
At the time of writing this, we had been travelling through Asia for 11 months and spent 3 of these in Bali.
We have had some amazing experiences whilst in this beautiful part of the world, which I wanted to share here!
In no particular order, here are our 10 best Bali moments:
1. Discovering Canggu
We loved Canggu so much that we stayed for 2 months after going around the rest of the island. Lovely rural village with a laid-back vibe, 3 beaches, plenty of bars, restaurants and shops. Once there you really won’t want to go anywhere else. No wonder it’s a popular choice for expats!
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Canggu fields
Echo Beach area street art
Cheech & Chong Graffiti
Rice Fields just outside our Villa
Batu Bolong Beach
Road in Canggu with Church to the right
Shortcut to Echo Beach
Stretch from Berawa to Batu Bolong
Graffiti on Batu Bolong Beach
Berawa Beach
Fun in the sun at La Laguna
Villa Shanti Pool
Daiquiri Cocktails by the Pool
Villa Shanti living area
Villa Shanti – our favourite place
Quick refreshing dip in the pool
Berawa Beach in the day
Berawa Beach sunset
Dinner at Ulekan Restaurant
The Lawn on Batu Bolong Beach
La Brisa chill out area in Echo Beach
A glass of sunshine
La Brisa pool
2. My 39th Birthday at La Laguna Restaurant in Canggu
La Laguna is a beautiful gypsy-styled restaurant & bar in Berawa, owned by a Spanish guy from Sevilla, who also runs a few other stylish bars in Bali. Perfect choice for a birthday celebration!
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Bridge entrance from the beach to La Laguna
Big beautiful space – gypsy style La Laguna
Surroundings inside La Laguna
The Lagoon
Matt enjoying the view
Selfie!
Hello!
We had company!
La Laguna Bar
Big Prawns, yum!
Rhubarb crumble in glasses…different!
La Laguna lawn
The Bar
Plant Pots – pretty!
Entrance from main road to La Laguna
3. Day trip to Uluwatu; Padang-Padang Beach and Nyang-Nyang Beach
So good, they named them twice!
We took the bike down to Uluwatu so we could beach hop and explore the area! We stopped at YumYum Cafe for a bite to eat, which lived up to its name, on the way to Padang-Padang. After a beer and chill out time on Padang-Padang, we went onto Nyang-Nyang Beach, which was quite an experience to get to, but worth it!
Best beaches in Bali 🙂
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Padang-Padang Beach
Entrance through cave like rocks to Padang-Padang Beach
Padang-Padang Beach
Padang-Padang Beach
YumYum Cafe near Padang-Padang
Nyang-Nyang Beach carpark
View of the ocean at Nyang-Nyang Beach
Clifftop of Nyang-Nyang Beach
Matt descending via the gravely road
What a view of Nyang-Nyang
Beautiful secluded beach in Uluwatu
Deserted Nyang-Nyang Beach – best in Bali
Empty beach!
Selfie on the beach
Stairs on the way back up – only 600 of them!
4. Visiting Tanah Lot Temple and trying Luwak coffee for the first time
Tanah Lot area is quiet when compared to other places in South Bali. The temple there is stunning and the area to walk around is quite big, with a secluded beach in the opposite direction to the temple. We enjoyed a few hours there and found a lovely open air cafe with Luwak coffee and pet Luwaks sleeping inside the cafe! Gorgeous creatures and really yummy coffee, even though it comes out of their bum!
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Tanah Lot Temple
Tanah Lot Rice Fields
Part of Tanah Lot Temple grounds
Little selfie!
Another Luwak with his owner who runs the cafe
Jack the Luwak (Civet) in a cafe on Temple grounds
Sleepy Luwak (nocturnal mammals)
So nice to see these Luwaks are free
Little baby Luwak in a helmet
Big fruit bat! Also owned by the cafe
Beach near Tanah Lot Temple
Tanah Lot Temple stretch of beach
Tanah Lot Temple rock
So many pretty statues everywhere
On our way to another little deserted beach on the temple grounds
So quiet here!
