Cornelius Amann
October 06, 2026
5/5
Bali: Ubud, Sidemen, Amed and Nusa Lembongan
8 days around Bali's quieter east: three nights in Ubud, the Sidemen valley, two nights on the reefs of Amed and a last night on Nusa Lembongan.
8 days · Round trip from Denpasar · up to 12 guests
Homes on the north side of Nusa Lembongan Photo: Bart Speelman from Pemuteran, Bali, Indonesia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nusa_Lembongan_homes.jpg)
The facts
At a glance
- Length
- 8 days, 7 nights
- Start and end
- Round trip from Denpasar
- Group size
- 7 to 12 guests
- Longest drive
- 3 h on day 7No drive day is longer than 4 hours.
- Activity level
Moderate
Walks of 2 to 3 hours on paved paths and paddy dykes in Ubud and Sidemen, about 300 to 370 steps down and back up at Gunung Kawi, and three guided snorkels from the beach or a boat in calm water. You need to be comfortable swimming with a mask and fins, or you can watch from the shore or the boat. No drive is longer than about 3 hours.
- Meals included
- 7 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 3 dinners
- Room of your own
- + CAD 240 (estimated price)
- Season
- April to October
Highlights
Why this trip
- Tirta Empul at opening, when the purification pools are used by Balinese families more than by tour groups
- The Campuhan Ridge and the paddies beyond it at first light, then cooking your own lunch in a family kitchen
- A Kecak and fire dance on an Ubud temple stage
- The painted ceilings of the Kerta Gosa, then a walk through the Sidemen valley under Mount Agung
- Snorkelling the coral off Jemeluk beach in Amed
- The Liberty wreck at Tulamben from the surface, early, before the dive groups
- A snorkel boat to Mangrove Point and a poled boat through the Lembongan mangroves
What makes this trip different
Short drives, all published
Every drive is listed day by day, and none is longer than 4 hours.
Free time is part of the plan
Free time and choices are marked on the days they fall.
Solo without the penalty
A room of your own is + CAD 240 (estimated price).
Day by day
Itinerary
The longest drive is 3 h, on day 7.
Tap any stop on the map to open that dayClick any stop on the map to open that day
Arrive in Bali, on to Ubud
Denpasar Airport to Ubud
- Dinner
- Stay in Ubud
- Drive about 1.5 h
Fly into Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) in Denpasar. Your driver meets you in the arrivals hall whatever time you land, and it is about an hour to an hour and a half north to Ubud, depending on traffic, through towns of stone carvers and woodworkers before the road climbs into the rice fields. Our hotel is in central Ubud, a short walk from the royal palace and the market, so you can step out on foot as soon as you have checked in. If you land early, rest, swim or walk down Jalan Monkey Forest.
Evening
In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week ahead: what to wear in temples, how the snorkel days work and what to pack for the island. Then we walk to a local restaurant for a welcome dinner of Balinese dishes, with sambal matah and grilled fish or chicken satay.
Included
- Pick-up at Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS)
- Welcome briefing with your guide
- Welcome dinner in Ubud
Free time: Free until the evening briefing
Tirta Empul, Gunung Kawi and a Kecak night
Ubud to Tampaksiring and back
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Ubud
- Drive about 1.5 h
We leave Ubud at about 7:15 so we are at Tirta Empul in Tampaksiring when it opens, around 8 am. The water temple is built over a sacred spring, and Balinese families come early to bathe under the spouts of the long stone pools. With a sarong on, you can join the purification ritual, your guide showing the order of the spouts, or watch from the side. A few minutes away, Gunung Kawi is a set of 11th-century shrines cut into the cliffs of the Pakerisan river gorge, reached by about 300 to 370 steps down through rice terraces.
Afternoon
Lunch is at a warung with a view of the paddies, and we are back in Ubud by early afternoon, when the heat is highest. After that the afternoon is yours to rest or wander.
Evening
In the evening we walk to a temple stage in town for a Kecak: a circle of men chanting the Ramayana, followed by a fire dance in which a dancer in trance kicks through burning coconut husks.
