Quick Answer
North Bali's best temples include the clifftop monkey temple Pura Pulaki, its forest sister Pura Melanting, the coastal Pura Ponjok Batu with its sacred stone boat, and the famous carved temples around Singaraja, Pura Beji Sangsit and Pura Meduwe Karang, the latter holding a celebrated 1904 relief of a Dutchman on a bicycle. Add the Buddhist monastery Brahma Vihara Arama and the lake temple Ulun Danu Beratan and you have the north's full set. They are quieter, stranger, and more distinctly Balinese than the famous southern temples.
North Bali Temples at a Glance
- The monkey temple: Pura Pulaki, on the northwest cliffs
- The carved temples: Pura Beji Sangsit and Pura Meduwe Karang, near Singaraja
- The coastal shrine: Pura Ponjok Batu, with its sacred stone boat
- The forest temple: Pura Melanting, near Pulaki
- The island temple: on Menjangan, inside the national park
- The Buddhist monastery: Brahma Vihara Arama, above Banjar
- The gateway lake temple: Ulun Danu Beratan, on the road from the south
- Dress: Sarong and sash, covered shoulders, at every one
- Entry: Donation or small fee, cash (to confirm)
- Crowds: Low, far fewer than the south
Why North Bali's Temples Are Different
Bali is the island of a thousand temples, but the north's are their own thing. While the famous southern temples draw crowds to a familiar silhouette, the Buleleng temples around Singaraja are built and decorated in a distinct northern style: softer, darker paras (volcanic sandstone) that the local carvers worked into deep, almost baroque reliefs, denser and more playful than the south.
The north was also Bali's front door in the colonial era. The Dutch arrived through the northern ports in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and that contact left a mark on the temple walls. Among the gods and demons you find carved Europeans: a Dutchman on a bicycle, a foreigner in a car being robbed at gunpoint. Nowhere else in Bali blends the sacred and the worldly quite like this. The temples below are the ones worth seeking out, and most see a fraction of the visitors of the south.
Before you go, the customs are the same as anywhere in Bali, sarong, sash, covered shoulders, respect. The full set is in the Bali temple etiquette guide, and the wider faith behind them in Balinese Hinduism explained.
The Temples
Pura Pulaki
The dramatic one. Pura Pulaki is built against a sheer dark cliff on the northwest coast, in Banyupoh near Gerokgak, right on the Singaraja-Gilimanuk road about 50 km west of Singaraja (to confirm). The courtyards sit in a bay below a steep rocky headland, looking out to the Bali Sea, and in the rainy season the hills behind turn brilliant green. It is one of the island's significant sea temples (Pura Kahyangan Jagat), associated with the priest Dang Hyang Nirartha.
It is also famous for its monkeys. Troops of grey long-tailed macaques live in and around the grounds, bold and quick to grab sunglasses, phones, or food. They are not aggressive, but keep loose items packed away. The full visitor detail, etiquette, and the monkey precautions are in the dedicated Pura Pulaki guide.
Where: Banyupoh, Gerokgak, on the northwest coast road between Lovina and Pemuteran.
Pura Melanting
Pulaki's quieter sister, and most visitors miss it. Pura Melanting sits inland from Pulaki, reached through small forest and village lanes, a grand temple standing in the middle of the trees. It belongs to the same sacred family as Pulaki, dedicated to Bhatari Melanting, and it is a temple of prosperity, where people pray for the yield of the earth and for safe livelihood. Traders and farmers come here.
Where Pulaki is all sea and cliff, Melanting is all forest and stillness. The buildings are tall and imposing, set against the green, and the approach through the trees gives it a hidden, discovered feeling. It pairs naturally with Pulaki, a few minutes apart, so see them together.
Where: Banyupoh, near Pura Pulaki, set back in the forest. (to confirm)
Pura Ponjok Batu
A coastal temple with a secret on the rocks below. Pura Ponjok Batu stands on a stony promontory in Julah, Tejakula district, east of Singaraja, where black volcanic rock juts into the sea, overgrown with frangipani. The temple is built from dark stone designed to stand against the weather, and it is a Dang Kahyangan, a directional temple of island-wide importance, with a special shrine at the front for those about to make a journey. Its main ceremonies fall on the full moons of Desta and Kasa (to confirm).
The thing to see is below the temple. Down a stairway to the rocky shore sits a sacred stone boat, small, grounded in the rock, and deeply revered, tied to the legend of the priest Nirartha. Beside it, a cave-like coral formation is used for melukat, ritual purification of body and mind with holy water. The sea here is heavy, so take the steps with care, but the stone boat is the reason this temple is unlike any other on the coast.
