As Indonesia’s most visited island, Bali is known for many enchanting aspects. Famed the world over for its gorgeous tiered rice terraces, signature soft white sands, and timeless water temples, Bali has no shortage of iconic landmarks and photogenic panoramas.
Still, what truly stands out about the Island of the Gods, as Bali is affectionately known, is its distinctive cultural traditions and religious celebrations. As Indonesia’s only predominantly Hindu island, Bali’s thousands of temples and unique ceremonial practices have ensured that this single island—one of some 17,000 across Indonesia’s archipelago—is globally revered.
Read on to discover what Bali is famous for, from traditional dance and fragrant foods to artisanal woodwork and mischievous monkeys.
Incense & Offerings
Canang sari
Ask those who have spent time on the Island of the Gods what Bali is famous for, and for many, their first memory will be the island’s signature scent. Slow-burning incense sticks, infused with delicate floral fragrances, are seen and smelled everywhere, from obligatory household shrines to the doorsteps of shops, offices, and even beach bars.
Placed in small trays fashioned from pandan or palm leaves, the incense sticks are one of the many components that form canang sari, pretty and painstakingly put together daily offerings to the gods.
Canang sari
Also adorning the trays are beautiful fresh flowers, each colorful bloom purposefully pointed in a specific direction. Tucked below the bouquet are the porosan, a betel nut leaf, and lime, with all the individual elements symbolizing different deities.
You’ll spot many variations that differ from family to family—sustenance, such as rice, is also a regular addition—but as the canang sari is Bali’s most habitual offering, it’s undoubtedly one of the island’s best-known cultural customs, no matter what its makeup.
Read: Best Things to Do in Bali
Puras
Batuan Temple
Impressive both for their localized architecture and the sheer number of sacred spaces, Balinese Hindu Temples, locally known as Puras, coat the cultural landscape of this beautiful island. Estimates place the number of temples and shrines in the five figures, with every household also having its own private place of prayer.
Many of Bali’s most famous temples are part of vast religious complexes dating back centuries. The millennia-old Batuan Temple and the cliff-carved Gunung Kawi, with its double-digit shrines, are two of the island’s most unmissable sites.
Strolling around these peaceful and monumental edifices affords an education on Balinese Hinduism, especially if you’re lucky enough to witness a religious ceremony. These ceremonies often involve more grandiose offerings, such as women balancing a banten tegeh, a towering fruit offering, atop their heads.
Uluwatu Temple
Equally celebrated are the coastal temples. The 11th-century marvel Uluwatu Temple, set atop a 230-foot wave-weathered cliff, is one of the best places to visit in Southeast Asia.
Visit at sunset when a 70-strong cast performs a Kecak fire dance. Further west, Tanah Lot Temple, seemingly balanced on a rocky islet, is one of Bali’s most iconic locations.
Pura Ulun Danu Temple
Yet it’s arguably the island’s cluster of hinterland and highland water temples that Bali is best known for. Two of the most photographed are lakeside and often mist-shrouded Pura Ulun Danu Temple and Pura Mengening, with its holy water pools used for melukat, a purification ritual.
These water temples, alongside the Royal Pura Taman Ayun, are so treasured they form part of Bali’s UNESCO World Heritage Listing, which also spotlights the ninth-century water management system known as subak and five of the island’s all-important rice terraces.
Rice Terraces
Tegalalang Rice Terrace
One of the best ways to discover what Bali is famous for is by ambling among the island’s lush rice paddies and terraces.
For over 1,000 years, these cultivated areas have been an integral part of the island’s agricultural scene. Still irrigated by the subak water management system until this day, the ingenious combination of canals, small dams, and tunnels remains an exceptional part of Bali’s landscape.
Engineering feats aside, Bali’s rice terraces are as fetching as they are important for feeding the Balinese. The Tegalalang Rice Terrace, just inland from Ubud, the island’s cultural capital, is one of the most famous and easiest to access.
