The places that take an extra hour of driving, a few hundred steps or an early alarm — and pay you back with an island most visitors never see. Filter by region, kind of place and how much effort you're up for.
Most of these are rural, and a bad plan turns a great day into a long one.
Almost everything here is best between 6 and 10am: clear volcano views, cool air, empty car parks and waterfalls before the tour vans. Afternoons in the mountains cloud over and rain.
East, north and west Bali are 2–4 hours each way on winding roads. A car and driver for a full day runs roughly IDR 700,000–900,000 and is safer and cheaper than a day of ride-hailing. Keep scooters for short hops near where you're staying.
Village ticket posts, warungs and parking attendants are cash-only, in small notes. Signal drops in the valleys — download offline maps before you leave.
Sarong and sash at every temple, shoulders covered, don't climb on shrines, don't walk in front of people praying, and step aside for processions. Women are asked not to enter temples while menstruating.
Effort ratings are honest: 'hard walk' means hundreds of steps or a slippery scramble, and 'big day out' means most of the day in a car plus walking.
Region
Kind of place
Effort
Showing 30 of 30 places.
East Bali· 1 hr 15 from Ubud· Village
The rice-terrace valley Ubud used to be, with Mount Agung filling the skyline. Hand-loom weaving households, river walks between the terraces, and almost no tour buses.
East Bali· 20 min from Candidasa· Village
A Bali Aga (pre-Hindu) walled village that still runs on its own ancient law. One of three places on earth weaving double-ikat gringsing cloth, plus lontar palm-leaf engraving.
East Bali· 2 hrs from Ubud· Culture
Two water palaces built by the last raja of Karangasem — stone stepping-stone pools full of koi, Balinese-European pavilions, and sea and mountain backdrops. Busy for one hour a day, empty the rest.
East Bali· 2 hrs 30 from Seminyak· Beach
A string of black-sand fishing bays under Agung. Coral gardens and a sunken Japanese wreck straight off the beach, traditional jukung outriggers at dawn, and sunsets over the volcano.
East Bali· 15 min from Candidasa· Beach
Grass headlands dropping straight into the sea, with a picture-book crescent of white sand (Virgin Beach) below. Camping spots on the cliff and barely anyone around on weekdays.
North Bali· 30 min from Lovina· Waterfall
A chain of seven waterfalls, natural rock slides and jumping pools linked by a jungle trek. Feels like the Bali people imagine and rarely find.
North Bali· 2 hrs from Ubud· Waterfall
Six ribbons of water falling into an amphitheatre of jungle — the most spectacular falls on the island, and still a fraction of the crowds at Tegenungan.
North Bali· 20 min from Munduk· Waterfall
Twin falls into a wide, shallow, swimmable emerald pool ringed by ferns. Photogenic without the Instagram queue of the southern falls.
North Bali· 2 hrs from Canggu· Mountain & lake
Cool mountain villages in clove and coffee country, with a jungle-fringed crater lake you can paddle across in a dugout canoe past moss-covered lakeside temples.
West Bali· 4 hrs from Seminyak· Beach
Bali's best wall diving and calmest snorkelling inside West Bali National Park, plus the Biorock coral restoration project you can swim over in the home bay.
West Bali· 4 hrs from the south· Mountain & lake
Savannah, mangrove and monsoon forest holding the last wild Bali starlings. Ranger-guided birding walks that almost no visitor to Bali ever does.
Central Bali· 1 hr 30 from Ubud· Village
UNESCO-listed subak terraces that dwarf Tegallalang, with marked walking loops through working farmland instead of a queue for a swing.
Central Bali· 30 min from Ubud· Temple
Sebatu is a spring-fed garden temple of koi pools and bathing places with hardly a soul in it. Tampaksiring's 11th-century shrines are carved straight into the river gorge cliffs at the bottom of 300 steps.
Central Bali· 40 min from Ubud· Village
Ancient village north of Ubud with white cattle held sacred, bamboo forests, and quiet lanes of family compounds. A soft landing into rural Bali.
Central Bali· 1 hr from Ubud· Waterfall
A fall inside a collapsed cave, where a shaft of light drops through the roof onto the water mid-morning. Genuinely otherworldly for ten minutes a day.
Central Bali· 1 hr from Ubud· Village
One long avenue of identical carved gates and swept courtyards, plus a bamboo forest behind. Cleanest village in Bali, and quiet if you arrive early.
East Bali· 45 min from Sidemen· Mountain & lake
One of Bali's great drives — ridge roads through bamboo and terraces with Agung looming, ending at the mother temple with far fewer people than the coach route.
East Bali· 1 hr 15 from Ubud· Mountain & lake
Grassy ridge above the Unda river valley with 360° views to Agung and the sea. Locals picnic here at sunset; foreign visitors almost never do.
South & Bukit· 20 min from Uluwatu· Beach
A kilometre of empty white sand under the Bukit cliffs, reached by several hundred steps. The effort is exactly why it stays empty.
South & Bukit· 15 min from Nusa Dua· Beach
Two cliff-bottom coves with caves, reef pools and clear water, minutes from Nusa Dua yet mostly deserted. Green Bowl has a bat cave above the sand.
South & Bukit· 20 min from Uluwatu· Temple
Clifftop temple and headland walks with the same ocean drama as Uluwatu and none of the coach parties or monkeys stealing sunglasses.
South & Bukit· 10 min from Nusa Dua· Water & caves
A narrow slot canyon of red limestone you walk between, minutes from the resort strip. Five minutes of pure geology and a complete change of scene.
Central Bali· 40 min from Ubud· Waterfall
Two gentle, swimmable curtains of water in Bangli with easy paths, shallow pools and a fraction of the visitors at Tegenungan. The best falls to bring kids to.
Nusa Islands· Nusa Penida, 30 min from the port· Temple
You enter on hands and knees through a hole in the rock and emerge into an enormous cavern holding a working temple with hundreds of worshippers.
Nusa Islands· 1 hr 15 from Toya Pakeh· Beach
Hand-carved staircases down a cliff face to turquoise bays with rock arches. The east coast sees a fraction of the traffic that Kelingking does.
Nusa Islands· Yellow Bridge from Lembongan· Beach
A tiny island of seaweed farms, mangrove channels and a cobalt cliff-lined inlet. Cycle or scooter the whole thing in a morning.
South & Bukit· In Sanur· Culture
5.30am boats landing tuna and mahi-mahi while the sun comes up over Nusa Penida, and locals doing tai chi on the sand. Free, and utterly local.
Central Bali· In Ubud· Village
Everyone walks the first kilometre of Campuhan Ridge. Keep going to Bangkiang Sidem village and drop down to the Karsa loop and you'll have jungle valley, coffee gardens and no one else.
Central Bali· 1 hr 30 from Ubud· Mountain & lake
Skip the viewpoint restaurants and drive down to the lake — black lava fields, lakeside villages reached by boat, and natural hot springs looking straight at Batur.
East Bali· 2 hrs 30 from Ubud· Temple
The 'Gates of Heaven' queue is at the lowest of seven temples. Climb the 1,700 steps through the forest to the upper shrines and you'll have Agung, silence and monkeys to yourself.
Found somewhere that belongs here? Submit a place and we'll check it before it goes live. Planning around the weather and what to pack is covered in Before you go, and getting around is in Transport.