not do this as we wanted to see more and had to go back to Ubud in the evening.

Twin Waterfalls (Banyumala waterfall)

A short drive from Twin lake to reach the twin waterfalls. This waterfall becomes more populair these days. It is not a real touristic attraction yet, but we noticed that more people discovered this stunning waterfall. A narrow road goes to the parking spot for the cars. As the road is narrow, it is difficult to pass other cars, but as we did not had to drive ourselves we did not care. The road was very bumpy, so in the mean time you get a massage….

After arriving at the car park a hike path goes to the entrance where man needs to buy the entrance tickets. The entrance fee in 2019 we IDR 20,000 per person (EUR 1,30). A path goes down to the waterfall. The walk is about 15 minutes if you walk slowly. Some parts are wet because of some water that falls down from rocks. In the rainy season the entire path can be slippery. In my opinion the path is not easy to walk with small children as it’s a bit muddy and the steps are larger sometimes.

The waterfall is breathtaking as two waterfalls are next to each other separated by some rocks. The water level is not deep and it’s great to jump into the water after the walk downwards as the water is crystal clear blue.

We loved this beautiful waterfall, because the views are stunning, the water is refreshing and the ambiance is great.

Ulun Danu temple

Relatively close to the waterfalls is the Hindu temple Ulun Danu on the edge of the Bratan lake. This temple is dedicated to Goddess Dewi Danu the god of water, lakes and rivers. Entrance to this temple was IDR 50,000 in 2019 (EUR 3,28).

The location of this temple is perfect it is surrounded by the beauty of lake Bratan which is a large lake in Central Bali. The layout of this temple is different than the other temples in Bali. Although it was very busy when we visited the temple it was still peaceful.