Included
- Tirta Empul at opening, with a sarong
- Gunung Kawi rock-cut shrines
- Lunch at a warung near Tampaksiring
- Kecak and fire dance in Ubud
Easier option: Skip the steps at Gunung Kawi and wait at the top of the steps.
Free time: Afternoon free in Ubud
Activity: About 300 to 370 steps down to Gunung Kawi and back up. If you bathe at Tirta Empul, bring a change of clothes.
Ubud's rice terraces and a cooking class
Campuhan Ridge and the paddies north of Ubud, then a village kitchen
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Ubud
- Drive about 30 min
Morning
Start at about 6:45, before breakfast is cleared and long before the heat, on the Campuhan Ridge: a paved path along a grassy spine between two river valleys, with alang-alang grass on both sides and the valleys still in shade. Past the ridge the path drops into the village of Bangkiang Sidem and the working rice paddies, where farmers are already out and the irrigation channels of the subak system run beside the dykes. Your guide explains how the water is shared between farms and temples, the system UNESCO listed in 2012. Mid-morning we drive a short way out of town to a family compound for a cooking class.
Afternoon
You grind base genep, the spice paste behind most Balinese cooking, and make sate lilit, a vegetable lawar and sambal, and what you cook is lunch. The afternoon is yours: the Sacred Monkey Forest, the market, a massage or a nap.
Included
- Guided walk on the Campuhan Ridge and through the paddies of Bangkiang Sidem
- Balinese cooking class in a family compound, with lunch
Optional experiences
- Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary entry
- Balinese massage
Easier option: Walk only the ridge, about 2 km, and take a car back into town.
More active option: Carry on through the fields on a longer loop back into Ubud, about 7 km in all.
Free time: Afternoon free in Ubud
Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot on paved paths and narrow paddy dykes; bring shoes with grip.
The Kerta Gosa, then the Sidemen valley
Ubud to Semarapura, then up to Sidemen
- Breakfast and dinner
- Stay in Sidemen
- Drive about 1.5 h
A relaxed start, then about an hour east to Semarapura, the old royal town of Klungkung. The Kerta Gosa was the kingdom's hall of justice, a raised open pavilion whose ceiling is painted in the Kamasan wayang style with scenes of the punishments awaiting wrongdoers and the rewards of heaven. Across the road stands the monument to the 1908 puputan, when the court walked out to face Dutch troops. From there it is about half an hour up into the Sidemen valley, a green fold of terraces along the Unda river with Mount Agung at its head.
Afternoon
After time to settle in and eat lunch at your own pace, a local guide leads a walk of about two hours through the paddies and villages, stopping at a family workshop where women weave endek and songket cloth on wooden looms.
Evening
Dinner is at the hotel, as there are few restaurants within walking distance.
Included
- Kerta Gosa and the Klungkung palace grounds in Semarapura
- Guided walk in the Sidemen valley with a local guide
- Visit to a weaving workshop
- Dinner at the hotel in Sidemen
Easier option: A shorter, flat walk along the valley floor, about an hour.
Free time: Early afternoon free
Activity: About 2 hours on paddy dykes and village lanes, with a few short climbs.
Tirta Gangga and the reef at Jemeluk
Sidemen to Tirta Gangga, then to Amed
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Amed
- Drive about 2 h
Morning
Look out at first light: on a clear morning Mount Agung stands over the valley before the cloud builds. After breakfast we drive about an hour and a quarter through the hills of Karangasem to Tirta Gangga, the water palace built by the last raja of Karangasem in the mid-20th century. Stepping stones cross ponds of koi, and spring water runs from a tiered fountain and carved spouts. We are there mid-morning, before most day trips from the south arrive.
Afternoon
Lunch is at a warung above the rice terraces next to the palace. Then it is half an hour to Amed, a string of fishing villages on black-stone beaches where jukung outrigger boats are pulled up on the shore. Mid-afternoon a local snorkel guide takes us into the water at Jemeluk Bay, where coral gardens start a few metres from the beach.