Empty beach whilst everyone is at the temple
5. Our time in Ubud; Full moon Purification at Sebatu Temple and the Monkey Forest
We stayed in Ubud for a week at a homestay and our host Gede took us to a water temple, 20 mins away from Ubud town, for a Purification ceremony, which the locals perform on a full moon to wash the sins and bad spirits away. It was a surreal experience and so nice to join in, as only a handful of Westerners were there! We also went to the Monkey Forest & Sanctuary in Ubud town, which is stunning and looked more like Jurassic Park.
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Gede, Matt and I
Sebatu water temple
Matt and Gede in full dress for purification at Sebatu Temple
First Shrine to give offerings
Walk down to the purification waterfalls
Ready for Purification
Shrine number 2 at Sebatu Temple
On our way down to get purification!
Holy water for Purification on full moon
We are pure now!
Riding through Ubud to the Temples
Water temple
Ubud main street
Ubud temple in town
Ubud Monkey Forest & Sanctuary
Ubud Monkey Forest
Cheeky Monkey
Statues in Ubud Monkey Forest
Monkeys grooming each other
Ubud Monkey Forest grounds, like Jurassic Park
Sleepy monkey being woken up
Swinging monkey
6. Bike ride through East Bali; finding beautiful temples and a chocolate factory
Whilst staying in Candidasa, East Bali, we took a bike ride north towards Amed and enjoyed a couple of beautiful temples on the way, as well as a pit stop at a family run chocolate factory where we got to sample the goods and buy a couple of packets! They show you how the chocolate is produced and give you a tasting of both their chocolate and ice cream range – yum!
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Steps up to Pura Lempuyang Temple
Someone photobombing Matt for a change!
Pura Lempuyang temple
Matt in his sarong!
Pura Lempuyang’s Gates to heaven
View of the gates and Mt Agung Volcano
Countryside in East Bali
Sorga Chocolate Factory – time to buy choc
We had a chocolate tasting!
Another empty road in East Bali
Mountain roads in East Bali
Lovely lady and her puppy at Tirta Gangga
Tirta Ganga Water Palace
Traffic Jam on the stepping stones!
Beautiful Tirta Gangga gardens
Tirta Gangga’s main pond
Making sure I’m not Carp food!
Another pond!
Loaf Cafe in Candidasa on the way back – Yum coffee!
7. An unexpected drag show in Legian at Bali Beach Shack
We met this lovely Australian couple and family at our hotel in Legian. We got on really well and stayed up one night in the hotel bar. The next evening they invited us out for dinner with them to the famous Bali Beach Shack. To our surprise, after dinner and the restaurant’s live band a drag show followed! It was fantastic and one of the funniest nights we have had in a long time!
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Dinner with new friends at Bali Beach Shack
The ladies!
Byonce impersonator!
Flashing
Marilyn Monroe
Stunning but not a lady!
Funny show!
End of the night, ride around Legian in a mini van taxi! Fun evening!
Look at those legs!
8. Cooking it up in Ubud: learning how to cook Indonesian food
Our Australian friends invited us to join them for Ketut’s Cooking Class in Ubud. As we were already staying in Ubud, we met them at the market where we were all to be joined by our host Ketut, before taking us up to his house. It was a fantastic day, where we learnt how to cook 6 main dishes and a dessert; with the enjoyment of eating it all after the cook up!
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Ubud Market
Someone found a Starbucks!
At the food market with Ketut getting some produce for the cooking class
Staring at a weird fruit we have never seen before!
Ketut’s Cooking Class in Laplapan (Ubud)
Getting stuck in with prepping!
Muscle work mixing spices for the Bumbu Bali paste!
Nearly there with the Bumbu Bali
Danni and Steve cooking away!
Pretty spices
Beautiful selection of spices
Caught in mid action
Tasting the dish is the most important part
Another selection of spices
Mie Goreng (Noodles) Yum Yum!
