Bali Botanical Gardens

Bali Botanical Gardens (Kebun Raya Eka Karya) is a large, purpose-built botanical garden in the Bedugul highlands of central Bali that combines public displays with plant research and conservation.

Visitors find extensive themed collections, conservatories for orchids and succulents, lakes and shaded walking routes across roughly 150 hectares of upland garden. The garden is often used for botany education, guided walks and horticultural displays.

The gardens were developed in the mid-20th century to conserve and study Indonesia’s tropical flora and have been expanded and maintained by national and regional botanical institutions. They operate both as a public park and as a site for botanical research.

Located in the Bedugul area of central Bali, the gardens sit at a cool, montane elevation around the island’s inland lakes and are accessed by road from Denpasar and the southern tourist areas.

• Upland climate: Sits at a cool, upland elevation near Bedugul, offering markedly lower temperatures than coastal Bali and making it a center for montane plant species.
• Collections: The garden is organized into specialist collections and conservatories, useful for visitors interested in orchids, ferns and succulents as well as general tropical botany.

What to See#

• Specialist plant collections: Houses an orchidarium, cactus and succulent greenhouses, and a fern collection among its themed plots and conservatories; these collections support both display and research functions.
• Research and trails: Contains lakes, walking trails and a central research and administration area that coordinate plant conservation and educational programs.

A network of paths links roughly five hectares of a stunning ravine planted with an Orchid Garden, a tangle of ferns, palm and bamboo, an Islamic Garden and Bali’s first hedge maze. Nearly two thousand plant species grow here, and a guide booklet details six walks that take in around a hundred bird species alongside the abundant flora.

The gardens were planted both to delight local people and to attract overseas visitors, safeguarding the island’s precious flora while building local environmental awareness. Scientific and educational programmes continue to be developed for the public. The amphitheatre can be hired for weddings and events, and much of the pleasure lies simply in wandering the ravine’s secret gardens for an intimate encounter with nature.

Bali Botanical Garden (Kebun Raya Bali) is in the Bedugul/Candi Kuning area of central-north Bali. From Denpasar follow the main Denpasar-Singaraja road (Jalan Raya Denpasar-Singaraja) north toward Bedugul; the driving distance is roughly 60-75 km (typically 1.5-2 hours depending on traffic). The garden has on-site parking and the main entrance is a short walk from the car park; many visitors arrive by private car, organized day tour, or chartered transport from southern Bali.

• Start at opening time and walk the higher, cooler sections first - the garden often fills with tour groups by late morning, so mornings give quieter paths and clearer views of the montane plantings.
• Use the main Candikuning (Bedugul) entrance to access the largest collections quickly; from there you can follow signposted trails to the orchidarium, fern house and cactus collection which many visitors skip.
• Time your visit on a weekday to avoid weekend domestic tourists, and leave the busiest nearby attraction (Ulun Danu Beratan) for later in the day or vice versa to spread crowds.