Honeymoon in Bali....A Complete guide

We started from Bangalore on 2 Aug in the evening and reached Chennai at 9pm. We spent the night close to the airport at Ngh transit accommodation so that we can reach airport quickly for our early morning flight.

We reached Chennai airport on time at 5am as our flight was scheduled for 9am departure. But the booking counters opened at around 6am as per their schedule. We got our boarding passes, cleared immigration, security check and reached our boarding gate in less than about an hour as the airport was relatively free in the morning. One important thing is to try for a window seat so that you can enjoy the view as you travel through beautiful landscapes, sea, and mountains. The journey was quite pleasant as the Malindo air in-flight staff was very caring and helpful.

We reached Bali at around 7:30 pm and were greeted by our driver + guide (Mr. Gilang) at the airport. He welcomed us with flower garlands and few Bali souvenirs like photo frames and key chains. We checked into our hotel at Kuta and had a good sleep to gear up for our first day in Bali.

We started our day early at around 8:30 am. It is very Much required to be a little time conscious in Bali as you will encounter a lot of traffic if commuting during peak time. Our driver helped us here and suggested times when we should be starting from the hotel and leaving from a tourist spot. We first got a local sim with the help of Mr.Gilang and exchanged some cash. Do not get into stores which project a higher exchange rate, they usually trick customers and customers end up getting a low value, look out for genuine exchange centers which have “No commission” board

We reached the Art Center at 10 am to witness one of the traditional Balinese dance forms. The entry fee here was 1 lakh IDR per person. The artists narrated a beautiful Balinese story through means of dance. One thing to make a note here, Bali has a lot of cultural dance performances and you will experience many during your trip as add-ons, hence suggested that you don't explicitly include this in your itinerary.

From the temple, we headed towards Celuk and Mas village which is known for wood antiques and handmade silver jewelry. It was a nice experience here watching customized designs being hand-made on bracelets and ring. You can ask for any design and the staff will put all their heart to get it for you.

Next, we headed towards Goa-Gajah temple, very old historic temple where Lord Ganesha's idol was found incarnated on mountain rocks. You can still see this idol close to the small waterfall (the 1st picture tries to capture it).

If you like Coffee then I would suggest you try the famous Luwak coffee at this organic coffee plantation. Also, this place offers an off the edge swing called as Love Swing. If you are not afraid of heights then do try this at 1.5Lakh IDR. We spent good time here at their café tasting varieties of coffee with a scenic view around.

Next on our list was Tirta Empul temple, a temple which is dedicated to Tirta (Water) and probably the only temple in the world where Lord Indra is worshiped. If you wish to take a dip in the holy water with a Balinese ceremony then carry a pair of spare clothes for changeover. Balinese temples require us to wear a piece of cloth called Sarong around our waist. As most of the temples have an entry fee of about 30k IDR to 50k IDR, a sarong is offered at no extra cost to all the visitors at the entrance.

Next, we headed towards Kintamani to experience the majestic Mount Batur. The view of active volcano and Lake Batur with the cool breeze and moving clouds was just mesmerizing. We spent a good time here just enjoying the view.

Our next destination was Ubud Art Market, where we planned to do some shopping. On our way back we had a glimpse of beautiful rice terraces from a distance. If you have time, then I would suggest you explore these beautiful terraces by lazing around. At the Ubud market, we grabbed some great art pieces made up of wood. Don't forget to bargain here as much as you can to grab a great deal.

Our second day was packed with water sports, our Driver suggested us to do this at Bali Dolphin water sports and helped us get a good discount. We got a package for 250$ which included sea walking, banana boat ride, glass bottom boat ride, and turtle island tour. The package also included a photo shoot of sea walking and banana boat ride. In Bali, it is suggested not to pre-book water sports as the availability of this totally depends on the weather conditions.

We were done with the water sports by 2pm, next on our list was Uluwatu temple, but our driver suggested us to visit a couple of more places on the way as it is suggested to reach the temple by 5pm. we then headed towards the beautiful Nusa Dua beach, reaching there we were just mesmerized by the beautiful resorts across the coastline. There is also an Instagram worthy spot on the beach called as water blow, do not miss to take pictures here. Since the public beach was under renovation it took us a little effort to get to this place.

water blow

We made our way next to the beautiful Pandawa beach, as the name suggests you will find all the 5 Pandawa brothers here. The whole place is very beautiful covered by white stone mountains around and as you go down the cliff you will see the beautiful white sand beach with crystal clear blue waters. The beach was heavily crowded and we just spent there some 30 minutes strolling around. Also, this is the only place where you pay an entrance fee (40k IDR) to access this province.