Evening
The evening is free; sunset is over Mount Agung, behind the coast.
Included
- Tirta Gangga water palace
- Lunch near Tirta Gangga
- Guided snorkel from the beach at Jemeluk Bay, with mask, snorkel, fins and a life vest
Easier option: Snorkel in a life vest near the shore with the guide, or stay on the beach.
Free time: Evening free in Amed
Activity: About an hour in the water in calm conditions. Reef shoes help on the stony beach.
The Liberty wreck at Tulamben
Amed to Tulamben and back
- Breakfast
- Stay in Amed
- Drive about 45 min
Morning
We leave at about 7 am for Tulamben, about 20 km up the coast, to be in the water before the dive groups arrive mid-morning. The USAT Liberty was a US Army cargo ship torpedoed off Lombok in January 1942 and beached here; the 1963 eruption of Mount Agung pushed it off the shore, and it now lies on its side on a sandy slope a short swim from the stones. The shallowest parts of the hull are only a few metres down, so from the surface you look straight onto coral-covered plates, the old gun platform and schools of jacks and parrotfish. Your snorkel guide leads the way from the beach and keeps the group together. We are back in Amed by late morning for a slow brunch, and from there you choose how to spend it: swim, read, book a massage, or walk up to a viewpoint for the late light over the bays.
Included
- Guided snorkel over the USAT Liberty wreck at Tulamben, with gear
Optional experiences
- Introductory dive on the Liberty wreck with a dive centre (price at booking)
- Balinese massage
Easier option: Snorkel only the shallow end of the wreck in a life vest, or stay in Amed for a slow morning.
More active option: An introductory dive on the wreck with an instructor, booked through us at a price shown when you book.
Free time: Afternoon free in Amed
Activity: About an hour in the water; the beach is large smooth stones, so wear reef shoes.
Fast boat to Nusa Lembongan
Amed to Sanur, then by fast boat to Nusa Lembongan
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Nusa Lembongan
- Drive about 3 h
This is the longest drive of the trip, about three hours and 100 km, so we leave Amed at about 8 am and follow the coast south past Candidasa and Padang Bai, with a coffee stop on the way. From the beach at Sanur a public fast boat crosses to Nusa Lembongan in about 30 to 40 minutes. There is no pier on most of the island's beaches, so you step off into shallow water while the crew carries the bags.
Afternoon
Lunch is near the hotel. After a morning on the move we keep the afternoon open on purpose: the pool, a walk past the seaweed plots at Jungutbatu, or the Yellow Bridge over to Nusa Ceningan with your guide. The snorkel boat waits until tomorrow morning, when the water is usually calmer.
Evening
Before dark we head to the west coast to watch the sun go down, then sit down together for a farewell dinner by the water.
Included
- Fast boat from Sanur to Nusa Lembongan, with luggage
- Lunch on Nusa Lembongan
- Sunset on the west coast
- Farewell dinner
Easier option: Rest at the hotel after lunch and join the group for sunset and dinner.
More active option: Walk across the Yellow Bridge to Nusa Ceningan with your guide.
Free time: Afternoon at leisure on Nusa Lembongan
Activity: If the sea is too rough to cross, we wait for a later boat, and your guide keeps the group together.
Mangrove Point and the mangroves, then home
Nusa Lembongan by boat to Sanur, then Denpasar Airport
- Breakfast
- Drive about 45 min
We start at about 7 am, while the water is flat and before the day boats arrive. A local boat takes us along the north-east coast to Mangrove Point, where the current carries you gently over coral slopes, with your snorkel guide in the water. Then, in the channels behind the point, a boatman poles us through the mangrove forest in a flat wooden boat: roots in clear water, small fish and crabs, and herons on the banks. Your guide talks about the seaweed farming that kept Lembongan's families going before tourism, still visible on the flats at low tide.
