Best Things To Do in Bali | International Traveller

Be you a thrill-seeker, waterfall-chaser or festival fan, Bali‘s best activities go beyond the usual.

There are plenty of fun things to do in Bali, but some activities have more traveller cred than others, especially when they divert from the well-trodden tourist path. While catching a wave or enjoying poolside villa action are both good reasons to visit the Island of the Gods, tearing yourself away from the usual itinerary can be the difference between a great holiday, and an excellent one.

From cliff-jumping over a waterfall and hiking to the top of an active volcano, to touring a regenerative rice farm and art crawling around Ubud’s creative studios, it’s an action-packed itinerary. Here are some of our favourites.

In short

If you only do one thing in Bali make it: Nyepi. Bali’s ancient New Year celebration includes a Day of Silence whereby the whole island, including the airport, shuts down for 24 hours. The evening before, ogoh-ogoh  – demonic statues hand-crafted in each village months before the festivities – are paraded through the streets, ridding the island of bad spirits. It’s a Balinese cultural event not to be missed.

Waterbom, Kuta

When it comes to water parks, there’s no topping the fun-factor at Bali’s Waterbom. It’s 26 world-class (and award-winning) slides twirl and curl around a 3.8ha tropical landscaped garden, complemented by eateries, activities and poolside recliners.

Families are particularly well catered to with fully serviced cabanas and a spa for grown-ups and, for the kiddos, Coco Garden – a new fandangle waterpark complete with massive overhead bucket water spills.

The best bit? Waterbom is one of Bali’s sustainability success stories. It runs on 100% renewable electricity, composts 97% of its waste on-site, and reduces groundwater consumption year-on-year.

Festivals, Ubud

opening gala at Ubud Writers and Readers Festival — A traditional Balinese dance performance at the opening gala of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.

Visiting Ubud when there’s a major festival on ensures easy access to the dynamic cultures and customs of this enigmatic town. Here are three to stick in your calendar:

Ubud Food Festival, at the end of May, is a chance to taste-test some of the Indonesian archipelago’s exceptional cuisine, and get face-to-face with some real live cooking action. Big name chefs host cook-ups and dining events at restaurants around town, and get in early for tickets to farm tours, foodie trails and foraging experiences. Short on time? The festival’s artisan foodie market is a one-stop shop for local eats and treats.

Ceramicists, wood carvers, painters, you name it, in early June, artists across Ubud share their creativity in-person through Ubud Open Studios, a three-day festival with a self-guided ‘art crawl’ format across 60 studios. Consult the catalogue, choose your favourites and start walking and talking art.

Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, held in October each year, attracts an excitable bookish crowd to its main hub on Jalan Raya Sanggingan. Scholars, authors and thinkers from Indonesia, Australia and beyond join talks, panels and workshops on five main stages, and at satellite venues around town.

Hike Mt Batur – Kintamani

Mount Batur in Bali — Mount Batur is an active volcano in north-eastern Bali. (Credit: Getty/saiko3p)

Few hikes in Bali are as rewarding as the sunset ascent of Mt Batur near Bali’s highland town of Kintamani. This active volcano, tipping 1717 metres, last erupted in 2000, spilling black lava down the side of the mountain. Steam, hot enough to cook an egg (I’ve seen it!) still pours out of rock fissures at its peak.

From the top, views stretch over a 13-kilometre-wide caldera ‘bowl’ in which lies Lake Batur, a sacred 7-kilometre-long headwater. Mount Penulisan (1745 metres) Mount Abang (2153 metres) and, on a clear day Mount Rinjani (3726 metres), on the neighbouring Indonesian island of Lombok, can be seen.

Sunrise walks are the most popular, with head-torched tour groups departing at 3am (climbing without a guide is not allowed). The northern summit trail, starting from Toyabungkah is a slow, steady (if gravelly) climb with a moderate incline. For walkers with some level of fitness, it takes about 90 minutes.

White water rafting, Ubud

a jungle river in Bali — Drift along a tropical jungle river. (Credit: Getty/tobiasjo)

I know at least one luxury resort in Ubud that treats guests to an arrival and check-in via a white water rafting adventure. For the rest of us, Ubud is the hot spot for the activity with plenty of qualified tour companies guiding water-lovers on a 10-kilometre journey down the Ayung, Bali’s longest river.

The Ayung is shallow and rocky creating excellent grade II and III rapids that twist and turn through steep gorges and a tangle of tropical jungle. It’s as much a thrills and spills adventure as it is a way to see an enchanting slice of the island with enigmatic temples, camouflaged resorts and ancient carved walls emerging on the river banks as you pass.

Avoid the wet season and heavy rain because the river level rises and tours are more likely to be cancelled.

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Waterfall chasing – Lovina

Gitgit Waterfall in North Bali — The striking 35-metre-tall Gitgit Falls is just a 40-minute drive southeast of Lovina Beach. (Credit: Getty/Jakub Mazur)

Lovina’s oversubscribed dolphin tours might have fallen out of favour with eco-minded tourists, but the sublime waterfalls inland of this northern beach town remain itinerary highlights. At 40 metres, Gitgit waterfall is one of Bali’s highest, a streak of white water surrounded by thick tropical jungle with a handy wooden viewing platform below it. It’s an accessible short trek from Cempaga Village on a concrete path.

Walking distance from Lovina Beach, Singsing waterfall has two rock-hopping jungle-shrouded drops with refreshing swimming holes underneath. Be warned, the second prettier falls is harder to access than the first. A guide is recommended.

Aling-Aling is the most adventurous. Easily accessible from Sambangan village, it has daredevil 5-metre, 10-metre and 15-metre cliff-jumping platforms. If that doesn’t scare the boardshorts off you, try the natural 35-metre slide down the main waterfall into the picture-perfect turquoise swimming hole below.

Begawan Biji, Ubud

It’s easy to throw the term farm-to-table around but this is one place in Bali that is genuinely true to the cause. On a four-hectare working farm in Bayad village north of Ubud, Begawan Biji’s enchanting Indonesian restaurant, set in a traditional two-storey wantilan, sources its ingredients direct from the surrounding permaculture garden and regenerative rice farm.

Guests can dine on exceptional dishes – including nasi goreng made with wagyu beef, slipper lobster and mansur, a homegrown heritage rice grain native to Bali. To dig a little deeper, guests can sign up for a ‘return to roots’ tour exploring the farm’s photogenic mandela vegetable gardens, 9th-century subak irrigation system and zero-waste philosophy.

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.

Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?

Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.

Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.

“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.

Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”

Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”

CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.

A new generation demanding more

Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”

We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”

Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels — Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…

bouda stupa prayer flags — Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.

Boudha Stupa vendors — Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.

Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

tharu woman — Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.

Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.

Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.

Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.

On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.

community homestay entrance — A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.

The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.

In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.

food at community homestay — Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.

The power of community homestays

community homestay owners in Nepal — Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.

“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”

The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.

Sonara community room — An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.

Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.

CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.

“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.

In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.

“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”

Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”

Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.

Best things to do in Bali: festivals, waterfalls and hiking