Besakih Temple
The Mother Temple Of Bali A Complex Of More Than Twenty Separate Temples Rising Up The Slope Of Mount Agung, The Holiest Site In Balinese Hinduism · Rendang, Bali
Besakih is THE MOTHER TEMPLE OF BALI and the holiest site in Balinese Hinduism - not one temple but MORE THAN TWENTY SEPARATE TEMPLES rising in terraces up the southern slope of MOUNT AGUNG, the volcano Balinese consider the centre of the world. It has been in use for a thousand years and probably longer, on a site that was sacred before Hinduism reached the island. IN 1963, DURING PREPARATIONS FOR EKA DASA RUDRA - a purification held once a century - AGUNG ERUPTED, killing between one and two thousand people across Bali. THE LAVA FLOWS PASSED BESAKIH BY A MATTER OF METRES, which Balinese read as a sign rather than as luck. For decades Besakih was also the worst-behaved tourist site on Bali, with aggressive fake guides and invented donation demands; a government visitor centre and shuttle system has since been built specifically to end that, and it has largely worked - though anyone who approaches you offering to guide you is still not official.
Besakih, Rendang, Karangasem Regency, Bali, Rendang, Bali, Indonesia
OPEN DAILY THROUGH THE DAY with an entry fee. SINCE THE VISITOR CENTRE OPENED AROUND 2023, ACCESS RUNS THROUGH A MANAGED SYSTEM - you park below, buy a ticket, and take a shuttle up to the temple approach; this was built specifically to stop the aggressive fake-guide and donation racket that made Besakih notorious for decades. A SARONG AND SASH ARE REQUIRED. NON-HINDUS MAY WALK THE STAIRWAYS AND TERRACES BUT MAY NOT ENTER THE INNER COURTYARDS, which is the single most misunderstood thing about visiting. MAJOR CEREMONIES CLOSE LARGE PARTS OF THE COMPLEX and take absolute precedence; Besakih hosts more of them than any other temple in Bali. CLOUD ROUTINELY COVERS THE SITE FROM MID-MORNING, so Mount Agung behind it is a sunrise-to-nine proposition.