Morning
We are back at the hotel by about 10 for a late breakfast and a shower, then take a late-morning fast boat to Sanur.
Afternoon
From the beach it is about 30 to 45 minutes to Ngurah Rai International Airport, arriving in the early afternoon, and your guide sees you to the terminal. Book a flight leaving after about 4 pm; if yours is earlier, we skip the boat morning and take an earlier crossing.
Included
- Snorkel boat to Mangrove Point, with gear
- Poled boat through the Lembongan mangrove forest
- Fast boat from Nusa Lembongan to Sanur
- Drop-off at Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS)
Easier option: Stay on the boat while the others snorkel.
Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 4 pm to include the boat morning. Pack the night before; the bags go to the boat while we are on the water.
- Denpasarstart
- Ubud3 nights
- Sidemen1 night
- Amed2 nights
- Nusa Lembongan1 night
- Denpasarend
- Overnight stop
- Day trip
- By boat or train
Wildlife and weather: April to October is the dry season, with calmer seas and clearer water for snorkelling. From November to March expect afternoon downpours and rougher crossings; the trip still runs, and the boat days move if the sea is too rough.
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Before you book
Right for you?
Good for you if you want
- A first trip to Bali in about a week, without the busy south coast
- Travellers who like temples and village walks as much as the sea
- Confident swimmers who want easy snorkelling from the beach and from a boat
- Solo travellers who want a small group and a fair single supplement
Not for you if you want
- A beach-club or nightlife holiday in Seminyak or Canggu
- A Mount Batur sunrise trek (see our Bali, Lombok and Gili Islands trip)
- Step-free access: temples have steps and the island boats land on the beach
- Non-swimmers who want to snorkel; you can still watch from the shore or the boat
Book flights after we confirm your seat.
7 nights
Where you'll stay
Your hotels are named in your trip confirmation.
- Ubud3 nights
- Sidemen1 night
- Amed2 nights
- Nusa Lembongan1 night
One price
What's in the price
Included
Accommodation
- 7 nights: central Ubud (3), the Sidemen valley (1), Amed (2) and Nusa Lembongan (1), in hotels of a 3-star-plus standard
- Rooms shared, or your own for a supplement
Transport
- Pick-up and drop-off at Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS)
- A private air-conditioned minivan and driver for the group on Bali
- Return fast boat between Sanur and Nusa Lembongan, with luggage
- A local snorkel boat and a poled mangrove boat on Nusa Lembongan
Your guide
- A See Sight Tours guide for the whole trip
- Local guides in Sidemen and local snorkel guides in Amed, Tulamben and on Nusa Lembongan
Activities
- Tirta Empul temple at opening, with a sarong (Tampaksiring)
- Gunung Kawi rock-cut shrines (Tampaksiring)
- Kecak and fire dance (Ubud)
- Campuhan Ridge and rice paddy walk (Ubud)
- Balinese cooking class (near Ubud)
- Kerta Gosa (Semarapura)
- Valley walk and weaving workshop (Sidemen)
- Tirta Gangga water palace (Karangasem)
- Guided reef snorkel at Jemeluk Bay (Amed), with gear
- Guided snorkel over the USAT Liberty wreck (Tulamben), with gear
- Snorkel boat to Mangrove Point (Nusa Lembongan), with gear
- Mangrove forest by boat (Nusa Lembongan)
Meals
- 7 breakfasts, 4 lunches (one is the cooking class) and 3 dinners: a welcome dinner in Ubud, dinner in Sidemen and a farewell dinner on Nusa Lembongan
Not included
- International flights to and from Denpasar
- Indonesia visa on arrival, if your passport needs one
- Bali tourism levy (IDR 150,000)
- Travel insurance
- Meals not listed
- Drinks
- Tips
- Optional activities, such as an introductory dive or a massage
- Personal expenses
Local fees
- Bali tourism levy of IDR 150,000 per foreign visitor, paid online before you arrive or at the airport; Indonesia visa on arrival if your passport needs one.
