We had completed exploring in and around Ubud (read here) and it was time to move to our next base in our 2 weeks long Bali trip. Our base for the next 4 nights was going to be Amed, a town based in the northeast coast of Bali.

The drive from Ubud to Amed would take around 3 hours. But this drive was not to be a direct one. We decided to make two stops enroute; the Besakih Temple and Tirta Gangga.

Besakih Temple

This is considered the “Mother Temple” and is the most important, largest and holiest temple in Bali. And is placed close to Mount Agung. This temple is not in many tourist’s itinerary given its location. But we would strongly including it in your itinerary if you have the time.

Tirta Gangga

This is a former royal palace. It is named after the sacred river Ganga of India. It was created as a recreation place for the royal family. This is a popular place for tourists. So be prepared for some crowds. It is quite expansive and is still worth it. Here are some photos from there.

Amed Town

Amed is a quiet fishing village of the northeastern coast of Bali. It is famous for offering a relaxed atmosphere away from the busy life at other popular tourist destinations in Bali; exactly what we were looking for. It also has black sand beaches. If you are into water based activities like snorkeling or scuba diving, then Amed is a must visit place in Bali. And add to it getting excellent views of Mount Agung.

To enjoy these aspects, we had taken a room with direct access to the beach. The beach was literally 2 steps down from our room’s entrance.

Here are some pictures from around the town.

Speaking of sunrises, they are stunning from Amed. Here are the ones we saw during our stay:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Convinced? Well, the sunsets are stunning too from the beach with Mount Agung in the background.

You will need a vehicle to get around as there is no public transport. The best is to hire a two wheeler. We hired a scooter for the entire duration of our stay in Amed.

Lahangan Sweet

This is a stunning viewpoint that offers stunning and expansive views of Mount Agung. Of course the weather has to be cooperative to see the mountain. Even with the odds, it is still an excellent place to visit, especially if you are staying in Amed. If you want pictures similar to those from the well known Lempuyang Temple but encounter lesser crowds, then this is the place 😃.

Here are the views as we drove up to the place from Amed:

The above ones were just the trailer of what we were going to witness 😊.

After parking our scooter at the ticket counter, we decided to take their 4×4 vehicle up the last stretch, given the condition of the road (path rather 😁). Here are the views that greeted us:

Here are pictures from the main “photographing” platform:

Here is a picture of the same platform from a distance:

Here are a couple from the second platform to the right of the main one:

Here are a few more as we walked around the place:

Here a set of photos from the “gateway type” set up:

Convinced that it is worth a visit ?

Bukit Cinta

This is a great place to catch the sunrise over Mount Agung, and that too with absolutely no crowd as it is not on anyone’s itinerary 😁 . So if you are staying in Amed, then it is well worth a short visit. And road to the view point is good and can be easily done on a scooter.

Lempuyang Temple

This is the most famous tourist attraction in Bali, famous for the “Gateway to Heaven” photographs. Don’t know what I mean? Well, you get to take pictures like the below:

Fantastic, aren’t they? Well, now you know why visiting this place is so popular 😆. But this will mean that you can expect lots of people. And the crowd starts right from early morning. So be prepared for the wait. Ours ended up being 2.5 hours. Thankfully they have a well organised token system in place. So once you have bought the tickets, there is no waiting in a long line and slowly inching forward. Well, you still have to wait, but not in a line.

Here is what the set up looks around and its immediate surroundings:

There are a flight of steps behind that lead into the temple area.

Here is what it looks like from the top of the stairs. You can also see the people waiting for their turn. We spent some time enjoying the views from here:

You do not need to wait there the entire time You can go and explore the place. Just make sure you come back before your turn. That is what we did.

The surrounding included a nice walk into a well wooded area. Sadly we decided to return back mid way as we did not want to take the chance of missing our turn. Here are some photos from the surrounding area:

All visitors are required to leave their vehicles at the designated parking area at the bottom of the hill, buy tickets and then take the bus to the top. I think it was well organised for the amount of visitors the place gets. And certainly worth it if you want to get the opportunity to take photos like the ones I showed earlier. You just have to have patience ☺️.

Our next destination was Nusa Penida. Read about it here.