Things To Do in Bedugul

Arriving from the south (Ubud or Seminyak), you come through the main road of Candikuning with the open-all-day market on your left. Passing this, heading down the hill, on the left is a great bread shop, Roti Bedugul, although their fresh bread is late to rise, being ready around 11am each morning. On the right hand side as you drop down is Danau Bratan with the watersports center (overpriced -- you need to pay just to enter the road to the facilities) on the far side, framed majestically by the mountains behind. The town itself has little else to offer other than more shops than you care to count selling exactly the same crisps, biscuits, drinks, and basic toiletries.

Carry on out of Candikuning, away from Bedugul, along the lake shores and you will come to one of the most picturesque and most photographed of all temples, Pura Ulan Danu Bratan (western bank of Lake Bratan; Rp10,000; daily 7am-6pm), with its formal gardens and clipped lawns set against the backdrop of the lake. Technically it is actually on the lake, built as it is on a series of small islands. It was built in reverence to the goddess of the lake and the water she provides. This is a great place to feel the natural calm of the water -- just don't swim in it. These are holy waters.

This road then leads onward, past the golf course, to lakes Buyan and Tamblingan. These were actually just one lake until the early part of the 19th century when a landslide created two. The high road above the lake on the road to Munduk is possibly the best place to take in the view. There are a couple of viewing places to stop along the way.