Which one to choose in Ubud
Gunung Kawi, Tampaksiring vs Tirta Empul
Two temples in Ubud. Gunung Kawi, Tampaksiring has 4 tickets and tours to book; Tirta Empul has 39 tickets and tours to book. The table and the two notes below put them side by side; the full pages have what to see, the ticket and the timing for each.
Ubud, Indonesia
Gunung Kawi does not need a ticket in advance: you pay the entrance fee at the top of the steps, where a sarong is handed over with it, and walk down into the valley. What is worth arranging is the transport, since the site lies in Tampaksiring, a rural area north-east of Ubud with no useful public buses.
Most tours from Ubud treat it as one stop on a half day in the Pakerisan valley. The usual partner is the spring temple of Tirta Empul a few minutes up the road, where some tours include a purification bathing ritual, with the sarong and offerings provided and sometimes a local guide to lead you through the fountains.
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Ubud, Indonesia
Most visitors reach Tirta Empul on a driver-led day out from Ubud, Denpasar or the southern beach resorts, because the temple sits in the hills near Tampaksiring, about 15 km north-east of Ubud, and public transport is thin. The simplest booking is a private car with driver for half a day, which normally pairs the spring with the rock-cut royal tombs of Gunung Kawi, the Tegalalang rice terraces or a waterfall such as Tibumana or Tukad Cepung. Full-day versions push on to the Kintamani volcano viewpoint or the traditional village of Penglipuran.
The second kind of product is built around the purification itself.
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