Bali has around 20,000 temples (pura), and the fourteen visitors actually go to fall into three groups: the sea temples of the south (Tanah Lot, Uluwatu), the water and cave temples around Ubud (Tirta Empul, Goa Gajah) and the mountain temples of the east and north (Besakih, Lempuyang, Ulun Danu Bratan). Foreign adult fees run from a 30,000 IDR donation to 150,000 IDR (about 2-9 USD), every one requires a sarong and sash, and the trick at all of them is the same: arrive before 8:30am or in the last hour before closing, when the tour buses have gone and the light is good.
Bali's temples at a glance#
Sea temples (pura segara)
Tanah Lot, Uluwatu, Goa Lawah and Rambut Siwi guard the coast against the demons of the sea. Visit at sunset; the temples themselves are closed to non-worshippers.
Water and spring temples
Tirta Empul, Ulun Danu Bratan and Ulun Danu Batur are dedicated to the water goddess who feeds the rice terraces. Tirta Empul is the one where you can join the purification bathing.
Mountain and directional temples
Besakih, Lempuyang and Batukaru sit on the slopes of the sacred volcanoes. Expect steps, mist, long drives and far fewer people than the coast.
Royal and cave temples
Taman Ayun’s moated courtyards, Gunung Kawi’s rock-cut shrines, Goa Gajah’s demon-mouth cave and Tirta Gangga’s water palace are all within an hour of Ubud.
The best temples in Bali#
Tanah Lot is the one on the postcards: a 16th-century sea temple on a rock stack off the Tabanan coast, reachable on foot at low tide, cut off at high. Foreigners pay 75,000 IDR (adults) and 40,000 IDR (children), open 7am to 7pm, and sunset (about 6:15pm) is when 3,000 people a day arrive. Non-Hindus cannot enter the temple itself; the experience is the walk across at low tide, a holy-water blessing at the spring in the rock (donation), the cliff path to Pura Batu Bolong on its natural arch and the sunset. Check the tide table and come at 7am or 4:30pm; it is 45 minutes from Canggu, longer from Kuta in afternoon traffic.
Pura Luhur Uluwatu balances on a 70 m limestone cliff at the southwest tip of the Bukit Peninsula, one of the six holiest temples on the island. Entry is 50,000 IDR for foreign adults including sarong (open 7am to 7pm), and the kecak fire dance on the clifftop amphitheatre at 6pm costs 150,000 IDR; buy at the gate from 5pm, or earlier in July and August when it sells out. The macaques snatch sunglasses, phones and hats, so pocket everything before the cliff path. The inner temple is closed to tourists; the cliff walks either side are the point.
Pura Besakih, the mother temple, is a complex of 23 temples climbing the southern slope of Mount Agung at about 1,000 m, centred on Pura Penataran Agung with its split gate and great flight of stairs. Since the 2023 redevelopment you park at the new visitor centre at Kedungdung, 2 km downhill, and pay 150,000 IDR (children 75,000 IDR) which includes sarong rental and the electric shuttle up; open 7am to 6pm. Guides are optional; a polite “no thank you” to the men who attach themselves to you is enough. Non-Hindus walk the lanes between the temples but cannot enter the main courtyards. It is two hours from the south, so pair it with Tirta Gangga; Agung clouds over by noon.
Pura Ulun Danu Bratan sits on the shore of Lake Bratan at Bedugul, 1,200 m up, and its eleven-roofed meru appears to float when the lake is high. It is on the 50,000 IDR note. Entry 75,000 IDR for foreigners, open 7am to 7pm; mist arrives most afternoons, so come before 10am for reflections and bring a jacket. Combine with the Bali Botanic Garden and Jatiluwih on a day loop from Ubud.
Tirta Empul at Tampaksiring, 30 minutes north of Ubud, has a sacred spring that fills a bathing pool with 30 water spouts, and it is the one temple where visitors are actively invited to take part: the melukat purification. Entry is 75,000 IDR (open 8am to 6pm, including a sarong); to bathe you rent a separate green sarong for the water (about 15,000 IDR) and a locker, then queue in the pool and bow under each spout in turn from left to right, skipping the two reserved for the dead. Menstruating women are not permitted in the pools. Go at 8am before the Ubud buses; full moon days are packed with Balinese families. The water is cold; bring a towel and a change of clothes.
Goa Gajah, the Elephant Cave at Bedulu, 10 minutes from Ubud, is a 9th-century hermitage with a cave mouth carved into a demon’s face, bathing pools with six nymph statues excavated in 1954, and a shady ravine of Buddhist relics behind. Entry 50,000 IDR, open 8am to 5pm; allow 45 minutes, then walk to the 14th-century rock frieze at Yeh Pulu, which has almost no visitors.
