Your free afternoon — where to go from the Bali retreat

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Flametree retreat · Pondok Pisang, Candidasa · your free afternoon

As part of your Flametree retreat we put on a free half-day of excursions, to let you see something of the culture, history and landscape of East Bali. Everything here fits comfortably into about four hours, at a relaxed pace.

Looking out through a stone gateway to the beach and sea at Candidasa, East Bali — You are in one of the quieter corners of Bali. Almost everything worth seeing on the east coast is inside an hour of the front gate. Y0u can of course just go swimming, or take a walk, or relax and read a book… or whatever.

The cars leave Pondok Pisang at 1.15pm, or at 1pm for the two five-hour tours. Wayan and his drivers, all from the local village co-operative and all English speaking, will be waiting out the front. Each car takes up to four people plus the driver.

Flametree pays for the cars. You pay your own entry fees.

The whole afternoon, drivers and vehicles, is part of what you have already paid for. What we cannot cover is the entry fees, because we have no way of knowing in advance where anyone will choose to go. Some of these tours cost nothing at all, some a dollar or two, and the dearest is about sixteen dollars a head. Bring rupiah in cash. Almost none of these places take a card. Dollar figures on this page use about 12,500 rupiah to the Australian dollar.

Minimum three people per car, please. We budget for four cars, five at the very most, and a couple taking a whole car to one place is what tips it over. Team up. Half the fun of the afternoon turns out to be who you end up in the car with.

Four hours is the plan, and five is fine. Tours 11 and 12 are five-hour tours and leave at 1pm. If your car would rather stretch any of the others, say so beforehand and settle the extra directly with the driver.

Below is a look at the places you might visit. Obviously you cannot see them all in one afternoon, and some of you have been to several of them before. What you do not get to this time, you can come back to.

So have a read, think about what interests you, and talk it over with the others. Then sort yourselves into car-loads with Chris, and decide where each car is going. Chris will settle each car’s route with Wayan. If there is somewhere else you have in mind, that is fine too — these are only our suggestions. But don’t leave it to the driver! Have an agreed plan / trip.

Take your camera, and put the pictures in the WhatsApp group when you get back. Half the group will go somewhere different from you, so sharing what you saw is the only way anybody gets to see all of it. It also helps the people coming on the next retreat work out where they want to go — and you will be very glad of the photographs yourself in a year’s time.

The places you could visit

Tirta Gangga water palace

A serene royal water garden, known for its tiered fountains, stone statues and ornamental ponds full of koi. The water comes from natural springs. It is a peaceful, very photogenic place, and you can feed the fish or even take a dip in the cool pools.

About 15 minutes’ drive. Allow 1 to 1.5 hours. Entry IDR 50,000, plus about IDR 2,000 to park. Open 8am to 5pm. Modest dress is the right thing at any Balinese sacred site.

Taman Ujung water palace, the “floating palace”

Bridges and pavilions over the pools at Taman Ujung water palace, Karangasem, Bali — Taman Ujung, the old Karangasem royal water palace. The long bridges over the pools are what give it the “floating” name.

The lawns and pavilions of Taman Ujung water palace near Amlapura, East Bali — The grounds are wide open and flat, so it is an easy hour of walking with plenty of shade to sit in.

A former royal water palace, and a striking one. The complex mixes Balinese, Dutch and Chinese architecture, with linked pools, elegant bridges and landscaped gardens. It was where the Karangasem royal family came to take their leisure.

About 15 to 30 minutes’ drive. Allow an hour. Entry around IDR 100,000, plus IDR 5,000 to park. Modest dress again.

Shiva and the bull Nandi carved in white stone at the entrance to Taman Ujung water palace, East Bali — Shiva and Nandi the bull, at the entrance. This is where everybody stops for the first photograph.

A local guide explaining the carved relief wall to Flametree retreat guests at Taman Ujung, Bali — One of the local guides explaining the carved wall. Ask, and somebody will usually walk you through the story in it — which is how you get the good bits.