Tuna grilled in banana leaf
Banana Plantain with coconut ice cream – yum!
The Lemongrass Tea was delicious
We got to enjoy our dishes, which were delicious
Group photo at the end!
9. Our trip to the Gili Islands; Gili Air, Gili Meno & Gili Trawangan
We visited the Gilis for 9 days, but spent most of our time on Gili Air as preferred it to Gili Trawangan; the chilled out vibe was much more suited to us, rather than the dance music scene on Gili T. We extended our time on Gili Air by 3 extra days as didn’t want to leave! Whilst there, we met some lovely people, snorkelled around the 3 islands, enjoyed our days on the beach and most evenings at a cool little beach bar we found called Mirage!
You can read more on our post Discovering The Gili Islands
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So nice to find these roads on Gili Air – love them!
Lovely swing opposite Island View Bungalows and bar
Where we stayed on Gili Air
We woke up one morning at 5:30am for sunrise!
Our little bungalow at Turtle Garden
Our swimming pool at Turtle Garden
Mirage waiter has fab hair!
What a beaut of a sunset at Island View Bar
Someone is tired watching the sunrise without a coffee!
All the roads lead to a beach on Gili Air
We were snorkelling off Gili Meno
So true!
Well, that was worth getting up for!
Lovely little beach here!
Cool little videos of the sun rising and setting!
10. Meeting new friends in Canggu
We met some new friends in Canggu and enjoyed a few gatherings, including a full moon villa party and a couple of leaving do’s. It was lovely to meet interesting people, both travellers and expats living in Bali!
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Beautiful private villa in Canggu – pre house party!
Villa Barong in Canggu
Early doors, getting ready for Daiquiris!
James, Tom and I
Selfie time!
After those Daquiris Matty got camera happy!
Selfie ladies and Matt!
Nusa Caña Rum was Yum!
The boys
Matt’s still going with the photos
Matty G’s leaving drinks at Old Mans
Matty G’s leaving dinner at La Fabricca Pizzeria
Gemma’s leaving drinks at La Brisa
Miss T being her lovely self!
Gemma, Asher and I at La Brisa
Beaut of a Sunset at La Brisa
We hope we have inspired you to plan a trip to Bali one day soon! If you have any questions, please feel free to comment and we will try to point you in the right direction!
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Published by Flipflops_in_the_sun
Flipflopsinthesun.com is a travel blog with guides and tips for Asia and Europe (more to come)
A travelling couple from the UK that sold up, downsized and went travelling in November 2016. We started with South India, then worked our way over to South East Asia and Indonesia, exploring different countries and their cultures; sharing tips & reviews to inspire fellow travel lovers and other want to be nomads! We are now living in Europe, and still travelling when we get the time! View all posts by Flipflops_in_the_sun
Hi gorgeous. Tara… your blog is great. You and Matt look like you have explored some amazing places. We were thrilled to see that we were a part of your two top experiences. We are back in Bali in April and will definitely take your advice on some of the other great places to visit. We hope to catch up with you guys again. I will pass on your details to my friends who are going on an adventure and hopefully you can catch up with them too!!! Enjoy the rest of your travels.
Memories forever
Anita, Jim and all the family xx
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Awww you were part of our best moments and we loved meeting you!!! Memories forever and hope to meet up again. You made our stay in Bali even more special 🙂 love from us both xxx
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Hi Tara! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences on Bali! We could visit Bali too, but only for 3 weeks. We really enjoyed it and I wrote a small review about organic cafés in Ubud. You might know some of them! 🙂
https://einfachnachhaltig.net/2017/06/28/die-schoensten-bio-cafes-in-ubud/
I am curious to read more of your adventures! Best wishes from Basel, Nicole
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Ahhh, yes I saw and recognised some names! Do you have an english version? Bali is so nice; we loved it and are planning on going back in the spring hopefully 🙂
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