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Bali and Gili

Route: Ubud - Munduk- Lovina - Tirtagangga - Seraya - Gili Meno - Sanur

This Indonesia holiday will take you to the highlights and tropical beaches of Bali and the paradise island of Gili Meno. On Bali you’ll cycle through rice paddies, hike to waterfalls, visit water palaces and sail across mountain lakes. In North Bali, you can relax on the volcanic beaches and spot dolphins. We’ll also arrange a visit to a local market where you’ll buy the ingredients to cook your own Balinese dish. After almost two weeks on your Indonesia holiday in Bali, you can let everything sink in as you relax on the white sands of Gili Meno and snorkel through the coral reefs around the island. This trip ends with a visit to Sanur, a small beach resort in Southern Bali.

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Duration	16 days / 15 nights departs daily from Denpasar airport	Accommodation	Charming cottages in the rice paddies, in the hills and on the beach (see our photos here). Comfort level 3 and 4 (see accommodation).
Price	£979 per person - based on 2 people sharing	Includes	Transport as described, accommodation with breakfast, guided excursions.
Transport	Private car with driver, catamaran.	Excludes	International flight, entrance fees, optional excursions in the morning on Day 7 and 10.

Day 1: Arrival in Bali - Transfer to Ubud

When you arrive at Denpasar airport on day one of your Indonesia holiday, there will be someone waiting to whisk you away to your peaceful haven. Ubud is a peaceful Balinese hideaway surrounded by green hills, where you can enjoy a relaxing massage or cool off in the beautiful pool. The hotel has a dozen cottages overlooking the rice fields. Each of the cottages is individually decorated.

Ubud is the cultural capital of Bali, which means it attracts a lot of tourists. However, like Yogyakarta on Java it still has plenty of local charm with cheerful bars, good food and excellent facilities.

Day 2: Ubud

You can take it easy today, beginning your Indonesia holiday slowly. Laze around by the pool or go on a walk through the green rice paddies where you’re greeted by smiling local farmers. There are many painters, silversmiths and sculptors living in this area who will be happy to show you around their workshops.

If you fancy meeting some local wildlife, you can visit the cheeky macaques in Monkey Forest or go on an elephant-back jungle safari. If you want to see the famous Komodo dragon, you’ll find them at the local zoo.

Day 3: Ubud - Cycling tour

It's the third day of your Indonesia holiday and around 8am, you'll be picked up by minibus for the drive into the hills of Kintamani. Then, after a hearty breakfast and some mountain biking instructions, it's time to put on your helmet and start pedalling through the beautiful countryside. The route is largely downhill through the green valley, along narrow paths with rice paddies to your left and right.

On the way, you'll stop off in a bamboo forest with bamboo shoots so thick that your hands wont stretch around them. You'll also whizz pass women carrying fruit offerings on their heads to the local temple. After a lunch of nasi goreng and other Balinese specialities you'll arrive back at the hotel around 3pm.

Day 4: Ubud - Munduk

Today, you'll be leaving the green terraced fields of Ubud behind and continue your Indonesia holiday. You'll travel inland along a winding road into the hills to Munduk, passing a couple of beautiful blue mountain lakes on the way. Just before the turn-off to Munduk you'll find a great place to stop, with breathtaking views across the lakes surrounded by endless green.

Once you’ve arrived in Munduk and taken up residence in your lovely cottage you’ll head out on a guided hike. The enthusiastic guide will take you into the countryside and show you all kinds of edible plants and berries along the way. You’ll pass a couple of lakes and a waterfall, and plenty more of those magnificent green rice paddies. The trek takes around 3-4 hours.

Day 5: Munduk

The cottages in Munduk are hidden away amongst flowers and ponds with breathtaking views of the valley below.

On day five of your Indonesia holiday, you’ll take a trip to a temple perched on an island in the middle of a blue mountain lake, followed by a visit to the botanical gardens with an impressive collection of orchids. During the tour, you can wander along the little paths beneath huge ferns, trees with giant roots and more species of palm tree than you can imagine.

Day 6: Munduk - Lovina

After breakfast you'll leave the green valleys and continue your Indonesia holiday to Lovina. Your resort is within walking distance of all the places of interest in Lovina and there's a great pool. You can spend your first day here lazing in a deckchair or chilling out in one of the beach bars.

Day 7: Lovina

Early this morning, you’ll board a boat for a dolphin-spotting trip. The water is as smooth as a mirror this time of day. Luckily, the fishermen know where the shrimp are hiding in the currents. Hopefully, it wont be long before you hear splashing alongside the boat and see the first group of dolphins appear. It's a magical experience and would be a real highlight of your Indonesia holiday.

After your dolphin trip, you can enjoy breakfast back at the hotel and spend the rest of the morning relaxing. In the afternoon, you can choose to visit the hot springs (optional) where you can swim in the hot sulphuric waters. If you take this option, you'll be picked up at your hotel around midday, returning to Lovina later that afternoon.