The pools and stone lanterns at Taman Ujung water palace with the palace buildings behind — The pools on a grey afternoon, which is when they look their best. The palace sits on the far side, and you walk right around the water to reach it.

The white carved gateway on the causeway leading to the Bale Gili pavilion at Taman Ujung, Bali — The gateway on the causeway out to the Bale Gili. It is a long straight walk over the water, and it is the picture of the place.

Inside the Bale Gili pavilion at Taman Ujung, with patterned tiled floors, arches and a chandelier — Inside the Bale Gili. Cool tiled floors, old coloured glass, and windows on every side looking back over the pools.

A large tiered stone fountain in a formal pool in the water palace gardens of East Bali — The big tiered fountain in the gardens. There is a good deal more of this place than people expect, so give it the full hour.

All the photographs in these two sections are ours. Our Easter 2026 group took them on exactly this afternoon, so what you see here is what you will actually get.

Tenganan Pegringsingan, the old village

The main stone-walled lane through Tenganan Pegringsingan traditional village, East Bali — The main lane through Tenganan. The village is laid out the way it has been for centuries, and the weavers work in the open where you can watch them.

One of Bali’s oldest and most traditional villages — a Bali Aga village, meaning the original Balinese, who kept their own customs when the rest of the island changed. The architecture is unlike anywhere else, and the village is famous for geringsing, a rare double-ikat weaving recognised by UNESCO. You can watch the weavers at work.

About 10 minutes’ drive. Allow an hour or so. There is no fixed fee. A donation of IDR 50,000 to 100,000 a head is what is expected now — it has crept up, and the old IDR 30,000 figure is out of date. A village guide usually walks with you at no charge; around IDR 50,000 is the customary tip. No sarong needed, though modest dress is respectful.

A red brick split gateway into a family compound in Tenganan Pegringsingan village, East Bali — One of the red-brick split gates into a family compound. Every household has one, and they are the first thing you notice.

The wide grass avenue between the pavilions in Tenganan village with Flametree retreat guests walking — The village is laid out along wide grass avenues with the pavilions either side. That is our Easter group, wandering up the middle of it.

A backstrap loom in Tenganan with yellow warp threads stretched along it for geringsing double ikat weaving — A loom with the yellow warp threads set up on it, out in the open where you can stand and watch. This is the *geringsing* double ikat.

A basket of hand dyed yarn in orange, pink and cream used for geringsing weaving in Tenganan, Bali — The dyed yarn before it goes anywhere near a loom. The colours come from plants, and one cloth can take years.

A traditional thatched rice barn raised on stone posts in Tenganan village, East Bali — A rice barn, up on its posts to keep the mice out. There are dozens of them through the village.

Four Flametree retreat guests walking through Tenganan village with the hills behind — Flat, shady and easy, and only ten minutes from the front gate. Of everywhere on this page, Tenganan is the one people talk about afterwards.

Goa Lawah, the bat cave temple

A sacred temple built around a natural bat cave. The sound of the bats never stops, which gives the place an oddly meditative feel. You can watch them at the cave mouth and walk the temple courtyards.

About 15 to 20 minutes’ drive. Allow 30 to 45 minutes. Entry around IDR 30,000, plus IDR 5,000 to park. A sarong and sash are required here — they are handed out at the ticket counter, or hired for about IDR 5,000.

Kertha Gosa and Klungkung Palace

The Kertha Gosa pavilion and gateway at Klungkung Palace, Semarapura, Bali — The Kertha Gosa pavilion at Klungkung. Look up when you are inside — the painted ceiling is the reason to come, and it does not spare the wrongdoers.

Once the royal court of the Klungkung kingdom, and its court of justice. The Kertha Gosa pavilion and the Bale Kambang, the floating pavilion, are famous for their painted ceilings — scenes from the old epics, and a good many pointed moral lessons about what happens to wrongdoers.

About 45 to 60 minutes’ drive. Allow 45 minutes to an hour. Entry IDR 50,000, which includes the sarong and scarf. Cash only, and the ticket office is across the road, not at the gate — worth knowing before you queue at the wrong window.

