Recommended for:
People travelling on a budget
People looking to cover more of what Bali has to offer in a short time
Those who want to see some of the culture
Surfers and beach goers
At a glance: 2 day, 1 night Bali tour
Itinerary: Day 1
9.00: Leave Canggu and drive North towards Ubud (approx. 1hr30mins)
10.30: Arrive Tegalalang (or later if you wanted to stop in Ubud)
**Explore Tegalalang for at least an hour**
12.00: Continue driving up towards Kintamani
13.00: Head East and arrive in Jasri
**Find somewhere to stay and spend afternoon at the beach – surfing and chilling**
Itinerary: Day 2
9.00: Have breakfast and leave for Ujung Water Palace.
10.00: Drive to Taman Tirta Gangga (a water temple)
11.00: Drive South towards Virgin Beach
**Spend some time here and have lunch (Sea Breeze does nice seafood)**
14.00: Drive South to Candidasa (have a drink or snack at one of the restaurants)
16.00: Back to Canggu before it gets dark
When I actually did this trip my timing quite bad, therefore, the above itinerary is better. I drove up to Tegalalang on my bike and was in awe of these incredible rice fields. You can read more about them here. After spending sometime exploring the area, I went for lunch at Teras Padi cafe, which was yummy but very overpriced for the type of food (local). I then continued to drive North towards Kintamani where I had to pay a small entrance fee. I sat in the Lakeview Restaurant which looked out over the fabulous view. I drank a mocha coffee (coffee with a chocolatey flavour) which came freshly brewed in a mini Cafetiere with a mini gas cooker to boil it and keep it hot. Kintamani has many coffee plantations and so I was drinking local coffee which was nice.
By the time I left Kintamani, it was already about 5pm. I knew I had quite far to go until I reached my Homestay in Jasri. I followed my GPS and after a few accidental detours and many beautiful sunset/landscape photos, I arrived at Ayuri Homestay, just before dark. It was not as close to the beach as I would have hoped (15 minute scooter ride away) and so I decided I would eat at the homestay and have an early night. The staff were all lovely and the local fish dish they made me for dinner was absolutely delicious and they brought it to my room so I could sit at my balcony table to eat it.
Waking up the next morning, I had some breakfast and then drove about 5 minutes down the road to Tirta Gangga Water Temple. Of course I had left too late and all the buses full of tourists and school children had already arrived, leaving it pretty packed. It is a stunning place, however, I would recommend arriving before 11am to ensure that it is less crowded. I took many photos and then came back to the homestay and packed up my things. The Ujung Water Palace was next on my agenda and was located near the beach around 20 minutes away. This palace was very impressive and absolutely beautiful. Again, it was full of tourists which always detracts away from a place. Next, I drove to Virgin Beach which is rather gorgeous and ate some delicious sea food at ‘Sea Breeze’, one of the local warungs. Virgin Beach is a pretty white sandy beach with many little local restaurants, where tourists and locals hang out.
My final destination of the day was going to be Candidasa, as I have driven by many times and thought how pretty it was but never actually stopped to check it out. I also wanted to break up my journey home and this seemed like a pretty good place to re cooperate. I stopped at one of the beachside restaurants and had some ice cream. It was a very stunning place. By the time I arrived back in Canggu it was time for Deus, the place to be on a Sunday night which was very fun.
What I loved about this mini trip was the tremendous variety of beautiful and very different landscapes in just two days.