Gunung Kawi, also at Tampaksiring, is a row of ten 7 m shrines cut into the rock face of a river gorge in the 11th century, reached down about 300 steps through rice terraces. Entry 50,000 IDR, open 8am to 5pm; the climb back up in midday heat is the hard part, so go early with Tirta Empul.
Pura Taman Ayun at Mengwi, the 1634 royal temple of the Mengwi kingdom, is ringed by a moat and lotus ponds and is part of the UNESCO subak listing. Entry 30,000 IDR, open 8am to 6pm; the inner courtyard with its rows of meru is closed but visible over a low wall. It is 30 minutes from Canggu, on the way to Tanah Lot or Bedugul.
Pura Lempuyang Luhur in the far east is famous for one picture: the split gate (candi bentar) at the lowest temple, Pura Penataran Agung Lempuyang, framing Mount Agung. The “reflection” in the photo is a photographer holding a mirror or a phone glass under the lens, not water. Entry is 100,000 IDR including the shuttle from the car park to the gate (open 7am to 5pm), a numbered ticket puts you in the photo queue, and by 10am the wait is two to three hours. Arrive at 7am or come after 3pm. The real pilgrimage is the 1,700-step climb through six more temples to the summit (about two hours each way). It is two and a half hours from the south, so stay in Amed or Candidasa.
Pura Luhur Batukaru on the forested slopes of Mount Batukaru is the quietest of the directional temples: moss, mist, a seven-roofed meru and often nobody else. Entry is a donation ticket of around 50,000 IDR, open 7am to 6pm; combine with Jatiluwih, 20 minutes away.
Tirta Gangga near Amlapura is a water palace rather than a temple, built in 1946 by the last raja of Karangasem, with stepping stones across a carp pond, fountains and an eleven-tier fountain tower. Entry 50,000 IDR, open 7am to 7pm; by 10am the stepping stones have a queue.
Pura Goa Lawah, the Bat Cave temple on the coast road east of Padangbai, is built around a cave entrance packed with thousands of fruit bats that stream out at dusk. Entry 50,000 IDR including sarong, open 8am to 6pm; 20 minutes is enough, and as a major purification site it often has ceremonies.
Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal is the 14th-century temple of the dead inside Ubud’s Sacred Monkey Forest, covered in carved Rangda witches and guarded by 1,200 macaques. Entry to the forest is 100,000 IDR on weekdays and 120,000 IDR at weekends for foreign adults (open 9am to 6pm, last entry 5pm). The temple is closed to visitors but the setting, with its nutmeg trees and dragon-flanked bridge, is the point. Keep bags zipped.
Pura Taman Saraswati in central Ubud, dedicated to the goddess of learning, is approached through a lotus pond and free to enter (open roughly 7am to 5pm, sarong needed for the courtyard). Dances are staged in front of the gate several evenings a week.
Bali temple comparison table#
Fees are foreign adult prices as of 2026 and change often; check before you go.
| Temple | Region | Fee (IDR) | Hours | Time needed | Crowds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tanah Lot | Southwest coast | 75,000 | 7am-7pm | 1-1.5 h | Very high at sunset |
| Uluwatu | Bukit Peninsula | 50,000 (+150,000 kecak) | 7am-7pm | 1-2.5 h | High at sunset |
| Besakih | East (Agung) | 150,000 incl. shuttle | 7am-6pm | 2-3 h | Moderate |
| Ulun Danu Bratan | North (Bedugul) | 75,000 | 7am-7pm | 1 h | High 10am-2pm |
| Tirta Empul | Ubud / Tampaksiring | 75,000 (+15,000 to bathe) | 8am-6pm | 1-2 h | High from 9:30am |
| Goa Gajah | Ubud / Bedulu | 50,000 | 8am-5pm | 45 min | Moderate |
| Gunung Kawi | Ubud / Tampaksiring | 50,000 | 8am-5pm | 1-1.5 h | Low-moderate |
| Taman Ayun | Mengwi | 30,000 | 8am-6pm | 45 min | Low |
| Lempuyang | East | 100,000 incl. shuttle | 7am-5pm | 1.5 h (gate) to 5 h (summit) | Very high 9am-3pm |
| Batukaru | West (Tabanan) | ~50,000 donation | 7am-6pm | 45 min | Very low |
| Tirta Gangga | East (Amlapura) | 50,000 | 7am-7pm | 45 min | Moderate |
| Goa Lawah | East coast | 50,000 | 8am-6pm | 20-30 min | Low-moderate |
| Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal | Ubud | 100,000-120,000 (Monkey Forest) | 9am-6pm | 1 h | High |
| Pura Taman Saraswati | Ubud | Free | ~7am-5pm | 20 min | Moderate |
The nine directional temples#
Balinese cosmology maps the island as a mandala protected by the kayangan jagat, directional temples guarding each compass point. Lists vary, but the usual nine are Besakih (east, and centre of all), Lempuyang (east), Goa Lawah (southeast), Pura Luhur Andakasa (south), Uluwatu (southwest), Batukaru (west), Pura Puncak Mangu above Lake Bratan (northwest), Ulun Danu Batur on the Kintamani crater rim (north) and Pura Pusering Jagat at Pejeng (centre). The spiritual axis runs from the mountains (kaja, toward Agung) to the sea (kelod), which is why the directional temples sit on peaks or on the shore. A Balinese family aims to pray at all nine over a lifetime.