Virgin Beach, Pantai Pasir Putih

A quiet white-sand beach not far from Candidasa, with calm clear water that is good for swimming and snorkelling. Small warungs line the sand, so you can sit with a cold drink or some fresh seafood and do very little.

About 15 to 20 minutes’ drive. Allow 1.5 to 2 hours. Entry IDR 20,000, with parking now included rather than charged separately. If temples are not what you feel like, this is the restful choice.

Goa Gajah, the elephant cave

A ninth-century Hindu-Buddhist site. The cave entrance is carved to look like a demon’s open mouth, and inside there are meditation chambers and old relics, with bathing pools and quiet gardens outside.

About 1 hour 15 to 1 hour 30 minutes’ drive — it is nearly at Ubud. Entry IDR 50,000, including parking and sarong. Open 8am to 6pm.

Be honest with yourself about the clock on this one. Leaving at 1pm, in afternoon traffic, the driving alone can take two and a half to three hours of your four, which leaves you almost no time at the site. It is a much better full-day trip than a half-day one — worth keeping in mind if you are staying on either side of the retreat.

Besakih, the mother temple

Bali’s largest, holiest and most important temple complex, sitting high on the south-western slopes of Mount Agung. More than eighty temples and shrines, and views to match.

About 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes’ drive. Allow 1.5 to 2 hours. Choose this one only if it is the thing you most want to do, because it will be your whole afternoon.

The price and the system have both changed, so ignore any older figure you may have seen. Entry is now IDR 150,000 for a foreign adult, up from IDR 90,000 in April 2024. Parking is IDR 10,000 on top. The good news is that the ticket now includes your sarong and sash, an official local guide, and the electric shuttle from the car park up to the temple — none of that is an extra.

Two things to know before you get out of the car at Besakih. There are people at the gate who will tell you the guide is not really included, or that the temple is closed today but they can take you somewhere better, or press a donation book on you suggesting several hundred thousand rupiah. None of it is true and none of it is required. Your ticket covers the guide and the sarong, the temple is open, and the only money you owe is the ticket and the parking. Be pleasant, keep walking, and go to the official ticket office.

Entry fees and drive times, at a glance

This table is per place, so you can work out how much cash to carry. The table further down, All twelve, at a glance, is per tour, and shows what each afternoon costs all up.

Place	What it is	Drive from Pondok Pisang	Time there	Entry (IDR)	Sarong?
Tirta Gangga	Royal water garden	15 min	1–1.5 hrs	50,000	Modest dress
Taman Ujung	Water palace	15–30 min	1 hr	100,000	Modest dress
Tenganan	Traditional village	10 min	1–1.5 hrs	Donation, 50,000–100,000	No
Goa Lawah	Temple and bat cave	15–20 min	30–45 min	30,000	Yes, 5,000 to hire
Kertha Gosa	Royal court and palace	45–60 min	45 min – 1 hr	50,000	Yes, included
Virgin Beach	Beach	15–20 min	1.5–2 hrs	20,000	No
Goa Gajah	Ancient cave temple	1 hr 15 – 1 hr 30	1–1.5 hrs	50,000	Yes, included
Besakih	The mother temple	1 hr – 1 hr 15	1.5–2 hrs	150,000 (includes guide and shuttle)	Yes, included

The twelve tours, with maps

Saving a map to your phone. Tap Open the map and the picture opens on its own. Then press and hold it: on an iPhone choose Add to Photos to keep it, or Share to send it to somebody. On an Android phone it is Download image. It then sits in your photos like any other picture, so you can show it to your driver without any signal.

You can do a second one on your last day. The retreat finishes at midday, and most people do not fly out until early the next morning. Rather than sitting about, you can take one of these tours in the afternoon, come back to Pondok Pisang, stay the night and leave for the airport in the small hours. That second tour is not part of the retreat. Flametree pays for the free afternoon in the middle of the week, and that is the one. A tour on the last day is yours to arrange directly with Wayan and yours to pay for, along with your entry fees. On that day the five hour ones are easily done. It is all set out on the last night in Bali page.

