TemplesPrivate car
Tegalalang, Tirta Empul & Kintamani Volcano
- Tegalalang rice terrace
- Tirta Empul
- Kintamani & coffee
$75 / personDetails
Kintamani, Bali
The rim of the Batur caldera: a road of viewpoints and restaurants 1,500 metres up, with the volcano, its black lava field and the lake laid out below — and the coffee plantations on the way down.
What is Kintamani like, and when should you go?
Kintamani is the village on the crater rim above Mount Batur, and the view is the whole point: the young volcano in the middle of a 13-km caldera, the lava flows from its last eruptions, and Lake Batur along the eastern side. The rim road is lined with restaurants that sell the view with a buffet; a warung does the same for a tenth of the price. It's the lunch stop on our Ubud classic, an hour north of Tirta Empul, and clearest before one o'clock.
- RegionEast Bali · Bangli highlands
- Best forThe volcano view, lunch, coffee
- From UbudAbout 1 hour
- How long1–1.5 hours
- Best timeBefore 13:00; cloud after
- CrowdsCoaches at the big restaurants; warungs are calm
On the ground
Cool and bright at 1,500 metres, with the caldera falling away below the road and Batur's cone rising out of it, the 1963 lava black across its flank. Penelokan is the classic viewpoint; the road north along the rim passes the temple of Ulun Danu Batur and more viewpoints, each with a warung.
Lunch is the way to see it: an hour on a terrace with the volcano in front of you. Your driver will steer you away from the coach buffets to a family warung with the same view and better food.
Cloud rolls in from the east most afternoons; by two the volcano is often gone. The road down through the coffee plantations is the second half of the stop.
What to see at Kintamani
The Penelokan viewpoint
The classic angle on Batur, the lava field and the lake — arrive before noon.
Pura Ulun Danu Batur
The great temple of the lake, moved up to the rim after the 1926 eruption; black stone, many meru, few visitors.
The coffee plantations
On the road down to Tampaksiring: tastings of a dozen local coffees and teas, and the civet coffee if you must.
Toya Bungkah and the lake
Down inside the caldera: hot springs on the lake shore and the start of the sunrise trek.
Entrance fees are in the price of our set routes; on a car + driver day they are paid at the gate, and your driver tells you the amounts the evening before.
What to do
Set routes that stop at Kintamani
1 of our routes passes through.
Or make it a driver day
Kintamani plus wherever else you like, at your pace — up to ten hours, priced per car, your route.
Before you go
How long should you stay? An hour for lunch and the view; more if you go down to the lake. It's the midday stop on the Ubud classic and a start point for the sunrise trek.
Best time to visit. Morning to early afternoon, any month. The dry season for the clearest view; the rim is cool year-round.
| Tickets | Small viewpoint/area fee per person; restaurants free with a meal |
|---|---|
| Opening hours | Any; restaurants 10:00–16:00 |
| Dress | A layer; it's 10 degrees cooler than the coast |
| Walking | None required |
| Food | Warungs and buffet restaurants along the rim |
| Toilets | At the restaurants |
| Cloud | Comes in after 13:00 most days |
Questions
Asked in the car
Can we see the sunrise from here?
From the rim, yes, without the trek — a 05:00 start from Ubud gets you to Pinggan or Penelokan for dawn with the fog in the caldera. The summit sunrise is a separate morning.
Do we have to do the coffee plantation?
No. It's on the road down and pleasant; say so and your driver skips it.
Kintamani or Bedugul?
Kintamani for the volcano and the drama; Bedugul for the lake temple and the cool gardens. They're on different routes, and both are worth a day.
Nearby, with our photos
Lunch on the rim
The Ubud classic gets you here for lunch; ask about the sunrise for the early version.