If you’re visiting Bali, two weeks give you just the right amount of time to enjoy the island. Sure you can do one week and then go elsewhere in South East Asia, but you will miss out on a lot of great things. The best way to travel the island is by hiring a driver. You can find one at your hotel, in a restaurant, at the market… Pretty much anywhere, someone will know someone who can drive you. This itinerary includes the whole island (including Gili Trawangan) with the exception of the far west side. Below is a map so you can follow our itinerary: follow the blue line along with the pin on the right (Gili Trawangan).
[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1AZ4D-CtOFbIQjfesw-ljSZESCnI&w=640&h=360]
Friday (Travel day):
We took the plane from Toulouse, France and made 2 stops in Amsterdam and Singapore before arriving in Bali.
————– Night in the plane ————–
Saturday (Day 1):
Arrived in Bali at Denpasar Airport around 7pm local time. From the airport we took a taxi to Kuta. Taxis inside the airport are official and they’re supposed to have a set tariff depending on where you’re going from the airport, however, be careful because they might try to raise the tariff on you. Make sure you look at the sign and negotiate the price!
————– Night in Kuta ————–
Sunday (Day 2):
Spent a relaxed day in Kuta at the beach and walking around to adjust to the time change.
————– Night in Kuta ————–
Monday (Day 3):
- Seminyak Beach (it’s a lot prettier than Kuta’s and there are many restaurants/bars right on the beach)
- Ulu Watu Temple – This is a MUST, get there before the sunset and stay for the Kecak dance show.
————– Night in Kuta ————–
Tuesday (Day 4):
Left Kuta early in the morning to start our day which included the following stops:
- Tanah Lot Temple
- Pura Luhur Batukaru (Temple)
- Jatiluwih Rice Fields: we slept there, however, we didn’t have anything booked so we visited a couple of Homestays and found the perfect one for us with a view over the rice fields.
————– Night in Jatiluwih ————–
Wednesday (Day 5):
- Rice Fields
- Woke up early to see the sunrise over the rice fields
- Ate breakfast and headed to the rice fields, the owner of the homestay gave us a map of a 2-hour hike around the fields. We didn’t do the whole tour since our driver was to pick us up but we walked all the way to the temple and back. Walking among these rice fields was probably one of the highlights of the trip.
- Pura Ulun Danu Beratan (Temple)
- Pancasari (Really nice views of the crater by day)
- GitGit Waterfalls
- Drove to Lovina
————– Night in Lovina ————–
Thursday (Day 6):
- We woke up at 5:30 am to go dolphin watching during the sunrise
- Left the hotel and headed to Pura Penulisan
- Lunch in Penelokan with a spectacular view of Mt. Batur
- Drove down to Hotsprings, the town where all expeditions to Mt. Batur start from. We didn’t have a hotel booked but we used the travel guide we had (Le Routard) for some suggestions and looked at different Homestays before choosing one for the night. Here we also negotiated the expedition to climb Mt. Batur the next morning.
————– Night next to Batur Hot Springs ————–
Friday (Day 7):
- Mt. Batur
- We woke up at 3:30am to start the hike at 4am
- It takes about 2 hours to go up the mountain. The goal was to make it to the top before the sunrise
- Ate breakfast up there
- Continued the expedition around the different craters etc.
- By 11am we were back at the hotel eating breakfast
- Pura Besakih (Mother Temple)
- Tirtagangga (Water Palace)
- Drove to Amed and spent the night there
————– Night in Amed ————–
Saturday (Day 8):
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Enjoyed the pool and the sun
- Went to walk around the town and had lunch at a small restaurant
- More POOL!
- Dinner at the hotel (the food at their restaurant was amazing)
- Went to a local bar with live reggae music
————– Night in Amed ————–
Sunday (Day 9):
- Had breakfast at the hotel and we were picked up by the ferry agency we had hired to take us to Gili Trawangan. They took us to the small pier where the boats leave to go to the Gilis
- Arrived at Gili Trawangan before lunch and checked in to the hotel
- Rented bikes on the street (the prices at the hotel were 3 times higher). Since the island is small, you can bike around in 2 hours. Along the way you can stop at many different desert beaches and bars.
- Lunch
- We had also rented some snorkeling equipment, however the goggles we rented had holes and we had many other problems with them, so make sure you inspect them well before renting these (you can rent them all along the main road).
- Beach
- Dinner
————– Night in Gili Trawangan ————–
Monday (Day 10):
- Breakfast
- We had booked the day before a 4 hour snorkeling tour to the different coral spots around Gili Trawangan and Gili Air. The tour was really cool and they had all the snorkeling equipment for us. The guides knew exactly where to take you and were patient. This was my first time snorkeling and it was one of the best things I’ve experienced, I had never seen so many fish in my life! I really recommend this.
- After snorkeling we stopped on Gili Air to have lunch, but we didn’t because we were not really hungry, and to be honest we were glad we didn’t because the spring rolls we ordered were still frozen when we got them. We did enjoy a nice cold beer and a really nice view though!
- Went back to Trawangan for more beach and actual lunch
- Dinner and drinks
————– Night in Gili Trawangan ————–
Tuesday (Day 11):
- Took the ferry in the morning back to Bali (Padang Bai). Once we arrived, we negotiated a price with a driver for the day.
- Ujung Water Palace
- Drove to Sideman where we had no reservation but found a very nice hotel for the night with an infinity pool which we enjoyed very much!
————– Night in Sideman ————–
Wednesday (Day 12):
- Went for a walk around the rice fields
- Walked a bit on the main road of Sideman and went into some shops
- Taman Kertha Gosa (Justice Palace)
- Goa Gajah
- Yeh Pulu
- Drove to Ubud – This was our last stop of the trip
————– Night in Ubud ————–
Thursday (Day 13):
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Monkey Forest – Due to a monkey bite we had to cut the tour of the forest short, it also began to rain very hard so we found a bar to wait for the rain to pass since we didn’t have an umbrella.
- Dinner
————– Night in Ubud ————–
Friday (Day 14):
Our Driver picked us up after breakfast so we could start our day trip around Ubud
- Tegalalang Rice Fields
- Pura Tirta Empul (Sacred Spring Temple)
- Pura Gunung Kawi
————– Night in Ubud ————–
Saturday (Day 15):
- It was our last day in Bali before flying back on Sunday so we decided to relax and spend it just walking around and enjoying Ubud.
- Walked around the market / had lunch and dinner in town / got foot massages
————– Night in Ubud ————–
Sunday (Day 16):
Last day in Bali – Our driver picked us up after breakfast and we drove back to the airport in Denpasar. Hard to say goodbye!
Sweet travels!
