Women-only Bali, Lombok and the Gili Islands

Arrive in Bali, a slow evening in Ubud

Denpasar Airport to Ubud

• Early welcome dinner
• Stay in Ubud
• Drive about 1.5 h

Evening

We choose a hotel within walking distance of the royal palace and the market as your base for three nights, and nothing is planned until early evening, so sleep off the flight or swim. At about 6 pm your woman guide meets the group at the hotel for an unhurried briefing: how to wear the sarong and sash that temples ask for, the Balinese custom that women who have their period do not enter temples, what to wear on Muslim Lombok, how bags are snatched from passing scooters, and why we never drink unlabelled arak. Then an early welcome dinner of Balinese dishes nearby, at a women-run warung where we can confirm one with your dates. You are back at the hotel by about 9 pm. If you land late, your guide briefs you at breakfast.

Included

• Pick-up at Denpasar Airport (DPS) at any time
• Welcome briefing with your woman guide on dress, temple customs and safety
• Early welcome dinner, back by about 9 pm

Ubud: terraces, a water temple and dance

Tegalalang and Tirta Empul, back to Ubud

• Breakfast
• Stay in Ubud
• Drive about 1.5 h

Morning

We leave the hotel at about 7:30, after breakfast, to reach the Tegalalang rice terraces while the light is soft and the paths are still quiet. The terraces are watered by subak, the shared irrigation system that Balinese farmers have run through temples and village councils for about a thousand years; we walk the terrace paths and skip the paid swings. Next is Tirta Empul, a water temple near Tampaksiring said to date from 962, where Balinese families bathe under the spouts of its spring-fed pools. We lend you a sarong and sash, and you can join the bathers or watch from the courtyard; if you have your period, your guide arranges a quiet walk outside the walls instead, with nothing to explain.

Afternoon

Back in Ubud the afternoon is free for the market, the Monkey Forest or a massage.

Evening

After dark we go to a dance evening with live music, choosing a women's gamelan or women's kecak group where one performs on your dates, in a tradition long played only by men.

Included

• Early walk at the Tegalalang rice terraces
• Tirta Empul temple entry, sarong and sash included
• Evening dance performance in Ubud, with a women's gamelan or kecak group where one plays on your dates

Sunrise on Mount Batur

Ubud to Mount Batur and back

• Breakfast
• Stay in Ubud
• Drive about 2 h

Morning

With head torches and a local Batur mountain guide (we ask for a woman guide and confirm who is available with your dates), whose fee and climbing permit we pay, you walk up for about 2 hours on loose volcanic gravel to be at the top before sunrise. As the sky lightens, Lake Batur appears below, Mount Abang and Mount Agung rise to the east and, on clear mornings, Rinjani on Lombok shows across the sea. Breakfast is cooked in the steam vents near the crater.

Afternoon

After the descent we soak in a natural hot spring on the shore of the lake, where a swimsuit with a sarong over it for the walk in is the norm, then drive back to Ubud by early afternoon. The rest of the day is yours to sleep, read or wander.

Included

• Mount Batur sunrise trek with a local mountain guide, permit included
• Breakfast on the summit
• Natural hot spring on Lake Batur

Jatiluwih and the highlands of Munduk

Ubud to Munduk via the Jatiluwih rice terraces

• Breakfast and lunch
• Stay in Munduk
• Drive about 3 h

Evening

After a full night's sleep we drive west for about an hour and a half to Jatiluwih, on the slopes of Mount Batukaru. Its rice terraces are part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing for Bali's subak system and are far larger and quieter than Tegalalang. We walk a loop through the paddies in the morning light, past the small shrines where farmers leave offerings to the rice goddess Dewi Sri, then sit down to lunch with a view over the terraces. In the afternoon the road climbs to Munduk, a cool highland village of clove and coffee gardens and old Dutch-era houses. A short forest walk takes us to a waterfall, and late in the day we stop on the ridge above the twin lakes of Buyan and Tamblingan.