Each of these fits the afternoon, and each one has its own map. Download the map for whichever tour your car picks, save it to your phone, and show it to your driver. It has the route, the stops, the times and what you pay, all on one screen, and it works with no wifi at all.

Overview map of all twelve free afternoon tours from Pondok Pisang, with routes, drive times and entry fees — All twelve at once. Green is close to home, teal is up the coast, brown is down the coast, purple is inland and up the mountain.

Open the overview map

1. Royal and cultural heritage

The white pavilion and long stone causeway across the pools at Taman Ujung water palace in east Bali — Taman Ujung, the floating palace. The pavilion sits out in the middle of the water.

Flametree retreat guests walking along the grass avenue between the compounds at Tenganan village in east Bali — Our own guests on the grass avenue at Tenganan, Easter 2026. Photograph by Tahlia Scheermeijer.

A good first visit. Taman Ujung (Ujung Water Palace), then Tenganan (the old walled village). Out at 1.15pm, back at 4.45pm. Entry about IDR 200,000 a head (about AUD $16), which includes the Tenganan donation and a tip for the village guide.

Route map for Tour 1, Taman Ujung then Tenganan, with times and costs — Tour 1. Taman Ujung first, Tenganan on the way home.

Open the Tour 1 map

2. The two water palaces

The tiered stone fountain and stepping stones across the pools at Tirta Gangga water palace in east Bali — Tirta Gangga. The stepping stones across the carp pools are the picture everybody comes home with.

For anyone who likes architecture, gardens and water. Tirta Gangga (Water of the Ganges), then Taman Ujung (Ujung Water Palace). Out at 1.15pm, back at 4.55pm. Entry IDR 150,000 a head (about AUD $12).

Route map for Tour 2, Tirta Gangga then Taman Ujung, with times and costs — Tour 2. Both water palaces in one afternoon, and the shortest drive on the list.

Open the Tour 2 map

3. Klungkung and the bat cave

The carved stone gateway and pavilion at Kertha Gosa, the old royal courtroom at Semarapura in Klungkung, Bali — Kertha Gosa, the old royal courtroom at Semarapura. Look up: the ceiling is the whole point.

History and a very different kind of temple. Kertha Gosa (the Hall of Justice), then Pura Goa Lawah (Bat Cave Temple). Out at 1.15pm, back at 4.55pm. Entry IDR 80,000 a head (about AUD $6). A good choice if you have already done the water palaces.

Route map for Tour 3, Kertha Gosa then Goa Lawah, with times and costs — Tour 3. Klungkung first, then the bat cave on the way back down the coast.

Open the Tour 3 map

4. The mother temple

Pura Besakih, and nothing else, because the driving alone is two hours and twenty minutes. Out at 1.15pm, back at 5.15pm. Entry IDR 150,000 plus IDR 10,000 parking (about AUD $13 all up), which now includes your sarong, an official guide and the shuttle up. Choose this one only if it is the thing you most want to do, because it will be your whole afternoon.

Route map for Tour 4, Pura Besakih, with times and costs — Tour 4. One place, high on the slopes of Mount Agung, and a long way up.

Open the Tour 4 map

5. The clifftop and the tailors

A rendering of the grassy clifftop at Bukit Asah above Bugbug in east Bali, with a footpath along the cliff edge and the sea and an offshore rock below — Bukit Asah: cropped grass, a path along the cliff edge, and the sea a long way below. A rendering, because almost nobody photographs this place, which is rather the point of it.

Painted wooden outrigger jukung boats drawn up on the beach at Candidasa in east Bali at sunrise — Candidasa. The shops and the tailors are along the one main street, a few minutes from the beach.

Bukit Asah (Asah Hill), then Candidasa for the shops and the tailors. Out at 1.15pm, back at 4.45pm. Entry IDR 10,000 (about AUD $1) and nothing at all in Candidasa. Close, cheap, beautiful, and off the standard driver circuit.

