West Bali Tour

For the West Bali tour there are several options, and it is basically based on what you (as the customer) would like to see and visit.
This is a tour of 3 days and 2 nights, when you provide the driver with a room for the night the price will be 500.000 per day (this price does not include the entrance fees), when you don’t provide him with a room in the same hotel please provide him with 300.000 rp for a room and food (per day).
We only mention options here and basically you choose from these options sometimes all options will not be possible because of the location. From Lovina you drive through the mountains passing beautiful ricefields and small villages .

Pupuan
In the village of Pupuan there is a small Buddhist Monastery, the Vihara Dharma Giri, and definitely worth a visit. There is a small donation requested and you can borrow a sarong which you need to wear when the legs are visible. It is a small monastery and has a landscaped garden with some beautiful flowers the main thing is the statue of the sleeping Buddha and an area for praying but you don’t have access to that. It is a place peace and quiet.

Rice terraces of Belimbing
In this area you will find many beautiful rice terraces, plantations and typical Balinese villages. The area is quiet and peaceful and you see many farmers working on the ricefield. In the picturesque surroundings of Belimbing you can visit not only rice fields but also coffee and cacao plantations. To see the rice fields we recommend to stop at Warung Made Ayu Kusuma, where you also can have some coffee or other refreshment with a nice view of the rice fields.

Bunut Bolong
An option is to drive to Bunut Bolong, but not really on the route if you would go via Belimbing, for Bunut Bolong you have to drive back to the mountains for about 20 minutes. Bunut Bolong can be a mystical place because of the location in the mountains, often there will be a fog. The Bunut Bolong is a holy Banyan tree and grew, over the last centuries over the road, which makes it that you have to drive through the tree. On both sides of the tree there is a small warung, on one side there is also a temple.

Rambut Siwi temple
This temple is located in the village of Yeh Embang at the oceanside and has something mystical and gives you a beautiful view over the ocean and neighbouring ricefields. Many stairs has to be climbed to get up on the entrance level, (however it is also possible to get at the main gate by car if needed). More information about the temple can be found on this link.

Makepung Races
A traditional event in the region of Jembrana are the Makepung championship races held annually in August, this is an impressive and traditional event where they race with bulls and often there are weekends where they have these kind of races. Delod Berawah is one of the places where these races take place. More information can be found on this link.

Kurma Asih Turtle Conservation, Desa Perancak
In the village of Perancak you will find a Turtle conservation centre, this is a conservation where they only care about the turtles and to keep up the turtle population. 10 years ago a retired fisherman started this centre after he retired as a fisherman and together with other fishermen and with the support of the village they thought we will now give something back to the ocean after they caught a lot of fish from the sea being a fisherman. They started collecting the turtle eggs and this resulted in the first baby turtles, the eggs are buried in the sand and it is recorded on a card where the eggs were found and when they were buried. Because of the support from Daihatsu they were able to build the basins for the baby turtles, when the baby turtle are big enough they will be put in the ocean, as a visitor you can do this yourself. And now they also have a small warung and a lovely place where you can sit on the ocean side. Basically they only keep baby turtle, but every now and then they also find a grown turtle being sick they take care of the turtle until the turtle is healthy enough to be put back in the ocean. And when you are lucky you will be able to release the baby turtle into the ocean. The entrance is free but a small donation will always be appreciated.

A recommended stay for the night
Tunjung Sari in Perancak is a great stay for 1 night, with only 3 rooms it is more like a B&B. The owner himself also lives there with his family and there is a swimming pool in their back garden and you are actually right on the beach. The rooms are decorated nicely with a good bed, a fan and air-conditioning, a neat and spacious bathroom, with a good shower, sink and toilet, everything fairly new and all looked good, outside a small porch with 2 comfortable chairs. The price in October was 25 euros (+/- 27 US$, 40 AUD$, including breakfast).
Please note this is just an option, there are many more possibilities in the area of Negara.

Perancak Delta (local fishing industry)
This is the place where you find colourful fishing boats, the fishing industry here is booming and the warung Ikan Bakar across from the Tunjung Sari B&B is a nice place to visit and have a look at the boats. In the afternoon the boats are preparing to sail out later in the evening.