Included

• Guided walk at the Jatiluwih rice terraces, entry included
• Lunch at Jatiluwih
• Waterfall walk in Munduk
• Twin lakes viewpoint above Buyan and Tamblingan

Ulun Danu Beratan, then east to Sidemen

Munduk to Sidemen via Lake Beratan and Semarapura

• Breakfast and dinner
• Stay in Sidemen
• Drive about 3 h

Morning

Before breakfast, walk with your guide for half an hour through the clove and coffee gardens below the guesthouse while the mist lifts off the Munduk valley. Then we drive about half an hour to be at Pura Ulun Danu Beratan as its gates open. The temple, founded in the 17th century, honours Dewi Danu, the goddess of the lake, and its tiered shrines seem to float on Lake Beratan at about 1,200 metres; in the still morning the water mirrors them before the tour coaches arrive. From the highlands we drive south and east across Bali for about two and a half to three hours, with a stop in Semarapura at the Kerta Gosa, the old royal hall of justice of Klungkung, whose ceilings are painted in the Kamasan wayang style with scenes of heaven and hell.

Evening

We reach the Sidemen valley by mid-afternoon, with Mount Agung above the rice fields, and have dinner together tonight.

Included

• Early garden walk in Munduk
• Pura Ulun Danu Beratan at opening, entry included
• Kerta Gosa in Semarapura, entry included
• Dinner in Sidemen

Sidemen: a valley walk and a cooking class

Walks and cooking in the Sidemen valley

• Breakfast and lunch
• Stay in Sidemen

Morning

Early in the morning, when the summit is most often clear, a local guide (a woman where we can confirm one) walks with us along the field paths and irrigation channels, past farmers at work and family compounds. We spend an hour at a weaving house where women make songket, cloth woven with gold or silver thread, and ikat on hand looms, and they show you how a pattern is set up thread by thread.

Afternoon

Then the women of a local family, confirmed with your dates, teach us to cook lunch: you grind a spice paste on a stone, wrap fish or chicken in banana leaf and learn to fold the small palm-leaf offerings women make every morning. The afternoon is free to read on your terrace, swim or walk again in the golden light.

Included

• Morning walk through the Sidemen valley with a local guide
• Visit to a weaving house where women weave songket and ikat
• Balinese cooking class and lunch with the women of a local family

Optional experiences

• Early trip to Pura Lempuyang and the water palace of Tirta Gangga, about an hour's drive each way. The queue for the photo at the Lempuyang gate can be long.

Fast boat to Gili Air

Sidemen to Padang Bai, then by fast boat to Gili Air

• Breakfast
• Stay in Gili Air
• Drive about 45 min

Morning

After breakfast our own van takes you the 45 minutes down to the harbour at Padang Bai, so there is no waiting for a shared shuttle. Your guide checks the group and the luggage onto a morning fast boat we book in advance with an operator we have vetted, with seats inside a covered cabin. The crossing of the Lombok Strait usually takes around two hours, depending on the sea and the stops at Gili Trawangan and Gili Meno. If the sea is too rough to sail, we fly you from Denpasar to Lombok instead and take a short boat to Gili Air from Bangsal. Gili Air has no cars or motorbikes, only bicycles and sandy lanes. Most islanders are Sasak Muslims: swimwear is fine on the beach and at the hotel, and a sarong or shorts and a T-shirt in the village lanes.

Evening

We cycle round the island in the late afternoon and stop on the west coast for sunset, with Bali's volcanoes across the water.

Included

• Transfer from Sidemen to Padang Bai harbour
• Fast boat from Padang Bai to Gili Air, luggage included
• Porter from the Gili Air jetty to your hotel
• Bicycle on Gili Air
• Sunset on the west coast of Gili Air

Turtles off Gili Meno

Snorkel boat around the Gili Islands

• Breakfast
• Stay in Gili Air
• By boat

Morning

This morning we take a boat of our own to snorkel round the three Gili Islands, with masks, fins and life jackets on board. We go mid-morning, when the sun is high enough to light the water; a rash vest or long-sleeved swim top is common here and practical against the sun. At Turtle Point off Gili Meno green turtles graze on the sea grass and coral in a few metres of clear water, and often swim right past you. Nearby lies Nest, a ring of life-size human figures sculpted by Jason deCaires Taylor and sunk off Gili Meno in 2017, now slowly turning into reef. A third stop is chosen by the captain on the day for the clearest water, and your guide is in the water or on deck the whole time.

Afternoon

We are back on Gili Air by early afternoon, and the rest of the day is yours: a swim off the beach, a yoga class, a nap in the shade or another bicycle ride.