Route map for Tour 5, Bukit Asah then Candidasa, with times and costs — Tour 5. Ten minutes to the clifftop, then an hour and a half in the village.

Open the Tour 5 map

6. Padangbai

A rendering of the old dark stone temple gates of Pura Silayukti on the grassy headland above Padangbai harbour in east Bali — Pura Silayukti, up on the headland above the harbour. One of the oldest temples in Bali, and almost always empty. A rendering rather than a photograph.

A rendering of the Blue Lagoon cove at Padangbai in east Bali, with clear turquoise water over coral, a jukung boat moored offshore and snorkellers in the bay — The Blue Lagoon, round the next headland. Coral close in and snorkelling straight off the sand. Also a rendering.

Pura Silayukti, one of the oldest temples in Bali, then the Blue Lagoon beach for a swim. Out at 1.15pm, back at 4.25pm. No entry fee, parking only. Take swimmers and the resort snorkel gear.

Route map for Tour 6, Pura Silayukti then the Blue Lagoon, with times and costs — Tour 6. The temple on the headland, then down to the water.

Open the Tour 6 map

7. Salt, bats and a lagoon

Rows of hollowed palm trunk evaporation troughs on the black sand at the traditional salt farms at Kusamba in east Bali — Kusamba. Sea water carried up the black sand and left to dry in hollowed palm trunks.

A rendering of the lagoon carpeted with pink lotus flowers in the middle of Candidasa village in east Bali — The lotus lagoon at Candidasa, when it is in flower. A rendering.

Three stops, all close together. Kusamba salt farms, then Pura Goa Lawah (Bat Cave Temple), then the Candidasa lotus lagoon. Out at 1.15pm, back at 4.10pm. Entry IDR 30,000 (about AUD $2), plus IDR 20,000 to 50,000 (about $2 to $4) if you buy salt. Kusamba is furthest out, so you go there first and pick the other two up on the way home.

Route map for Tour 7, Kusamba then Goa Lawah then the lotus lagoon, with times and costs — Tour 7. The most stops for the least driving, and the shortest afternoon on the list.

Open the Tour 7 map

8. The hill road to Putung

A rendering of the view east from the ridge at Putung in east Bali, over wooded valleys and rice terraces to the coastal plain, the sea and an island on the horizon — An impression of the view from Putung. We have no photograph of our own yet, so this is a rendering rather than a photograph.

Putung, a hill village at 800 metres, for the view over the coast and across to Nusa Penida, and a coffee. You stand on the edge of a ridge and the whole of east Bali is below you: wooded valleys, then rice terraces, then the coastal plain, then the sea at Manggis and the bay at Amuk, with Nusa Penida on the horizon on a clear day. No gate, no ticket, no queue. A few warungs, somewhere to sit, and air cool enough to notice after a week at sea level. The whole point of it is that almost nobody is there. Out at 1.15pm, back at 4.00pm. Free. The gentlest one on the list, mostly about the drive, and noticeably cooler up there.

Route map for Tour 8, Putung, with times and costs — Tour 8. Forty-five minutes up through the rice terraces, and back the same way.

Open the Tour 8 map

9. The courtroom and the market

A rendering of the covered produce hall at Semarapura market in Bali, with stallholders and baskets of fruit and vegetables — Semarapura market, five minutes on foot from the palace gate. A real working market, not a tourist one. A rendering rather than a photograph.

Kertha Gosa (the Hall of Justice), then Semarapura market, which is five minutes away on foot. Out at 1.15pm, back at 4.55pm. Entry IDR 50,000 (about AUD $4) for Kertha Gosa, and the market is free to walk into.

Route map for Tour 9, Kertha Gosa and Semarapura market, with times and costs — Tour 9. One drive, two things to do, because the market is right beside the palace.

Open the Tour 9 map

10. The Agung lookout

A Flametree teacher in Utthita Trikonasana on a mat between the carved white gates at the Lahangan Sweet lookout in east Bali, with the mirrored reflection below — Our own photograph, taken at Lahangan Sweet on the July 2024 retreat. The reflection is done with a mirror held under the camera, and the attendant will do it for you.