Belimbingsari and Palasari

In this area there are many people from all religions, Negara has, next to the Hindu people, a big Muslim and Christian population.
The Christian people live in the village called Belimbingsari and the catholic people live in the village of Palasari.

Belimbingsari, a village with a considerable history because during the Dutch colonial period a joint effort was made to preserve certain Balinese cultural ways. As far as the Dutch were concerned, Catholic and Protestant missionaries did not belong in such an image. Initially, all missionaries were forbidden to spread their ideas on the island, but in the early 1930s a very small Christian community began to emerge.
Nothing is impossible for God, that is what the founders of Belimbingsari believed when they were exiled to western Bali and settled in a spooky and untamed jungle in 1939. Against all odds, what was once considered an uninhabitable and deadly jungle became the permanent settlement for Balinese Christians. It is a beautifully organised and clean village and from the moment you enter the village you see clean maintained grass verges, and long never ending roads leading to a junction, when you would see this from the sky you will see the shapes of several crosses. In the centre of the village you will find one the oldest church on Bali, build in the 1930’s of the last century and rebuild in 1973 after the devastating earthquake.

It is a special church, because it is completely open. Through the main gate, in Balinese style, you enter the inner area, this gate is only open on Sundays for the church service. There is no church tower or bell, there is a kind of bell which is also used in the Hindu temple to let people know that there is a ceremony or a gathering. Furthermore, many things are the same as in other Protestant churches, a high roof, a pulpit, and the Greek characters Alpha and Omega. Also the sculptures in Balinese style are there only what it portrays is based on the Protestant faith.

There is also an orphanage attached to the church, which is a bit further away and certainly worth a visit. This orphanage is a part of the Widhya Asih Foundation, it is an impressive place where the children are clearly better of then with their own families where they would be needing to work in the field to put food on the table, they come from families where abuse is not uncommon, some don’t have parents at all and some were just take away from their families because of abuse, sad stories but the children are now being taken care off by the people from the church and the foundation.

The Catholic village of Palasari is breath taking with its church set on the village’s town square. The architecture 54 is Gothic but showcases Balinese touches in the spires, which resembles the meru (multiroofed shrine) in a Hindu temple, and features a facade with the same shape as a temple gate.
Close to the church you can find the Maria cave, a place where people come together for special services the way which leads to the cave shows statues and tells the agony of Christ on the way to the cross.

Banyuwedang
In this village which is close to Menjangan Island famous for the snorkelling you can find a hot water spring. Banyuwedang Hot Spring’s water contains a lot of sulfur with temperature around 40 degree Celsius. Due to its high amount of sulfur, the water here is smellier than the water that you can find in Banjar Hot Spring. You can enjoy this hot spring as a place for escaping your tiring routine and refreshing your mind and body. The hot water of this hot spring actually comes from the beach and will become lower than the sea water when the tide is high.

Toke Menjangan
A simple homestay that offers a room with breakfast, nothing special and good place to spend the night there. An overnight stay is also only 19 euros so you cannot expect too much for that.

Pemuteran
This village is known for its snorkelling and diving possibilities, there are many nice places on the beach, like White Sand Beach. You will find here hotels which are more expensive but will also offer you more facilities, but there are also many homestay options. Also many restaurants are located in the area.

Menjangan Island
Menjangan is located in the national park and is a location for beautiful snorkelling, see the page on Menjangan for more information, however the prices don’t fully apply when you do the West Bali Tour.

Pura Melanting
This temple is located in the village of Banyupoh, close to Pemuteran, passing Pulaki (which is also an option to visit), the Melanting temple is more inland while Pulaki is located on the coast. A beautiful temple and it is striking that all statues and temples have bright colours. The Melanting temple is considered the place where his eldest daughter of the Javanese Hindu priest Danghyang Nirartha, Ida Swabawa, changed into a ghost. There is a kind of information desk where you can borrow a sarong, and to get to the temple you have to climb quite a few stairs, the stairs look new and look very nice with all the little stones in a kind of mosaic.

The priests, who take care of the temple, are very hospitable to visitors. The Hindus who come to pray in this temple come not only from the surroundings, but from all over Bali and also from outside the island. A special thing about this temple are the bright colours. The statues and temples all have bright colours, it looks a bit Chinese, also looks a bit on the Buddhist temples in Thailand. And what also stood out were the monkeys present in the temple and not only monkeys but also cats and dogs.