The Transbalinaise

Welcome at Denpasar airport and transfer to Ubud, a city located in the hills north of Denpasar, in a rolling landscapé of green rice fields and ravines. Ubud is famous for its painting school. Despité the exponential tourist development it has undergone in recent years, the city has managed to preserve its tranquillitý and beautý. The rest of the day is free. Welcome dinner in the evening, an opportunity to get to know your accompanying team.

This morning you visit Ubud Palace - a historic complex emblematic of Balinese history where the royal family once resided. Just opposite is the artisanal market́, where you can find all sorts of souvenirs. You then begin a walk through beautiful rice fields to Tampaksiring. A family of Balinese artists welcomes you to their traditional home and offers you a meal, no less typical, accompanied by Balinese dances. In the afternoon, stop off in the village of Tampaksiring to visit the Gunung Kawi temples. This is surely Bali's most impressive site, with the 9 tombs of King Wungsu's family carved into the cliffs. You can also visit Tirta Empul and its sacred pools, where hundreds of Balinese come every day to purify themselves. Return to Ubud in the early evening, where you can wander freely around the village.

In the early morning, transfer to Jatiluwih, a small village in the middle of Bali's most beautiful rice fields, in the central-western part of the island. In the early afternoon, you'll embark on a superb hike through the veritable ocean of rice terraces that surround you.

Today you begin your long trek across Bali. Tropical forests and rice terraces are the landscapes that line your way to the village of Wongayagede, situated on the southern slopes of the Batukaru volcano (2,278 m). In the afternoon, visit the Luhur Batukaru temple, set in lush greenery and featuring several multi-roofed "meru", some dating back to the 17th century, dedicated to the ancestors of the Tabanan dynasty and to local protective deities.

You continue your walk through fields and rice paddies towards the village of Belimbing.

Early morning transfer to Munduk, via an extraordinary waterfall near the village of Pujungan. Munduk is located in a region of Bali steeped in history, considered to be the cradle of Balinese culture. Former Dutch colonists liked to holiday here from the old colonial capital of Singaraja (on the north coast). In the early afternoon, take a stroll around the village to discover the beautý of the surrounding nature. The area around Munduk is indeed a picturesque picture with its coffeé and clove plantations closé to forests and waterfalls.

Today's trek takes you to Candi Kuning, along the Tamblingan and Buyan volcanic lakes. These two lakes were once a single body of water until the huge landslide of 1818 permanently separated them. This magnificent hike is an opportunity to discover local agricultural and cultural life, as you walk along and through the island's beautiful tropical forests. You will visit the superb Hindu-Buddhist temple of Ulun Danau. This is an enchanting place, with its huge banyan tree at the entrance and its superb gardens. One of the temples is tucked away on a small island, its 11-storey roof elegantly reflected in the waters of the lake. You then take the pulse of Bedugul's picturesque market́, before continuing our route to the village of Catur, situated halfway between Lake Bratan and the Mt Batur caldera.

In the early morning, take a short stroll around the village, through pretty orange and coffee plantations. Returning to your host's house at the end of the morning, this is an opportunity to deepen your knowledge of rural life by possibly attending a cockfight (one of the main passions of the Balinese, which is also considered́e a sacred local ritual) and observing the habits and customs of these villagers, hardly used to mass tourism. Short transfer to Kedisan, at the foot of the Batur volcano (.1717m). Climb the volcano through fields of solidified lava. You then begin your descent after passing around the 4 craters created by successive eruptions.

Mid-morning transfer to the Bali Aga village of Trunyan, along Lake Batur. Visit the cemetery by boat, where the bodies of the dead decompose in the open air. In the late morning, transfer to the famous Kehen temple, one of Bali's most important and aesthetically pleasing. Transfer to Sidemen after the visit.

The morning is devoted to an attractive 4-hour walk around Sidemen, through highland plantations and rice fields. During this walk, you will pass by a number of hamlets where you can meet the local population, and cross an old suspension bridge. The vegetation is luxuriant and the landscape very exotic.

Night ascent of the Agung volcano (it is essential to reach the summit early in the morning to ensure a clear view). At dawn, you reach one of the rims of the crater, at an altitude of 2,850m. You are, in a way, at the antecima of the Agung volcano. Bali's highest and most revered mountain, the Agung volcano dominates almost the entire south and east of the island with its imposing silhouette, often shrouded in a veil of clouds and mist. Although most books and maps give it a height of 3,142 metres, some say that the top didn't resist́ the eruption of 1963 and that it is now only 3,014 metres high! After the descent, you return to Sidemen. In the late morning, short transfer to the royal baths of Tirtagangga (whose exact translation is "The waters of the Ganges"), on the south-eastern slopes of Agung. Officially known as Tirta Ayu, this complex of freshwater pools was one of the many water palaces built by a king of Karangasem. Surrounded by a beautiful display of rice terraces, this is the ideal place to relax after your long hours of walking.

You resume your trek through fields and rice paddies, heading for the Bali Aga village of Tenganan, which has preserved́ the Balinese culture that predates the Javanese influence of the Hindu Majapahit dynasty. To protect their village from the harmful effects of intrusion by those uninitiated in the cult of Batara Indra, all visitors are welcomed there from midday until nightfall, after which everyone is asked́ to continue on their way. There was a time when the villagers of Tenganan would even sweep away the footprints of visitors to completely erase their arrival. In the afternoon, transfer to the seaside resort of Sanur. The rest of the afternoon is free. In the evening, farewell dinner by the sea.