Lahangan Sweet, a ridge-top with a Balinese gate built to frame Mount Agung, plus bamboo platforms and a swing. Out at 1.15pm, back at 4.45pm. Entry IDR 100,000 plus IDR 3,000 parking (about AUD $8 all up). The Gates of Heaven photograph without the Lempuyang queue. Agung is often in cloud after mid-morning, so the view is a gamble.

Route map for Tour 10, Lahangan Sweet, with times and costs — Tour 10. An hour and a quarter up, and the last part is steep and narrow.

Open the Tour 10 map

11. The Liberty shipwreck, five hours

A freediver in a wetsuit with yellow fins descending onto the hull of the USAT Liberty shipwreck at Tulamben in east Bali — The Liberty. No tanks, no licence, just fins and a mask. The wreck starts about five metres down.

Aerial view of the black sand beach and clear blue water along the coast at Tulamben in north east Bali — The beach you walk in from. The wreck lies about thirty metres out, parallel to the shore.

Tulamben, and the USAT Liberty, a United States army ship torpedoed in 1942. She lies thirty metres off the beach and starts five metres down, so you can snorkel her, walking in from the sand. Out at 1pm, back at 5.20pm. No entry fee, small parking charge only. Take the resort snorkel gear.

Who this one suits. Anyone who swims and snorkels comfortably, and anyone on their second or third retreat who has already seen the water palaces and the village. This is a five-hour car, so settle it beforehand.

Route map for Tour 11, Tulamben and the Liberty shipwreck, with times and costs — Tour 11. An hour and twenty up the coast, and a shipwreck you can swim to from the beach.

Open the Tour 11 map

12. Sukawati art market, five hours

Hand carved wooden masks, figures and mirror frames hanging on a stall at Sukawati art market in Bali — Sukawati. Carving, masks, mirrors and textiles, at a fraction of what the same things cost in Ubud or Candidasa. Bargain hard and expect to enjoy it.

Sukawati, three halls of carvings, batik, paintings, bags and jewellery. Out at 1pm, back at 5.30pm. Free to walk in. Bring rupiah, haggle, and never pay the first price. This is a five-hour car, so settle it beforehand.

Route map for Tour 12, Sukawati art market, with times and costs — Tour 12. The furthest west of the afternoon tours, and the one for serious shopping.

Open the Tour 12 map

All twelve, at a glance

	Tour	Where you go	Out and back	Entry a head
1	Royal and cultural heritage	Taman Ujung, Tenganan	1.15pm to 4.45pm	IDR 200,000 (about $16)
2	The two water palaces	Tirta Gangga, Taman Ujung	1.15pm to 4.55pm	IDR 150,000 (about $12)
3	Klungkung and the bat cave	Kertha Gosa, Goa Lawah	1.15pm to 4.55pm	IDR 80,000 (about $6)
4	The mother temple	Besakih	1.15pm to 5.15pm	IDR 160,000 (about $13)
5	The clifftop and the tailors	Bukit Asah, Candidasa	1.15pm to 4.45pm	IDR 10,000 (about $1)
6	Padangbai	Pura Silayukti, Blue Lagoon	1.15pm to 4.25pm	parking only
7	Salt, bats and a lagoon	Kusamba, Goa Lawah, lotus lagoon	1.15pm to 4.10pm	IDR 30,000 (about $2)
8	The hill road to Putung	Putung	1.15pm to 4.00pm	free
9	The courtroom and the market	Kertha Gosa, Semarapura market	1.15pm to 4.55pm	IDR 50,000 (about $4)
10	The Agung lookout	Lahangan Sweet	1.15pm to 4.45pm	IDR 103,000 (about $8)
11	The Liberty shipwreck	Tulamben. Five hours	1.00pm to 5.20pm	parking only
12	Sukawati art market	Sukawati. Five hours	1.00pm to 5.30pm	free

Want more than the afternoon? Bigger days out at your own cost, from Lake Batur to golf to the Liberty wreck as a whole day, are on the full day trips page. Adding an island at either end is on the islands page. What there is after dark is on the evenings out page.

