Northern Bali

First orientation

About Northern Bali

Northern Bali occupies the Buleleng regency along the island's north coast — a long, narrow coastal plain backed by a ridge of volcanic mountains that separates it climatically and culturally from the south. The drive from southern Bali over the central highlands, past Lake Bedugul and through the Wanagiri ridge viewpoints, is itself an experience: strawberry plantations at altitude, the mist-wrapped peaks of the Batur and Agung volcanoes visible on clear mornings, and the coast of the Bali Sea appearing below as you descend toward Singaraja. Singaraja was Bali's most important city for centuries. During the Dutch colonial period it served as the administrative capital of all of Bali and Lombok, and its harbor handled the majority of trade between the island and the outside world. The city retains architectural evidence of this history — Dutch colonial buildings, Chinese clan houses, and the Buleleng Museum — alongside one of the finest collections of lontar palm-leaf manuscripts in Southeast Asia held at the Gedong Kirtya library, founded in 1928. It is a city that most visitors to Bali never see, which makes it all the more rewarding. Lovina, 10km west of Singaraja, is the north coast's main resort town — though 'resort town' is relative: it remains thoroughly low-key, with a long black-sand beach, affordable guesthouses, and the famous pre-dawn dolphin watching trips conducted in outrigger boats just offshore. The dolphins — spinner and bottlenose species — enter the bay reliably each morning. Further inland, the road climbs to Munduk village in the coffee and clove highlands, where a plateau of spice plantations, rice terraces, and multi-tiered waterfalls awaits.