After appreciating Tegalalang’s layers from the elevated viewpoint, you’re able to descend deeper into the fields for a closer inspection of the subak, cocooned by rampant greenery on all sides.
Jatiluwih Rice Terraces
Further inland, in the mountain-backed fringes of the Tabanan Regency, the Jatiluwih Rice Terraces are even more remarkable. Spanning just under 1,500 acres, this vast agricultural area is a pleasure to ramble, fresh coconut water in hand, while learning more about Bali’s most consequential agricultural achievements.
Fragrant Flavors
Nasi campur
Rice may be the anchor of many Balinese dishes, but the island’s cuisine is best known for its fragrant flavors. Seasonings range from sweet to sour, spicy to zesty, with chili peppers, garlic, citrus, ginger, and aromatic salam leaves all being familiar ingredients.
Sauces, such as shrimp paste, fiery sambal chili paste, and kecap manis, a sweet soy sauce, are equally beloved by the Balinese, elevating even simple coconut-infused rice.
For a first-time introduction to Balinese dishes, make a beeline for a warung. These typically family-run restaurants, sometimes little more than a small roadside hut, are where you’ll find true Balinese hospitality and traditional flavors.
Chicken sate
At most warungs, you’re able to see the dishes of the day set in a display cabinet, allowing for a sampling of several local specialties, such as chicken sate, or fried tempeh, fermented soy bean cakes. Alternatively, order nasi campur, translated as mixed rice, for a stacked feast featuring a selection of the best local flavors.
Seafood is also outstanding in Bali, especially at coastal hotspots such as Jimbaran Fish Market. For a more local taste, order your fish pepes style, wrapped and steamed in banana leaves.
Another revered dish that Bali is particularly famous for is babi guling, a slow-roasted suckling pig—especially popular here as pork is harder to find elsewhere in Muslim-majority Indonesia.
Idyllic Beaches
Beach in Bali
If you’re dreaming of palm-fringed bays and endless tropical shorelines lapped by translucent waters, you’re already aware of one answer to what is Bali known for: paradisiacal beaches.
Bali’s most well-known beaches are found along the southern coast. Animated Kuta, with its lively beach bars and scattered bean bags, and trendy Seminyak, where beach clubs rule supreme, are two of the island’s most recognized golden shorelines.
Padang Padang Beach
Just as lauded are the beaches of the southern Bukit Peninsula. Most famous is Padang Padang, put firmly on the map with the release of Julia Roberts’ 2010 Bali-based blockbuster about finding love and spirituality. The Bukit is also where you’ll find some excellent swell around Uluwatu, a favorite spot of Bali’s well-established surf scene.
Venture to Bali’s lesser-visited north, celebrated for a completely different kind of coastline, and you’ll be able to lay your towel on sun-scorched dark volcanic sands. Lovina Bay, characterized by its brightly-colored jukung small wooden outriggers, is a popular destination for spotting spinner dolphins playing in the bay.
Ubud Palace
Ubud Palace
Green, serene, and culturally rich, inland Ubud has been capturing the hearts and minds of travelers for centuries. Now one of the most visited places in all of Indonesia, the laid-back town flanked by rice terraces, dense forests, and waterfalls is famed for its well-kept temples, yoga barns, cheeky monkeys, and artisans.
In the middle of it all is the Ubud Palace, which delivers another answer to what Bali is known for: the Ubud Royal Family.
While the royal family doesn’t hold official powers nowadays, they still retain their titles and residence in Ubud, which provides an important reminder of how Bali was once divided into nine kingdoms in the mid-17th century.
Exploring the important complex, heavily reconstructed in 1917 following a devastating earthquake, is one of the best ways to appreciate Balinese architecture outside of a temple setting. Still, with every home in Bali having at least one shrine, it’s little surprise that the Ubud Palace’s ornate Puri Saren Agung Temple is one of the island’s best known.
The Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary
Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary
The Royals aren’t Ubud’s only famous residents. Some 1,000 long-tailed macaques also call the town home, marking their territory in the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary.
