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VELATianyar
A canvas lodge under a pitched roof with a timber deck, surrounded by tropical garden plants.
Around us

Everything worth the drive, and what it really takes.

Most of these are places on the map rather than things we sell, and they cost nothing but the drive. One of them, the falls at Yeh Mempeh, we also run as a half day of our own, and it says so below. For the rest, ask the concierge. The times are from our gate, by car, on a normal day.

Two things are easy to confuse on a boutique resort website. Experiences are the handful of days we run ourselves, with a boat, a fisherman or the kitchen, and they have their own pages and their own prices. Everything on this page is simply the country you are in. Go on your own, or ask the concierge for a car and a driver, and set your own pace.

Within the hour

Close enough for an afternoon.

  • Savanna Point

    5 minutes

    Rolling grassland running down to the sea, one of the few savanna landscapes on Bali and nothing like the green the rest of the island is known for. Best in the last hour of light.

    Savanna Point at golden hour

    The savanna above the coast seen from the air, dry grassland cut by deep erosion channels in late light.

  • Tulamben

    15 minutes

    The reason most divers come to this coast. The USAT Liberty lies just offshore in shallow water. We have no dive centre of our own, so ask the concierge for a local operator. When you get back, ask a member of staff and they'll point you to the showers by the pool to rinse your kit.

    Reef and snorkelling

  • Yeh Mempeh Waterfall

    A short drive inland

    Rice terraces give way to jungle and hillsides. The falls are known mainly to locals, at the end of narrow paths. Half a day, with lunch in a village, priced per person. Ask the concierge.

    Our day at the falls

    A waterfall inland from Tianyar, a single fall of white water dropping through dark jungle into the pool below.

  • Amed

    40 minutes

    A string of small bays along the same coast road, with clear water, healthy reef and the jukungs pulled up on the shore. Busier than Tianyar, because the dive shops are there. Far fewer people than anywhere in the south.

Half a day inland

Where the road climbs.

  • Tirta Gangga

    About an hour

    A water garden rather than a palace, whatever the name suggests. The last raja of Karangasem built it in the 1940s around a spring the villages still draw from, and what stands now is a set of terraced pools, a tiered stone fountain and stepping stones out across a koi pond. Go at opening. By mid-morning the stones are a queue, and the light has gone flat.

  • Pura Lempuyang

    Beyond Tirta Gangga, and higher

    Worth knowing before you set the alarm: the famous photograph of the gate doubled in still water is made with a small mirror held under a phone camera. There is no lake. You register on arrival, wear a sarong and wait your turn, and on a busy morning that wait runs long. If the photograph is not the point, walk past the queue and you have most of the temple to yourself. Above the gate a stone stairway climbs through forest to the highest temple, which is a real climb of a few hours there and back. It is a working temple, so ceremonies come first and parts of it can be closed.

  • Mount Batur

    90 minutes

    About 90 minutes by car from this coast. Ask the concierge for a driver.

  • Lovina

    90 minutes to two hours

    The north coast west of us, and the nearest thing to a town on this shore.

  • Ubud

    2 hours

    The island's inland centre, and the easiest place to break a journey if you are driving south rather than back to the airport.

No drive at all

The sky over the pebbles.

The best thing on this coast after dark costs nothing and is a few steps from the lodges. There is almost no light along this shore, the road empties early, and on a moonless night the Milky Way comes up over the water. Walk a short way from the last lamp, give your eyes ten or fifteen minutes, and the sky keeps filling in.

Getting around

How this actually works.

The coast road
One road runs the length of Karangasem and it is the spine of everything here. Decent surface, light traffic, and the odd truck or ceremony that adds a few minutes.
A scooter
125cc or 150cc, with helmets, insurance optional, charged per night of your stay. Fuel is not included. Bring your driving licence, and check the current requirements for riding in Indonesia before you go.
A driver
A private car with driver for up to four guests, by the hour, by the half day of up to five hours, or by the full day of up to eight. Ask the concierge.
Inland, or late
Take the driver. The roads inland climb and narrow, and they are no fun in the dark.
How we plan our own days
Time matters more here than distance. Move in the morning, while the light is good and the road is still empty, and keep the afternoon close to home. You will see more and hurry less.

The drive up is what keeps the shore this empty.

Three hours from the airport, fifteen minutes from the wreck at Tulamben, and a few steps from the water once you are here.

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