If you have been before, some less obvious ideas

Several of you have done this retreat more than once and have already seen the water palaces and Tenganan. Here are places that are close, easy, and genuinely different.

Bukit Asah, the clifftop above Bugbug

A rendering of the grassy clifftop at Bukit Asah above Bugbug in east Bali, with a footpath along the cliff edge and the sea below — The clifftop at Bukit Asah. A rendering rather than a photograph.

A grassy headland on top of the cliffs, looking straight out at the Indian Ocean, with Mount Agung behind you. It belongs to the traditional village, which runs it themselves, and it is still almost empty of tourists.

About 10 minutes’ drive, then a gentle 15 to 20 minute walk from the car park. Entry about IDR 10,000. An hour is plenty. This is the pick of the list — close, cheap, beautiful, and off the standard driver circuit, so even old Bali hands will not have seen it.

Pura Silayukti, on the headland at Padangbai

One of the oldest temples in Bali, on the point above the harbour, with hardly anybody there. Quiet in a way Besakih never is. Pair it with a coffee looking down over the boats.

About 15 to 20 minutes’ drive, then an easy ten-minute walk uphill. Free, or a small donation. Three quarters of an hour.

Fishing boats and outriggers on the beach at Padangbai harbour, East Bali — Padangbai harbour, below the temple. The ferries to Lombok go from the same bay.

The salt farms at Kusamba

Sea water carried up the black sand by hand, dried in hollowed palm logs, and raked into salt — the same way it has been done for generations, and one of the last places still doing it. The families will show you how it works. There is no hard sell; people buy a bag of salt because they want to.

About 20 to 25 minutes’ drive, straight down the coast road. No entry fee — budget IDR 20,000 to 50,000 for salt or a small craft. Half an hour to 45 minutes. It sits directly on the way to Goa Lawah and Kertha Gosa, so it costs you almost nothing to add.

Putung, for the view and a coffee

A hill village at 800 metres, on the back road between Candidasa and Sidemen, about 19km from Amlapura. Locally it is Bukit Putung.

What you see from it. You are standing on the edge of a ridge, looking down and east. Green hills and steep valleys full of tropical trees drop away in front of you, then rice terraces, then the coastal plain, and at the bottom the sea at Manggis and the bay at Amuk. On a clear day Nusa Penida sits on the horizon across the strait. It is the whole of east Bali laid out below you in one view.

What is actually there. Very little, and that is the appeal. A handful of warungs and simple losmen strung along the road, a car park, some rest areas, and a few places to sit with a coffee. No gate, no ticket, no queue, and nobody selling you anything. It is cool enough at that altitude to notice, which after a week on the coast is the other half of why people like it.

Balinese painters have used this view for generations, which tells you something about it.

Why there is no real photograph here. Putung is a roadside view rather than a landmark. Photographers shoot Lempuyang and Tegallalang because there is an object to point a camera at. At Putung the subject is a panorama with no focal point, and it sits off the tourist circuit entirely. That is precisely why we recommend it, and precisely why nobody has photographed it well. If you go, we would be very glad of your picture.

There are warungs at the top.

About 30 to 40 minutes’ drive up a winding road. Free. There is not much to do beyond look, so treat it as a scenic stop with a coffee rather than the whole afternoon.

A rendering of the view east from the ridge at Putung in east Bali, over wooded valleys and rice terraces to the coastal plain and the sea — An impression of the view from Putung. We have no photograph of our own yet, so this is a rendering.

Terraced rice fields in the hills behind Candidasa, East Bali — The rice terraces you drive up through on the way. You do not have to go far inland before the landscape changes completely.

The lotus lagoon at Candidasa

Not a destination in itself, but a lovely fifteen or twenty minutes if the car is passing back through town anyway. Free, and a very easy walk.