Day 8: Lovina - Tirtagangga

Today you'll continue your Indonesia holiday to the Tirtagangga Water Palace. At the gate, the guard will ask you for a small entrance fee but if you tell him you’re a guest in the palace you won’t be charged anything. The ancient Balinese rulers had a soft spot for ornamental waterworks, which also serve as an irrigation system for the surrounding rice fields.

You’ll stay in a bungalow with a great outdoor bathroom in the palace gardens. The accommodation isn’t particularly luxurious but the setting is certainly remarkable. If you want to enjoy a little more luxury we can arrange an upgrade to one of the villas. There’s a fantastic view across the palace grounds from the restaurant, and the water reservoir is now used as a swimming pool.

In the afternoon you’ll take a guided hike through the rice paddies around Tirtagangga. Balancing along the little dykes between the rice paddies you can cross over to the isolated villages. The locally brewed palm wine is delicious and you can see how the wine is ‘pumped’ out of the palm trees.

Day 9: Tirtagangga - Seraya

It won’t be easy saying goodbye to the rural charm of Tirtagangga, but there’s a lot more to see during your Indonesia holiday. Today, you'll head further east to the quiet coastal town of Seraya. Around 3pm, you’ll take a guided tour of the area and see aromatic spice plants like ginger, vanilla and clove being grown. You can smell the wonderful aromas just by rubbing a leaf between your fingers. The road leads up through green rice terraces and coffee plants to an ancient Balinese temple where the local women come every day to burn small incense offerings. The view is breathtaking from the top of the temple, across Bali’s highest volcano, the brilliant blue sea and the faint outline of Lombok on the horizon.

In the late afternoon, you’ll return to your Balinese bungalow with views across the rocky coast. It’s a truly peaceful area, with a waterfall by the pool and tropical flowers in the garden. After 6pm, mouth-watering scents will waft out from the kitchen as the cook starts preparing the evening meal. It’s worth sticking around for the delicious food served here.

Indonesia holiday - Seraya swimming pool

Indonesia holiday - Balinese cooking lesson

Day 10: Seraya

On day ten of your Indonesia holiday, you’ll probably be woken by the soothing sound of birds and lapping waves. There’s nothing planned for today which means you can spend the day lazing around and swimming. The East Coast of Bali hasn’t been discovered by mass tourism yet which means you still get a feel of real Balinese life here. You could do an optional cooking course today (not included). The cook will take you to the busy local market where you can taste exotic fruit like rambutan and mangosteen and gather all the ingredients for your dish. Back at your accommodation, you’ll get to work slicing and stir-frying and at the end you can enjoy your very own freshly made Balinese meal.

Day 11: Seraya - Gili Meno

You'll leaved Seraya early in the morning to go to Padangbai where you'll board the fast catamaran around 8:30am for the 2-hour trip to the sparkling white beaches of the Gili Islands.

The Gili Islands are a cluster of tropical islands just off the coast of Lombok, far enough from Bali to have maintained their laid-back atmosphere, but close enough to combine a stay with your Indonesia holiday. The beaches are white, the sea is blue, the people are relaxed and the fresh fish is roasting on the barbecue...

Indonesia holiday - Snorkelling off Gili

Days 12 and 13: Gili Meno

The beach bungalows here are not exactly big, but they are charming and comfortable with air-conditioning for some cooling relief when the winds drop in the evening and the heat covers the island like a hot blanket. It takes just 1½ hours to walk all the way around the island, but you can also take one of the little horse-drawn carts during this Indonesia holiday on Gili Meno. On the south side of the island, you can buy beautiful Ikat hammocks, which may come in handy on Gili Meno.

There are several fantastic snorkelling spots around Gili Meno, and you can also take a boat trip to one of the other islands where you'll find even more coral reefs. Gili Trawangan probably has the best beaches of the three Gili Islands on its inner coast.

Day 14 and 15: Gili Meno - Sanur

Today it's time to head back to Bali. You'll travel back the same way you came - by catamaran, boat and car. In Padangbai, you'll be picked up by your driver for the 2 hour drive along the south coast to the lively beach resort of Sanur, where you'll stay in a beach resort for the remainder of your Indonesia holiday. Sanur has some great beaches that draw both locals and tourists. Unlike most of the other beaches on Bali, the sand isn't dark volcanic, but golden white. It's a friendly little place with plenty of restaurants and shops.

Day 16: Departure - End of holiday in Indonesia

On the last day of your Indonesia holiday, you can enjoy a relaxed breakfast and buy some last-minute souvenirs before packing your bag and making your way back to the airport. If you want to spend more time here we can extend your stay with a couple of days. If not, you'll be transferred back to the airport where your trip ends.

Many people like to visit Kuta which, as the primary tourist paradise of Bali, is certainly worth seeing. Just south of Kuta is Jimbaran where you can eat delicious shellfish in one of the many fish restaurants on the beach.

Indonesia holiday - Accommodation (Click to enlarge)

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