Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
North Bali almost feels like a different island from that of the crowded southern plains.
Away from the coast, it offers a cool, less populated landscape of morning mists and
forest; an area defined by the volcanoes of Batur and Bedugul, where occasional puffs
of smoke waft from black rock and market gardens line the shores of sacred volcanic
lakes. The Batur area is the most popular of the pair and rewards visitors who stop at
least overnight - most people come to trek up to the crater rim or to Gunung Batur, the
most climbed peak in Bali, but you could lose several days with the numerous walks in
the area. The Bedugul region around Danau Bratan is also defined by lakes and moun-
tains, but it's on a smaller scale, with swathes of highland clove and coffee plantations
around the little hilltown of Munduk and the important temple of Pura Ulun Danu
Bratan, a popular destination for Balinese pilgrims and foreign day-trippers alike.
For hundreds of years - possibly thousands - the north of Bali was most open to foreign in-
fluence as Indian, Chinese and Arab traders landed to do business here, most recently via
the port and former Balinese capital of
Singaraja
. Then, in the early twentieth century, the
area became the tourist gateway to the island through the start of the KPM steamship service
from Java in 1924. It was only when Ngurah Rai Airport opened in 1969 that the south be-
came a focus for tourism and the axis of development shifted away from the north. Today,
Singaraja remains north Bali's biggest city, capital of the administrative district of
Buleleng
,
under whose jurisdiction the entire north coast falls. The coast here is markedly quieter than
its southern counterpart, receiving few visitors from the holiday mills of the south and Ubud.
Yet it is a rugged and, in places, impressive landscape, where flanks of the mountains drop
steeply to black-sand beaches. The only resort that warrants the name is
Lovina
, north Bali's
answer to Kuta-Legian-Seminyak but with none of the hassle; despite a complement of tour-
ist warung and happy hours, sunloungers and dive operators, it's a relaxed place. It makes a
decent base from which to explore the region on day-trips; to the temples and baths just west
or to exuberant temple carvings and several large waterfalls around Singaraja.