Where: Julah, Tejakula district, on the northeast coast east of Singaraja. Pairs with Tejakula and the quiet eastern coves.
Pura Beji Sangsit
The north's carving masterpiece. Pura Beji is a subak temple in Sangsit, dedicated to Dewi Sri, the goddess of rice and agriculture, about seven kilometres east of Singaraja and a short drive from Lovina (to confirm). It is the best single example of the northern carving style, and the difference from a southern temple is immediate: the pink-tinged sandstone is worked into dense, riotous reliefs of flowers, vines, and mythical beasts, covering almost every surface.
Like every Balinese temple it runs in three courtyards, from the outer Nista Mandala through the Madya Mandala to the sacred Utama Mandala where worship happens. In the outer court stands the tall kulkul tower, the slit-drum that once summoned the village. Between the courts, an ornate split gate carries the heaviest carving. The shaded trees keep it cool, and the whole temple feels less like architecture than like stone that has been embroidered. For agriculture-based Bali, a temple to the rice goddess is no small thing, and Beji is where that devotion became art.
Where: Sangsit, ~7 km east of Singaraja, ~8 km from Lovina Beach (to confirm).
Pura Meduwe Karang
The temple with the bicycle. Pura Meduwe Karang in Kubutambahan, about 12 km east of Singaraja, was built around 1890 and dedicated to Batara Meduwe Karang, the lord who protects unirrigated land, the dry-field farming that feeds the north (to confirm). It is a large, three-level compound, and the approach is lined with thirty-odd stone figures drawn from the Ramayana, with Kumbakarna doing battle against Sugriwa's army of monkeys at the centre.
But the carving everyone comes for is on the wall by the main shrine: a European in shorts riding a bicycle, the rear wheel sprouting a lotus flower. It is widely believed to depict the Dutch artist W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp, who toured Bali by bicycle in 1904 (to confirm). The relief was damaged in the 1917 earthquake and altered in restoration, so what you see is not quite the original, but it remains the most famous carving in north Bali, and a small monument to the moment the outside world arrived. Nearby, the temple's Durga reliefs, the goddess in her fierce Rangda form, are among the most striking and frankly strange on the island.
Where: Kubutambahan, ~12 km east of Singaraja, near the Singaraja-Kintamani junction (to confirm).
Menjangan Island Temple (Pura Gili Kencana)
A temple on an empty island. Menjangan, the uninhabited island inside the West Bali National Park, holds a cluster of shrines, the main one often called Pura Gili Kencana, with a string of smaller pelinggih honouring figures from Brahma Ireng to a pagoda of the prosperity goddess Kwan Im, reflecting the island's layered Hindu and Chinese-Buddhist devotion. Pilgrims come here for Tirta Yatra, the sacred journey.
What makes it singular is the setting: a temple alone on an island with no inhabitants, reached only by boat, with the reef and the deer for company and the sunrise over an empty sea. You arrive by boat from Labuan Lalang or Banyuwedang, the same trip most people make to snorkel. The full island, the reef, the access rules, and the national park are covered in the Menjangan Island guide.
Where: Menjangan Island, West Bali National Park, boat from the northwest coast (~30-40 min).
Brahma Vihara Arama
Not a Hindu temple at all, but the north's most distinctive sacred site: Bali's largest Buddhist monastery, in the hills above Banjar near Lovina, with a miniature replica of the Borobudur stupa set in terraced gardens. It is the calm, contemplative counterpoint to the Hindu temples, and it shows how deeply Buddhism is woven into Balinese spiritual life. The full visit is in the Brahma Vihara Arama guide.
Where: Hills above Banjar, ~25 minutes from Lovina.
Pura Ulun Danu Beratan (the gateway)
Strictly in the central highlands rather than the north coast, but it sits on the road most people take to reach the north, so it works as the gateway temple. Its shrines reflected in Lake Beratan are among the most photographed images in Bali, and a stop here makes a natural start to a north-bound temple day. It is busier than the coastal temples, so go early.
Where: Bedugul, Lake Beratan, on the mountain road between the south and the north coast.
A North Bali Temple Route
You will not see all of these in a day, and you should not try. The north's temples split into two natural clusters, east and west of Singaraja, plus the highland and island outliers.
West cluster (from Lovina): Pura Pulaki and Pura Melanting sit together on the northwest coast toward Pemuteran, an easy half-day with the drama of the cliff and the calm of the forest in one trip. Combine with a Pemuteran or Menjangan day.