Infamous for their mischievous nature, pinching of sunglasses, and generally terrorizing any visitors who make the mistake of carrying food, the primate protagonists are sure to leave you with lasting memories.
Not that this spiritual-retreat-meets-conservation-reserve is solely focused on macaques. Away from the congregations of cheeky creatures around the Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal Temple, tranquil trails lead through overhanging ferns, trickling water features, and weathered mythical statues clad with moss, allowing for a more serene exploration of one of Bali’s most famous places.
Traditional Dance
Barong dance
The chance to witness one of Bali’s traditional dances, which are both entrancing and distinctive, is a cultural highlight. Renowned for their dramatic style, these captivating performances often take place in equally cinematic settings.
For many visitors to Bali, the opportunity to catch a flaming Kecak Dance rendition at the cliff-topping Uluwatu Temple is an unforgettable experience. However, it is far from being one of Bali’s oldest dance traditions. In fact, the chanting spectacle recounting the Ramayana Saga has only been performed since the 1930s and is said to take inspiration from the more traditional Sanghyang Dedari, a spirit-encountering dance.
More long-standing traditional dance forms that Bali is known for include Legong, performed by flamboyantly dressed women using complex finger movements, and Barong, an interpretive dance depicting the fight with evil spirits, complete with demonic masks.
Dramatic Volcanoes
Mount Batur
Nearly all of Indonesia is located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, and Bali is no exception; this Asian island is blessed with some of its most famous natural attractions thanks to its location.
At nearly 10,000 feet tall, active Mount Agung is one of Bali’s most recognizable panoramas and its highest point.
However, its little sister, Mount Batur, Bali’s second-highest peak, at 5,633 feet above sea level, provides visitors a more accessible peek at the island’s volcanic nature.
Set in a UNESCO Global Geopark of the same name, the active stratovolcano is much easier to summit, as the trail to the top only requires traversing 1,650 feet to relish one of Bali’s most sensational panoramas.
Villages & Artisans
Mas Village
Kuta, Seminyak and Canggu might hog the Bali headlines. However, ask anyone who has strayed from the coast what is Bali famous for, and they’ll certainly start waxing lyrical about the timeless villages found inland.
Adding to the allure and historical importance of these small towns and communities are the artisans who have helped to put Bali’s traditional woodwork, patterns, and handicrafts on the world stage.
Penglipuran Village
One of the most recognized is Penglipuran, a winner of the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s “Best Tourism Villages” in 2023.
Accoladed for its authentic architecture, cleanliness, and traditional charm, you’ll also find some of Bali’s best bamboo weavers here and can admire their work in the many penjors, the decorative bamboo poles that decorate Penglipuran, or bring a handmade souvenir home.
Tohpati Village
Another of Indonesia’s most authentic craft skills is batik, a wax-dyed fabric traditionally from the island of Java. Nowadays, the colorful patterned fabric is produced across the archipelago and Tohpati Village has established itself as one of the premier producers of batik with a Balinese twist.
Other notable crafts in Bali include woodwork, with Mas Village being a center of wood carving excellence, and Celuk Art Village for its silver, where visitors are invited to partake in workshops led by some of Bali’s most talented silversmiths.
Snorkeling & Scuba Diving
USAT Liberty Wreck
While Bali’s inland water adventures are defined by cinematic cascades such as Tegenungan Waterfall and surfers delight along the swell-heavy coastline, if you ask a scuba diver what Bali is known for, the answer will likely be wreck diving.
The most famous of these is the USAT Liberty Wreck, a World War II cargo vessel that, after being torpedoed by the Japanese, was beached alongside the small fishing village of Tulamben in 1942. It took another 20 years for the ship to finally sink along Bali’s northern coast, courtesy of seismic activity.
With this fascinating history and a new lease of life now as a thriving artificial reef, the wreck has become one of Bali’s most beloved underwater attractions. It’s easy to access from the shore and exploration of the hull and corals aren’t limited to experienced divers. Snorkeling and beginner try dives are available for those intrigued enough by the Liberty to have their first scuba experience.
Bali
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