Dress code and temple etiquette#
Every temple applies the same rules, and the ticketed ones have staff at the gate to enforce them:
- Sarong and sash: both are required for men and women, tied at the waist over whatever you are wearing, with shoulders covered. Big temples include a sarong in the ticket or lend one (sometimes for a 10,000-20,000 IDR “donation”). Your own from a market costs 50,000-100,000 IDR (3-6 USD) with a sash and pays for itself by the third temple; carry it, because village temples and ceremonies have none to lend.
- Who may not enter: menstruating women, anyone with a bleeding wound, women within 42 days of giving birth and anyone recently bereaved. Signs say so at every gate; the rule is about ritual purity (sebel) and applies to Balinese too.
- Never climb on shrines (pelinggih), gates, walls or meru bases, never sit on them, and never pose on the Besakih stairs or in a shrine doorway. Climbing a sacred structure has led to deportation and six-month re-entry bans under the 2023 governor’s circular.
- During ceremonies: stay behind the worshippers, never stand higher than the priest (pemangku) or the offerings, do not walk in front of people praying, no flash, and ask before photographing anyone.
- Inner courtyards (jeroan) are closed to non-worshippers at most temples. At Besakih, Uluwatu, Tanah Lot and Goa Lawah you see them from outside the wall.
- Quiet, no affection, no eating or drinking inside the walls, and take hats off in the courtyards.
Buy one decent sarong and a sash at Ubud or Sukawati market on day one (about 80,000 IDR for both), keep them in your daypack, and you will never pay a rental “donation” or waste 15 minutes in a queue at the sarong kiosk again.
Ceremony days: when temples close or fill up#
Each temple holds its odalan anniversary every 210 days, usually over one to three days, and on those days it is packed with worshippers in white, the courtyards are full of offerings and gamelan, and some ticketed temples either close to tourists or admit only properly dressed visitors to the outer courtyards. It is the best time to see a temple alive and the worst for empty-courtyard photographs. Galungan (17 June 2026, 13 January 2027) and Kuningan ten days later fill every temple on the island with families; Besakih, Lempuyang and Batur are busiest on their own anniversaries and on full moon (purnama) and new moon (tilem) nights, when Tirta Empul’s pools are crowded with Balinese bathers. On Nyepi (19 March 2026, 8 March 2027) every temple, road and business closes for 24 hours and you cannot leave your hotel. Mount Agung is closed to climbers during Besakih’s major ceremonies. Ask your driver which temples have ceremonies that week; a village odalan near Ubud is worth more than any ticketed site.
Temple scams and hassles#
The same tricks appear at every busy temple:
- “The temple is closed today for a ceremony”: said by a man on a scooter near Tanah Lot, Uluwatu or Tirta Empul who then offers to take you to a shop or his cousin’s silver workshop. The big temples open every day except Nyepi.
- Fake guides and “compulsory” guides: at Besakih men in official-looking sashes attach themselves to you and demand 200,000-500,000 IDR at the end. Guides are optional; the entrance ticket says so. If you want one, agree a price (around 100,000 IDR) before you start.
- Donation books: at the sarong kiosk or a side gate a man shows you a ledger of previous “donations” of 100,000-500,000 IDR. Entry fees are fixed and printed; any donation is voluntary and 10,000-20,000 IDR is plenty.
- Blessing fees: a water blessing is a gift and a small donation (10,000-20,000 IDR) is right; a demand for 100,000 IDR is not.
- Parking and “ticket” men outside the official booth at Tanah Lot and Lempuyang: pay only at the counter with a printed ticket.
- Monkeys at Uluwatu: handlers trade back your stolen glasses for a 50,000 IDR fruit purchase. Keep everything zipped away.
A temple route by region#
Bali’s roads average 30 km/h, so group temples by area and hire a driver (700,000-900,000 IDR, about 45-55 USD, for 10 hours), or ride a scooter for the Ubud cluster.