East cluster (from Lovina): Pura Beji Sangsit and Pura Meduwe Karang are close together east of Singaraja, the two great carved temples, doable in a morning. Push further east and you reach Pura Ponjok Batu and Tejakula on the quiet coast.
The outliers: Brahma Vihara Arama pairs with the Banjar Hot Springs above Lovina; the Menjangan temple comes free with a snorkel trip; Ulun Danu Beratan is a stop on the drive up from the south.
A driver for the day is the simplest way to chain them, since they are spread along the coast. The routes are in getting to north Bali, and to arrange one, message Northbound on WhatsApp.
Etiquette and Photography
The customs are the same at every temple: wear a sarong and sash, cover your shoulders, keep your voice low, do not stand above a praying person or climb on shrines, and follow any direction from temple staff, especially during ceremonies. Menstruating women traditionally do not enter the inner courts. The full guide is Bali temple etiquette.
For photography, the carved temples (Beji, Meduwe Karang) reward close work, the detail is the subject, so go in soft morning or late-afternoon light when the low sun rakes across the reliefs. The coastal temples (Pulaki, Ponjok Batu) are about the setting, cliff, sea, and sky, so shoot wide. At Pulaki, watch the monkeys around your gear.
Best Time to Visit
Mornings and late afternoons are best, for cooler temperatures, softer light, and fewer people. The dry season, April to October, makes the coast driving easiest, though Pulaki is at its most beautiful with the green hills of the wet season behind it. Check for odalan (temple anniversary) and full-moon ceremony days: the temples are more alive then, dressed and busy with worshippers, but access to the inner courts may be limited to those praying (to confirm).
Practical Notes
Distances, dates, and fees can change. Confirm locally before you go.
- Dress: Sarong, sash, covered shoulders at every temple; sarongs often available to borrow (to confirm)
- Entry: Donation or small fee, cash only (to confirm)
- Best clusters: West (Pulaki + Melanting), East (Beji + Meduwe Karang + Ponjok Batu)
- Getting around: A driver for the day; the temples are spread along the coast
- At Pulaki: Guard sunglasses, phones, and food from the monkeys
- At Ponjok Batu: Take care on the wet rocks down to the stone boat
- Light: Morning or late afternoon, especially for the carved temples
- Crowds: Low everywhere, far quieter than the south
FAQ
What are the best temples in north Bali? Pura Pulaki (the clifftop monkey temple), Pura Melanting (its forest sister), Pura Ponjok Batu (with its sacred stone boat), and the carved temples near Singaraja, Pura Beji Sangsit and Pura Meduwe Karang. Add the Buddhist monastery Brahma Vihara Arama and the island temple on Menjangan for the full set.
What makes north Bali temples different from the south? The northern (Buleleng) temples are built and carved in a distinct style, denser, more playful reliefs in darker sandstone, and several carry colonial-era carvings of Europeans, including the famous Dutchman on a bicycle at Pura Meduwe Karang. They are also far less crowded than the southern temples.
What is the bicycle carving at Meduwe Karang? A relief on the wall by the main shrine showing a European on a bicycle with a lotus-flower wheel, widely believed to depict the Dutch artist W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp, who toured Bali by bicycle in 1904. It is the most famous carving in north Bali.
What is special about Pura Ponjok Batu? A sacred stone boat on the rocks below the temple, tied to the legend of the priest Nirartha, alongside a coral formation used for melukat (ritual purification). The temple sits on a stony promontory jutting into the sea east of Singaraja.
Why is there a Buddhist monastery among the temples? Brahma Vihara Arama, above Banjar near Lovina, is Bali's largest Buddhist monastery. Buddhism and Hinduism have coexisted in Bali for centuries, and the monastery is the calm, contemplative counterpoint to the Hindu temples. See the dedicated guide.
Do you need a guide to visit north Bali's temples? No, you can visit independently with a sarong and respect for the customs. A private driver for the day is the practical way to chain temples that are spread along the coast. See getting to north Bali.
How should you dress to visit a temple in north Bali? A sarong and sash with covered shoulders, the same as anywhere in Bali. Many temples lend sarongs at the entrance. See the Bali temple etiquette guide for the full customs.
Can you visit the temple on Menjangan Island? Yes. Menjangan holds a cluster of shrines, reached by boat from the northwest coast, usually as part of a snorkeling trip into the West Bali National Park. See the Menjangan Island guide.
Want to trace the north's temple route with someone who knows it? Message Northbound on WhatsApp. North Bali is the home ground here.