| The
Bali Handara Kosaido Country Club is an excellent base
to explore Bedugul and the surrounding areas. Bedugul
is a small lakeside village over looking Lake Bratan.
It gets quite chilly in Bedugul so bring a sweater.
It can get so cool at night that every room in Bedugul
is reputed to have a fireplace.
At Lake Bratan you can hire motorboats and canoes. Parasailing
and water skiing are also available. If you paddle across
the lake you can see some caves used by the Japanese
in WWII. From there you can also follow a path to the
top of Mt. Catur, which has an old temple at the top
Watch out for the
The Botanical Gardens (Kebun Raya) are located near
Bedugul-look for a huge corn cob which marks the road
leading to an entrance to the gardens. Encompassing
120 hectares the gardens were established in 1959 as
a branch of the Bogor National Botanical Gardens. There
is a large collection of native plants and over 500
specimens of orchids.
While in the area you can also visit the Pura Ulun
Danu in the town of Candi Kuning, a Muslim town a few
kilometers north of Bedugul. This lakeside temple is
a Hindu/Buddhist temple dedicated to Dewi Danau, the
goddess of water. The gardens are beautifully landscaped
with an abundance of colorful flowers.
Lake Bratan offers water skiing and boating, but is
better known for the Pura Ulun Danu temple. Built on
the shores of the lake at Candikuning, it has eleven
tiers of thatched-roof meru as well as an adjoining
Buddhist stupa.
Also perched on the slopes of Mount Batukaru is the
small village of Jatiluwih. Its name means "truly
marvelous" and the view truly is, encompassing
a huge region of southern Bali. A hot spring, Yeh Panes,
is located on the road northwards from Tabanan |