Sidemen
Rice-Terrace Valley under Mount Agung
A green valley in east Bali that looks the way Ubud did decades ago: stepped rice terraces down to the river, villages weaving songket cloth, and Mount Agung filling the head of the valley on clear mornings. A handful of guesthouses and villas on the ridges, no nightlife, walks with local guides through the fields. Besakih, the mother temple, is 40 minutes up the mountain, and Amed's reefs about an hour and a half beyond. The valley roads are narrow, steep and broken after rain.
Highlights
- Walk through the rice terraces to the river
- Mount Agung at sunrise
- Pura Besakih, the mother temple
- Songket weaving in the village
- Bukit Jambul viewpoint
- Tenganan Bali Aga village
- Balinese cooking with a village family
Things to do
- Guided rice-terrace and river walkMorning · 3h
- Pura Besakih mother templeMorning · 3h
- Songket weaving workshopAfternoon · 1h 30m
- Tenganan Bali Aga villageAfternoon · 2h 30m
- Sunset over the valley from the ridgeEvening · 1h 30m
- Village cooking classAfternoon · 3h
Tours & tickets
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When to go
Best time: April – October
Plan around this
Nyepi: Bali Closes for 24 Hours
⚠️ On Nyepi (Monday 8 March 2027, from 06:00 to 06:00 on 9 March) all of Bali stops: Ngurah Rai airport is closed to every flight, roads, beaches and shops shut, the internet is switched off, and visitors must stay inside their hotel. Don't book a flight, boat or transfer for that day, and allow for full flights and boats on the days either side.
Heads up
Bali Wet Season
December to February are the wettest months: heavy afternoon and night downpours, humid days, and flash floods on low roads in Kuta, Legian, Seminyak and on Sunset Road to the airport. Mornings are often clear. Allow extra time for the airport, and plan beach days flexibly. Hotels are cheaper, except over Christmas and New Year.
- Nyepi (Balinese Day of Silence) and the ogoh-ogoh parades — The Balinese New Year. On the eve, villages parade huge ogoh-ogoh demon effigies through the streets and burn them, worth seeing in Ubud, Kuta and Denpasar. Then for 24 hours the whole island stops: Ngurah Rai airport closes, no traffic, no lights, beaches shut, and visitors must stay inside their hotel (hotels keep serving guests indoors). Do not plan to land, leave or travel in Bali that day.
- Galungan and Kuningan · Galungan 17 Jun, Kuningan 27 Jun — Bali's biggest Hindu festival, every 210 days: ten days when the ancestors are believed to visit. Every street is lined with tall bamboo penjor poles, families in temple dress fill the temples, and the island looks its most beautiful. Some shops and drivers take the main days off, and temples are crowded; wear a sarong and sash to visit.
- Christmas and New Year peak — Bali's dearest fortnight: villas and resorts set minimum stays and gala dinners on 24 and 31 December, and Indian, Australian and Indonesian holidays overlap. Book rooms and the Gili and Komodo boats by October, and expect rain: it is the wet season.