Kintamani

If you are traveling to North Bali and choose to follow the road over the mountains via Kintamani, an unforgettable trip is guaranteed. Here you find all aspects of the Balinese nature, passing rice fields, volcanoes, lakes, forests and small villages. You can easily drive from south Bali to Singaraja in one day, but to be able to stop and see everything on the way there, you could easily spend many days or weeks.

There are 4-5 alternative roads to Kintamani from South Bali, many choose to go via Ubud or Bangli, where you can spend the night. If you start in south Bali the road will slowly ascend on a sloping plain all the way to Kintamani, with a great view over Gunung Batur (1.450 m), this is an active volcano which had it's last eruptions in 1917 and 1926. Kintamani actually sits on the edge of the caldera. About 1.000 people there and in the surrounding areas died during the eruption in 1917. If you have some spare time you can travel to the top of Gunung Batur or to Lake Batur in the bottom of the crater. From Kintamani the road to the bottom of the crater is very steep and in bad condition, so you better not go there with a car or a driver you don't trust. Most people use the more common road from Penelokan further south (see Gunung Batur).

There are a few hotels and restaurants in Kintamani and surrounding villages. The village is located at an altitude of 1.500 meters, and the relatively cold climate makes growing of for example oranges possible here. There is also a large market here that attracts traders from a wide area.

Continuing north from Kintamani the road curves down to the lower lands on Bali's north side. It is however easy to forget the steep and narrow road when all this beautiful scenery passes by. In a sharp turn north of Kintamani you will see a steep stairway leading up to the highest temple on Bali, Pura Puncak Penulisan (1.745 meters), on the rim of the Batur caldera. The view from here is magnificent, on a clear day you can see parts of both north and south Bali.