TemplesPrivate car
Tegalalang, Tirta Empul & Kintamani Volcano
- Tegalalang rice terrace
- Tirta Empul
- Kintamani & coffee
$75 / personDetails
Tirta Empul, Bali
The holy spring at Tampaksiring where Balinese come to be purified — a temple of pools and carved spouts you can watch from the courtyard or join, in a sarong, spout by spout.
What is Tirta Empul like, and can visitors take part?
Tirta Empul is a 10th-century water temple built around a spring that bubbles up in a walled pool and feeds a row of carved spouts. Balinese Hindus queue to pass under each one in the melukat purification; visitors are welcome to do the same, in a borrowed bathing sarong, or to watch from the courtyard. It's 30 minutes north of Ubud, on the road to Kintamani, and the second stop on our Ubud classic. Come before ten or the queue at the spouts is an hour.
- RegionCentral Bali · Tampaksiring
- Best forThe purification ritual, temple architecture
- From UbudAbout 30 minutes
- How long1 hour; 1.5 if you bathe
- Best time08:00–10:00
- CrowdsHeavy from 10:00 to 14:00
On the ground
A working temple, and it feels like it: families in ceremonial dress, offerings on the walls, priests at the spring, and in the main pool a slow line of people moving from spout to spout with their hands pressed together. The water is cold, clear and continuous.
Visitors who bathe change at the lockers, borrow a green sarong, and follow the line — left to right, skipping the two spouts reserved for the dead. It takes twenty minutes and most people come out quieter than they went in. Watching is equally fine; nobody minds.
The rest of the temple is worth the walk: the spring itself in its walled pool, the koi ponds, the courtyards. Above it on the hill is the presidential palace built by Sukarno, visible from the exit path — and the exit is through a long lane of souvenir stalls.
What to see at Tirta Empul
The purification pools
The main pool with its row of spouts; join the line or watch from the side.
The spring
In a walled pool in the inner courtyard, bubbling through black sand. The source of the whole temple.
The koi ponds and courtyards
Quiet corners with carved shrines and big fish, away from the pools.
Gunung Kawi, 10 minutes
Eleven rock-cut shrines in a river gorge, down 300 steps — the quieter, older neighbour.
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 Tirta Empul
1 of our routes passes through.
Or make it a driver day
Tirta Empul 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 to see it; an hour and a half if you bathe. It sits between Tegalalang and Kintamani on the Ubud classic and needs no more.
Best time to visit. Early — from eight. Full-moon days and Balinese holidays are packed with worshippers, which is beautiful to see and slow to bathe in.
| Tickets | Per person, sarong included; locker and bathing sarong small extra |
|---|---|
| Opening hours | 08:00–18:00 |
| Dress | Sarong and sash (provided); bathing sarong for the pools |
| Walking | Easy; flat courtyards and a few steps |
| Food | Warungs outside; a café by the car park |
| Toilets | At the entrance and the lockers |
| Bathing | Menstruating women are asked not to enter the pools |
Photos
Tirta Empul in photos
Questions
Asked in the car
Can non-Hindus do the ritual?
Yes, respectfully — everyone is welcome in the pools. Your driver explains the order of the spouts; the temple staff will help if you look lost.
Is the water clean?
It's spring water flowing continuously through the pools, and thousands bathe in it every day. Don't drink it; showers are at the lockers.
What should we bring?
Swimwear or light clothes to wear under the sarong, a towel and a change. The temple lends the sarong and rents a locker.
Nearby, with our photos
Purification before the volcano
The Ubud classic gets you here at nine, before the queue — or ask for the quieter melukat at a village temple on our Eat, Pray, Love day.