Included

• Snorkelling boat trip round the Gili Islands, mask, fins and life jacket included
• Turtle Point off Gili Meno
• The Nest underwater sculptures off Gili Meno

Optional experiences

• Yoga class on Gili Air
• Try-dive with a dive school

To Lombok and the rice fields of Tetebatu

Gili Air to Bangsal by boat, then to Tetebatu

• Breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Stay in Tetebatu
• Drive about 2 h

Afternoon

After lunch at the guesthouse a local guide, a woman where the village guides can provide one, walks with us through the paddies and into the forest, where black ebony leaf monkeys live in the trees, to a waterfall where you can cool off in shorts and a T-shirt over your swimsuit.

Evening

We have dinner together at the guesthouse, under a sky with very little light at night.

Included

• Boat from Gili Air to Bangsal, luggage included
• Lunch and dinner in Tetebatu
• Guided rice field and forest walk to a waterfall

Weavers of Pringgasela, evening at Selong Belanak

Tetebatu to Kuta Lombok via Pringgasela

• Breakfast and lunch
• Stay in Kuta Lombok
• Drive about 3 h

Morning

Get up early for the view: in the first light the cone of Rinjani often stands clear above the Tetebatu rice fields before the cloud builds. After breakfast we drive a short way to Pringgasela, a Sasak village known for hand weaving on traditional looms, a craft that passes from mother to daughter.

Afternoon

A group of women weavers, confirmed with your dates, shows how cotton is dyed with plants and woven into the patterned cloth worn at ceremonies; you can try the loom, and we stay for lunch with them. Then we head south for about an hour and a half to Kuta Lombok, a small surf town, your base for the last two nights. Late in the afternoon we drive west to Selong Belanak, a long curve of pale sand where fishermen draw up their outrigger boats.

Evening

We stay into the late light, and on clear evenings for the sunset,. The day's driving adds up to about 3 hours, in short legs: about 20 minutes to Pringgasela, an hour and a half to Kuta, and 40 minutes each way to the beach.

Included

• Sunrise view of Rinjani from the Tetebatu rice fields
• Weaving and lunch with women weavers in Pringgasela
• Late afternoon at Selong Belanak beach

South Lombok at your own pace

Free day in Kuta Lombok

• Breakfast and dinner
• Stay in Kuta Lombok

Morning

For those who want one more sunrise, your guide leads a short walk before dawn up Bukit Merese, a grassy hill about 10 minutes from Kuta, where the light comes up over the bays of Tanjung Aan and, on clear mornings, Rinjani far to the north. The rest of the day has nothing planned. Learn to surf on the gentle beginner waves at Selong Belanak, with a woman instructor where a surf school has one, swim at Tanjung Aan, have a massage or read by the pool. Your guide books whatever you choose and the hotel's car to get there. Kuta's beaches have hawkers, children among them selling bracelets, who can be persistent; a friendly, firm no works. After dark the roads outside the centre are unlit, so take a car your guide or hotel books rather than walking or an unmarked motorbike taxi.

Evening

Tonight we meet for a farewell dinner of grilled fish and Sasak dishes such as ayam taliwang, the spicy grilled chicken Lombok is known for.

Included

• Sunrise walk up Bukit Merese with your guide
• Farewell dinner

Optional experiences

• Surf lesson at Selong Belanak
• Massage or spa treatment

Fly home from Lombok

Kuta Lombok to Lombok International Airport

• Breakfast
• Drive about 30 min

Morning

The last morning is free. Have a slow breakfast, swim once more or walk along the beach in Kuta before you pack. Lombok International Airport (LOP) at Praya is only about 30 minutes from Kuta, which makes this an easy last day, and we drive you there whatever time your flight leaves. From Lombok there are frequent flights to Denpasar and Jakarta and onward connections across Asia, so ask us if you would like help choosing a route home or a few more nights on Bali. If you want to stay longer in Kuta or go back to the Gilis on your own, we can book the extra nights and transfers for you. If you stay on alone, your guide can suggest well-reviewed central places to stay, and we book cars for any onward transfers rather than leave you to arrange a motorbike taxi; keep using labelled drinks only and a cross-body bag on busy roads.

Afternoon

Plan international flights from about midday onwards. Your guide says goodbye at the airport.

Included

• Drop-off at Lombok International Airport (LOP) at any time