Extras
- Room of your own
- CAD 240 (estimated price)
When you can go
Dates and prices
Pick your start date when you request to book. We check that date and confirm it in your quote.
Prefer to travel without a group or guide? Ask us about arranging hotels, transport and city tours for you to travel independently.
Before you book
Booking terms
Nothing is charged now. Full terms and the cancellation schedule come with your quote, before you accept.
Business addresses
See Sight Tours Trips (USA): 3172 N Rainbow Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89108, United StatesSee Sight Tours Trips (Canada): 5305 50 Avenue, #1091, Red Deer, AB T4N 4B6, Canada+1-888-961-6584Guest reviews
What guests say
Reviews from guests on our day tours.
Jane
October 06, 2026
5/5
Susan
October 06, 2026
5/5
Tom L
October 05, 2026
5/5
MandL83
October 05, 2026
5/5
Darren O
October 05, 2026
5/5
Good to know
Questions
What does the price include?
Seven nights in central hotels, 7 breakfasts, 4 lunches and 3 dinners, airport transfers both ways, a private minivan and driver, the return fast boat to Nusa Lembongan, your See Sight Tours guide throughout, and every visit in the day plan, including the Kecak dance, the cooking class, Tirta Gangga, temple entries with sarongs and three guided snorkels with gear.
How big is the group?
The small group runs with 7 to 12 guests, never more. That is small enough for one snorkel guide to keep everyone together in the water and for the whole group to fit around one table in a family kitchen.
Who leads the trip?
A See Sight Tours guide travels with the group from the airport on day 1 to the airport on day 8. Local guides join where they know the ground better: a village guide in Sidemen and licensed snorkel guides in Amed, Tulamben and on Nusa Lembongan.
How fit do I need to be, and do I have to swim?
An easy to moderate level is enough: walks of 2 to 3 hours on paths and paddy dykes and about 300 to 370 steps at Gunung Kawi. The three snorkels need you to be comfortable in the water with a mask and fins; life vests are provided, and you can always stay on the beach or the boat.
I am travelling solo. What will it cost me?
A room of your own is from CAD 240 more, shown before you book, with no surprise at checkout. If you would rather share, we try to match you with a roommate of the same gender; if no match is found, we tell you before you pay anything.
When is the best time to go?
April to October, the dry season, when the sea is calmer and the water clearer for snorkelling and the Lembongan crossing. November to March brings afternoon rain and rougher seas; the trip still runs, and boat days move if needed. We do not run over Nyepi, Bali's Day of Silence in March or April.
How does booking work?
Choose a date and style and send a request to book. We check availability and provide the final quote, itinerary and booking terms before you accept. No payment is taken when you send the request. The small group starts from CAD 1,335 per person sharing, taxes included; the private trip starts from CAD 2,405.
Can we travel privately or on our own dates?
Yes. The private style is your party only, with your own guide and vehicle, on a date you choose. If you would rather travel independently on your own dates without a guide, ask from the dates section and we will quote the same hotels, driver and boats.
Do I need a visa for Bali?
Many passports, including Canadian, US and UK, need Indonesia's visa on arrival, which you can buy online before you fly or at the airport. Every foreign visitor also pays the Bali tourism levy of IDR 150,000. Your passport needs at least six months of validity; we confirm current rules when you book.
Why no Mount Batur sunrise or south coast beaches?
The Batur trek starts around 3 am and takes most of a day, and the south coast means heavy traffic. This trip uses that time for the east: Sidemen, Amed and Nusa Lembongan. If you want Batur, our 12-day Bali, Lombok and Gili Islands trip includes it.
What is the boat to Nusa Lembongan like?
A public fast boat from Sanur beach takes about 30 to 40 minutes. You board and land from the beach, so expect to wade in knee-deep water; the crew carries the bags. If the sea is too rough, we wait for a later boat, and your guide keeps the group together.
See Sight Tours has been providing travel services across North America since 2006. Operating in 20 cities across Canada and the USA, the company specializes in small group tours that offer personalized, high-quality experiences for travelers.
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