- South and Bukit (one afternoon): Taman Ayun at 3pm, Tanah Lot at 4:30pm for low tide and sunset, or instead Uluwatu from 4:30pm with the 6pm kecak and a seafood dinner at Jimbaran on the way home. Both in one evening is not realistic in traffic.
- Ubud cluster (one day): Tirta Empul at 8am to bathe, Gunung Kawi by 10am before the heat, Goa Gajah and Yeh Pulu after lunch, Saraswati and the Monkey Forest temple late afternoon, then a legong at Ubud Palace at 7:30pm.
- East (one long day or two with a night in Amed): leave the south by 6:30am for Goa Lawah on the coast road, Besakih by 9am, Tirta Gangga after lunch, Lempuyang from 3pm when the queue shrinks, overnight in Amed.
- North and west (one day from Ubud or Canggu): Batukaru at 8am, Jatiluwih mid-morning, Ulun Danu Bratan before the afternoon mist, back via the Botanic Garden; or push on to Ulun Danu Batur at Kintamani for the crater view.
- Off the list but worth it: Pura Rambut Siwi on the empty west coast near Medewi, Pura Ponjok Batu on the north coast, and Pura Jagatnatha beside the Bali Museum in Denpasar.
When to go and photography rules#
The two good hours at any temple are the first after opening and the last before closing. At 7am Tirta Empul, Besakih and Lempuyang are nearly empty and the volcanoes are clear; by 10am the tour buses have arrived and Agung has gone into cloud. Sunset temples work the other way: reach Tanah Lot or Uluwatu by 4:30pm, walk while the light is soft, stay for the show. In the wet season (November to March) mist suits Batukaru and Bratan and ruins Lempuyang’s view.
Photography of buildings and landscapes is allowed everywhere; photographing worshippers, priests and ceremonies needs a nod of permission and no flash, and photographing a cremation from close range or above is offensive. Drones are banned at Uluwatu, Tanah Lot, Besakih, Ulun Danu Bratan and Lempuyang, over all ceremonies, and within 15 km of the airport; staff confiscate them at the gate and the 2023 circular treats drone use at sacred sites as disrespect. Tripods are tolerated outside ceremonies.
Bali's temple regions#
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Bali temples FAQs#
What is the most famous temple in Bali?
Tanah Lot, the sea temple on a rock off the Tabanan coast, is the most visited and most photographed, followed by Uluwatu on its cliff and Besakih, the mother temple on Mount Agung. For Balinese Hindus, Besakih is the most important.
How much do Bali temples cost to enter?
Foreign adults pay between 30,000 IDR (Taman Ayun) and 150,000 IDR (Besakih, including the shuttle and sarong). Most charge 50,000-75,000 IDR, Pura Taman Saraswati in Ubud is free, and Uluwatu’s kecak dance is an extra 150,000 IDR. Fees change often, so check on arrival.
What should I wear to a temple in Bali?
A sarong and a sash tied at the waist, with shoulders covered, for men and women. Ticketed temples include or lend a sarong; village temples do not, so buy one at a market for 50,000-100,000 IDR and carry it. Menstruating women and anyone with an open wound are asked not to enter.
Can tourists go inside Balinese temples?
Into the outer and middle courtyards, yes, in a sarong and sash. The inner sanctum (jeroan) and the sea temples themselves at Tanah Lot and Uluwatu are closed to non-worshippers, and climbing shrines or walls is forbidden. Tirta Empul is the exception where visitors are invited to join the ritual bathing.
Is it worth going to Lempuyang Temple?
For the photo, only if you arrive at 7am or after 3pm; between 9am and 3pm the queue for the gate is two to three hours and the “reflection” is a mirror held under the phone. The 1,700-step climb to the summit temple is quiet and genuinely rewarding. It is two and a half hours from the south, so combine it with Tirta Gangga and a night in Amed.
Can you bathe at Tirta Empul as a tourist?
Yes. Pay the 75,000 IDR entry, rent the green bathing sarong (about 15,000 IDR) and a locker, join the queue in the main pool and bow under each spout in turn from left to right, skipping the two reserved for funeral rites. Menstruating women may not enter the pools. Go at 8am to avoid the crowds.
Are there scams at Bali temples?
A few, all avoidable: men saying “the temple is closed” to divert you to a shop, self-appointed guides at Besakih demanding large fees afterwards, donation books showing inflated amounts, and unofficial parking and ticket sellers. Guides are optional, entry fees are printed on the ticket, and 10,000-20,000 IDR is a normal donation.
When is the best time of day to visit Bali temples?
The first hour after opening, 7am to 8:30am, when courtyards are empty and the volcanoes are clear, or the last hour before closing. Tanah Lot and Uluwatu are built for sunset; arrive by 4:30pm. Avoid 10am to 3pm at Tirta Empul, Ulun Danu Bratan and Lempuyang.