Kintamani & Batur

Kintamani is the rim of an old caldera with Mount Batur, Lake Batur and a black field of hardened lava inside it, all visible from one stretch of road. It is about 30 km and a little over an hour north of Ubud, and 75 km and two and a half to three hours from the airport. It is cold by Bali standards: roughly 15 to 22 degrees during the day and about 12 at night, so bring a layer. The Bangli regency tourism office charges about IDR 50,000 per foreign visitor to enter the area, collected at roadside posts including the Penelokan junction and the geopark museum turning, plus IDR 5,000 to 10,000 for parking. It is a real fee, but only pay a uniformed collector at a counter who gives you a dated ticket.

The view is the thing, and it has a deadline. Be on the rim by half eight or nine. Fog usually comes up the valley from about half ten to half eleven and the caldera disappears into white for the rest of the day. That is the single most useful fact about Kintamani, and it is why the coach itineraries that arrive here for lunch show you nothing.

The restaurants strung along the rim road sell the view rather than the food. Buffets here are widely reported as expensive and poor value, and there are accounts of fraudulent card charges at some places, so carry cash and decide where you are eating before you arrive. Sellers at the Penelokan viewpoints are persistent. We have been up here, and we would plan the stop around an early coffee with the view rather than a long lunch.

The Batur sunrise trek is the area's main sale. The summit is 1,717 m, about 400 m of climbing, an hour and a half to two hours up, four to five hours door to door. A registered local guide is compulsory, enforced by the guides' association at checkpoints near the base, and solo walkers are turned back or made to hire one on the spot. Prices are wide: roughly IDR 450,000 to 850,000 for a shared group with transfers and breakfast, and IDR 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 for a private guide for two. Pickup from Ubud is about two in the morning, walking starts around half three, and you are back by nine to eleven. In peak season up to 600 people climb in a day, and cloud can sit on the summit even in the dry months.

Kintamani is a morning, not a base. We would come up early from Ubud, see the crater before the fog, and be back down by lunch. If the sunrise trek is the only reason you are considering it, decide first whether you want the view or the queue, because in July and August you get both.