Tegalalang & Bali rice terraces

Let’s keep going with our visit of Bali and the area around Ubud. In this post, I’ll bring you with me for a walk in the most incredible scenery and the most breathtaking terraced rice fields.

Put on your walking shoes and let’s go wade around in those humid and luxuriously green grounds!

 

Tegalalang

It’s one of the most touristic destinations around Ubud (around 30mn by car).

I read (but only after our visit) that it has a pretty bad rep’ (“tourist trap” etc.) : personally, I have no bad experiences to report, but maybe it’s best to be aware of a number of things.

First off, you need to buy a ticket to access the rice fields. I don’t remember the price, but it must have been a couple euros. Know that during your visit, you may be stopped at certain levels and you may need to pay an additional toll to continue.

I heard some sighs (or yells) from angry tourists at the “level-tolls”, but on my part, I really believe those payments are our small contribution for the local population, that works very hard in those rice fields.

Hence to me, this limited investment isn’t anything worth getting all riled up about … but then again, it’s just my personal point of view.

It’s rather vast, and at some point we got lost – all alone until this old lady came and brought us back to the right path. Try not to stray too far off, and make sure there are always people on the roads you take.

The ideal time for visits seems to be early morning. We didn’t muster up enough energy and courage to get up at dawn, so our visit took place late morning and it wasn’t bad at all, as our pictures will attest. No overwhelming tourist capacity, and the heat was tolerable.

Visiting the rice fields at the end of the day for a sunset is apparently problematic, because of the mosquitos. I wouldn’t recommend it, except if you’re a risk-taker (and if you don’t mind all the scratching).

Bring water and sunscreen : there isn’t really any shade to speak of.

Bring waterproof shoes : don’t be a fashion blogger like me, wanting to parade in your sandals : my feet spent the whole visit getting free mud treatments, and there is a significant risk of slipping.

 

Morning walk

One morning, just because we felt like switching up our usual farniente program by the pool, we went for a walk around our hotel, in search of a more authentic Bali.

We walked all the way to the Kepitu village, and discovered another rice field, maybe not as spectacular as the first one, but not devoid of charm either.

Relaxxxxx…

 

We met with always-smiling villagers : it was a great big dose of simplicity and optimism.

 

I hope you’ll have enjoyed this quick overview of the Balinese rice fields, knowing that we didn’t have enough time to go visit the one in Jatiluwih (which is a UNESCO world heritage site) but by the look of the pictures, I would recommend it if you want an even more grandiose and wild version of the rice fields.

It’s a bit further off, but it definitively looks like it’s worth it! (English translation by Marine)