Finally, we arrived at the Uluwatu temple at around 5pm, the temple is spread across a monkey forest on a cliff and known for its Sunset view. we explored the temple and had few early glimpses of the sunset while our Driver got us the tickets to the famous kechak fire dance (kechak means monkey in Balinese). At 6pm we entered the performance area and grabbed the top seats to have the best of sunset view and performance. The performance is quite interesting based on the story of Sita's abduction (Ramayana) using monkey's sound.

We started our 3rd day with the Taman Ayun Temple, a beautiful temple in the middle of a pond surrounded by forest. You will find a lot of temples in Bali and each temple is known for some special reason. Likewise, this place was known for its use of bamboo and dry grass for the temple roof.

This place was not on our list and we thank Mr.Gilang who suggested this and convinced us that this place is a must visit. The journey to this temple is just an amazing one as you feel the clouds and the cool breeze with the forest view around and city view in the backdrop while moving up the hill. Once we reached the temple, we realized why Mr.Gilang was so bent on getting us here. Instagram worthy landscape with the hill and lake in the background and temple right in the lake. You'll get plenty of picture-perfect spots here, few pics to gear you up.

The entry fee here is about 35k IDR. The moment we reached the spot we were escorted by a caretaker who took us around the forest keeping us safe from monkeys. We also bought some peanuts and fed monkey with her help. The best part of this place was towards the end where we could take pictures with fruit bats and Snake. We also had a couple photo in traditional Balinese attire at 60k IDR. I suggest you try out the other monkey forest which is in Ubud.

This temple is again known for its unique location across the shore standing firm against the waves. Also, Sunset is best viewed from here. We walked around the temple, took some amazing pictures(you will find some below) and lazed around the garden waiting for sunset. Unfortunately, the weather got cloudy and we couldn't witness Sunset here. You could also visit the main temple by crossing a small portion of the rocky seabed which completely depends on the tide conditions.

We left early from the temple and reached back hotel, dropped our bags and headed to discovery mall for some shopping. This mall is placed right on the Kuta beach with a direct access to the beach.

Our 5th day was more in the Denpasar region starting with the Government Museum. The museum has 4 separate buildings each dedicated to a specific era of civilization right from Stone Age to the last Balinese empire.

Next in the city was Bajra Sandhi monument, the name implies a small bell which is found in Hindu temples (ghanti) and the monument exactly resembles the same from a distance. This is a very recently built monument but the architecture of this preserves every bit of Balinese culture. We went to the top of the monument for a beautiful view of the Denpasar city and lazed in the park around the monument for some time witnessing some Chinese prewedding shoots here :).

Finally, we headed towards the most awaited Indian themed dinner cruise. We reached the place little early and clicked some pictures. The cruise started at around 6pm, with great Indian music, dance and dinner we headed back to the port at around 8pm.

We checked out of the hotel at 12pm, all set to check-in at our private pool villa. On the way Mr. Gilang suggested us to try the Dream Museum zone, it is a 3D theme based museum with 10 different themes. The staff was very helpful in assisting us to take perfect 3d pictures. The entry fee here is 1lakh IDR.

Next, we were at Agung Bali looking for some souvenirs to take back. This is a great place if you are looking for bulk shopping at a great price.

Finally, we checked into our private pool villa to enjoy leisure. The villa was good but not as expected and read about. We had a good time here for 2 nights cooking food for ourselves and enjoying the private pool.

We spent our complete day at leisure, shopping some stuff to cook from Bintang market, the villa has shuttle services to Seminyak square and Bintang market.

We checked out of our villa loaded our luggage into the car and headed towards our final destination "Bali Safari". Suggested to be here by 10 am as lot of activities here are time bound and you need a full day (10am - 5pm) to explore this park fully. Along with the wildlife encounter and safari, this place has a fun amusement park and marine park as well with some water rides, so carry a pair of extra clothes if you plan to get wet here.