The lotus lagoon in the centre of Candidasa town, East Bali — The lagoon in the middle of Candidasa, with the temple beside it. Best in the morning when the flowers are open.

If you would rather go shopping

A perfectly good way to spend the afternoon, and several people do it every retreat.

Candidasa is the easy one — a one to two kilometre walk or a five-minute drive. Cafes, small shops, and the tailors, where a good number of people get something made each retreat. Ask Wayan, who knows exactly which ones and speaks to them in the local language. If you want something made from Australian fabric, you need to have brought it with you.
Tenganan sells its own geringsing weaving, made in the village. It is expensive, and it is the real thing — this cloth is woven in only three places in the world.
Semarapura market at Klungkung is a large, busy daily market, and it is right beside Kertha Gosa. If you are doing that itinerary anyway, half an hour in the market costs you nothing extra.
Amlapura, the regional town, is near Taman Ujung and has ordinary Balinese shops rather than tourist ones — good if you would rather browse than be sold to.
Salt from Kusamba, straight from the people who made it. It travels well and it makes a very good present.

Two or three we would steer you away from

Lempuyang, the “Gates of Heaven”. The photograph is famous and the queue for it is currently running anything from an hour and a half to four hours. People get up at 5am to beat it. There is no version of this that fits a four-hour afternoon, and you would spend the whole of it standing in a line.

Sidemen. It reads beautifully — a green valley of rice terraces — and a car went there on an earlier retreat. It was not a success, and it is worth saying why. Development has pushed into the valley, the roads that used to be empty now carry traffic, and once you arrive there is very little actually to do. It is a lovely place to stay for a night or two. As a stop where you get out of a car, look at a view, and get back in, you can do better twenty minutes from home at Bukit Asah.

Coffee and “luwak” plantations. Please do not let a driver add one of these to your afternoon. Across Bali they run on commission — the driver is paid for every carload delivered — and what follows is a tasting, a hard sell, and some fairly grim caged civets. It is the single most common way an afternoon gets quietly hijacked.

One small request, and it is a genuinely useful one. Please settle where your car is going before you leave, and tell Chris. We have years of experience of what works from this particular stretch of coast and what does not, and we are very happy to be asked. Left open, an afternoon tends to drift towards wherever suits the driver — which is not always where you would have chosen.

Making the afternoon go smoothly

Be ready just after lunch. The cars leave as close to 1pm as we can manage. The later you go, the more of the afternoon you lose to the drive home.

What to take with you

Rupiah in cash. Entry fees and local stalls are cash only.
A sarong and sash. Required at Goa Lawah and Besakih. They are usually lent or included, but your own is easier.
Sun protection — hat, sunglasses, sunscreen.
Water. There is more walking than you expect.
Comfortable shoes. Some of these sites have a lot of steps.

Being a good guest

Dress modestly at temples — shoulders and knees covered.
If you come across a ceremony, watch quietly from a distance and do not walk through it. Never stand higher than a priest, an offering, or a group at prayer.
Bargain politely, if you bargain at all. It is normal in markets, but it should stay good-humoured.
Give a donation at places like Tenganan where there is no fixed fee. It is genuinely appreciated.

If you want to see the route beforehand, all of these are easy to find in Google Maps. Put Pondok Pisang in as your start, then add each stop in order, and you will get a good sense of how the afternoon flows.

And then there is the last night

Whatever your car does with its afternoon, you all end up back at the same table. That is rather the point of it.

The last dinner of the retreat is the one people remember. Everyone swaps what they saw, the photographs come out, somebody has been somewhere nobody else went — and the kitchen usually has something up its sleeve for the table.

So come to dinner on the last night, even if you are tired and half packed. It is a lovely couple of hours, and it is the proper end of the week.

Kitchen staff carrying out a cake to the dinner table at Pondok Pisang during a Flametree Bali retreat — The last night at Easter. The cake came out of the kitchen without warning, which is very much how they like to do it.

Everything else about the retreat is on the retreat information page.