Bali Off the Beaten Path Travel Guide

How to enjoy Bali away from the crowds and chaos!

If this looks like your vision of what Bali should be - just know you have to drive a little further than the main tourist beaches to get to it!

We have been going to Bali yearly since 1995. As I am sure you can imagine, it has changed ALOT in almost 30 years! Many of Bali's most popular tourist areas that were charming hamlets years ago, are now sprawling, traffic-clogged nightmares.

While part of our trips have to be near the busy areas in Bali, we make sure to spend time away from it all in some of our favorite villages off the beaten track. Read on to see some of our tips on how to find the magic that is still in abundance in tucked away areas few tourists get to see!

Get away from the crowds in Bali at Balian Beach

After arriving in Bali this summer, knowing we had a full month of work and a busy schedule of friends and family coming, we decided to start off with some quiet time in the far west side of Bali. We drove out to Balian beach - about a 2.5 hour trek out from the popular areas of Seminyak and Canggu. We rented a gorgeous clifftop home for our family of five and did absolultely nothing but walk the black sand beaches, look for shells, and take dips in the pool. There is not much for amenities in this area, as it is not fully developed for tourism yet. Our villa had a staff that cooked yummy home meals for us, and we brought snacks and beverages from the grocery store.  

Going to Ubud? Stay in surrounding villages for peace and quiet.

Of course we couldn't stay in the middle of nowhere the whole trip - we had lots of vendors to meet and goodies to buy for TDL - and lots of people coming! We left Balian behind and ventured back up to Ubud.

Instead of staying close to the city, however, with its throngs of tourists and miles long queues of cars, we always choose to stay about 20-30 minutes from the city center.

We have a few favorite villas in the Ubud area and honestly it's hard to choose which is best - so our advice is to try out more than one!

This is beautiful Villa Tau in the Tegallalang area outside of Ubud. Nestled in pristine rice fields, your dawn and dusk are spent watching the ducks parade through the rice, listening to bird song and reveling in the lush green all around. While it is only about a 20 minute drive to the hustle and bustle of Ubud, and all the award winning restaurants and fun shops, you don't have to leave as the villa is fully staffed and has a menu of delicious meal options for any time of day.

Our favorite spot at the villa was the joglo at the end of the property. These traditional houses are made of teak wood from Java - the owners of this villa beautifully replaced the wood walls with glass here for uninterrupted views of the rice fields.  

Being situated near Tegallang, it's easy for us to visit many of our suppliers and get our work done for TDL while at VIlla Tau - we loved our stay!

Another favorite stay in the Ubud area is in a village called Pejang about 25 minutes from town. We've stayed at Villa Sagitta, perched on the steep river ravine many times. The mist rising through the trees, squirrels tracing the branches below, gamelan music echoing through the valley from the ancient temple nearby - it's a magical place.

The primary bedroom is one of our favorites in the world also with a stunning antique joglo ceiling.  

We were lucky to be at Sagitta during an important ceremony at the centuries-old temple nestled in the hillside adjacent to the villa. We donned traditional clothing, sarongs and kabaya (a long sleeved lace shirt with sash) for us ladies, and watched as processions of offerings were brought to the temple, and the priest made blessings to the sound of the village gamelan orchestra.   

You may recognize this magical place - it's Sharma Springs by the amazing team at Ibuku led by Elora Hardy. Famous for their innovations with bamboo architecture, Ibuku is helping to bring this sustainable building material to the world stage. We were lucky enough to stay at this five story bamboo palace again with our large group this year. Like our first stay in 2019 we spent the first hours just wandering the many rooms, marveling at the creativity of the golden, glowing rooms.

The Green Village, entirely made up of bamboo homes, is in a beautiful valley about 30 minutes outside of Ubud called Abiansemal.

For a closer look check out the show Home on Apple TV - it tells Elora Hardy's story and gives the audience a close view of Sharma.  

When in the Ubud area get creative and adventurous!

Another great thing about staying outside of Ubud is it is easier to get to all the creative and adventurous activities in the surrounding area. We were able to attend a batik making workshop run by Threads of Life, a wheel throwing class at Rusters, and a jewelry class at Parallel Universe. Of course our teens had to go river rafting with their visiting friends, and no trip is complete without a trip to the Monkey Forest and one of the water temples. Look how wonderful Linda and Jerry look at Tirta Empul in slide six in their traditional sarongs!

For a break from Bali crowds head east!

We love to head east to Candi Dasa each year we are in Bali; it's on the northeast coast about a 3 hour drive from Ubud or Seminyak. Most of the east coast of Bali doesn't have spectacular beaches so it remains relatively ignored by the throngs of holiday goers. The secret is to rent a beautiful villa on the shore walking distance to the tiny town of Candi Dasa, and take day trips to the one fabulous beach in the area - Pasir Putih - which means "white sand beach."

One of our favorite places in the world to stay is Villa Cocoa Maya with it's ocean view, lovely pool and joglo ceiling third floor. It's a great place to stay with a group.

When on long drives in Bali make great stopovers

We stopped over in Sideman on the way back to Ubud from Candi Dasa this year. We had to visit an encaustic tile factory called Sadu Tiles in the area and decided to have lunch at a gorgeous resort called Wapa de Uma in Sideman. Not only was the tile perfect for an exciting new project we have coming up (more on that later!) but the whole area around Sideman is absolutely gorgeous with rice terraces and a clean, sparkling river flowing through. We will definitely be back to explore this area more next year!

Our last week in Bali we spent in a beautiful new to us villa on the river gorge in Sanggingan - just a few kilometers outside of Ubud center. Even though this is closer to the chaos of Ubud - it is on a much quieter street and out of the path of the tourist buses. We were able to walk to a few fave restaurants and get work done in town before we headed back to the States. This villa was just the right size for our family of five and had a glorious pool and garden.

Here is a link to the Airbnb listing  - it is technically walkable to town - but it's a very sweaty 30 minutes - I did it and can attest to that!  

We love Bali and will continue to look for the off the beaten path places to enjoy. Once you step away from the giant beach clubs, the crowded streets, and the package tours there is so much magic to discover. Take the trip and go a little further to find the Bali of your dreams!