Uluwatu Temple
One Of The Six Sad Kahyangan, The Pillar Temples Believed To Hold Bali Spiritually In Place; Set On A Limestone Headland Seventy Metres Above The Indian Ocean · Pecatu, Bali
Uluwatu is ONE OF THE SIX SAD KAHYANGAN, the pillar temples Balinese Hindus believe hold the island spiritually in place, and it stands on a limestone headland SEVENTY METRES ABOVE THE INDIAN OCEAN at Bali's south-western tip. The temple itself is small and, for non-Hindus, largely closed - you walk a clifftop path along the headland rather than going in, and the path is the experience: sheer white cliff, surf breaking on the reef below, and the temple gate silhouetted at the end of it. AT SUNSET THE KECAK IS PERFORMED in an open-air amphitheatre on the cliff edge, a hundred men chanting in interlocking rhythm with no instruments at all while the Ramayana is danced and the sun goes down behind it. THE MONKEYS ARE THE OTHER THING EVERYONE REMEMBERS, and they have learned to steal glasses and phones and trade them back for fruit - not opportunism but a worked-out routine, and the reason to arrive carrying nothing loose.
Pecatu, South Kuta, Badung Regency, Bali, Pecatu, Bali, Indonesia
OPEN DAILY THROUGH THE DAY with a modest entry fee; A SARONG AND SASH ARE REQUIRED and are provided at the entrance, included in the ticket. THE KECAK FIRE DANCE IS PERFORMED IN THE CLIFFTOP AMPHITHEATRE AT SUNSET, usually starting around 6 PM, and is SEPARATELY TICKETED; IT SELLS OUT IN HIGH SEASON and the queue forms well before the doors. Arrive early both for the seat and for the light on the headland. THE TEMPLE'S INNER COURTYARDS ARE CLOSED TO NON-HINDUS - the clifftop path, not the sanctum, is what visitors see. MAJOR CEREMONIES, particularly the temple's odalan on the Balinese calendar, close parts of the site and take precedence entirely. Sunset brings very heavy crowds and the car park fills.