Munduk

Munduk is a ridge village in the northern highlands, above the Bedugul lakes and below the north coast. It is about 60 km from Ubud, which takes two to two and a half hours on mountain roads, and 80 km and three to three and a half hours from the airport. That drive is what keeps most people away, and it is the main thing to decide before you come: Munduk does not work as a day trip from the south, where you would spend six or seven hours in a car for a few hours of waterfall.

What you do here is walk. Munduk sits in coffee and clove country, and the paths between the plantations connect a run of waterfalls on one side of the valley. Munduk waterfall, sometimes sold as Red Coral, costs IDR 20,000 to 45,000 depending on the source; Melanting and Labuhan Kebo are around IDR 10,000 to 20,000; Golden Valley is free or close to it. Most open about six in the morning and close at six. Banyumala, the twin falls on the Bedugul side, is IDR 50,000 for foreigners with IDR 2,000 parking and an eight-minute walk down from the ticket counter, and the pool is cold with a rocky bottom, so water shoes help. Guided walks are sold from about IDR 750,000 for two people for a two to three hour loop, which is the top end; you can walk the plantation paths without a guide.

The lakes are the other half of the area. Lake Tamblingan and Lake Buyan sit in the caldera east of the village, with entry to Tamblingan quoted anywhere from IDR 10,000 to 30,000 and an outrigger canoe about IDR 150,000 to 200,000 negotiated. Ulun Danu Beratan, the temple on the water at Bedugul, is IDR 100,000 for foreign adults and IDR 75,000 for children after a rise in July, open seven to seven, and is nearest to empty between seven and eight in the morning.

Timing matters more here than at sea level. The highlands take 300 to 400 mm of rain a month from December to February against 150 to 250 in the south, and the pattern is a clear morning, cloud building, then rain. Nights are cold enough for a blanket. Walk early. Wet stone steps and mist on a steep mountain road are the real risk in Munduk, and we would not ride a scooter up here in the rain.

Two nights is right. That gives you one full day of waterfalls and one for the lakes or the Sekumpul trek an hour further on, where the village charges IDR 20,000 just to look and IDR 125,000 to 200,000 for the guided descent. Munduk suits people who want cool air and walking. If your trip is short, the drive will eat more than the place gives back.