5 Beautiful Waterfalls in Bali

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There must be over one hundred waterfalls in Bali. I didn’t count, but it seemed like every corner we turned as we wound our way through the island revealed another sign indicating a trail down to a waterfall. Cleaning up, developing and charging entrance fees at waterfalls has become a popular local business on the island. Locals pick up all the plastic around a waterfall, ensure there are clear trails or steps to a good viewpoint, and then set up a little booth to collect fees or donations.

The price for most of the waterfalls we visited in Bali was about 20,000 IDR per person to enter, which is a whopping $1.40 USD. It’s well worth the small fee, and we found that the staff running the falls were warm and welcoming. We were shown the best jumping platforms, offered additional hikes, and it also turns out the staff were generally great photographers (almost like they’ve done that a million times for other tourists). I went to show one man how to turn on, and use, my Canon DSLR and he waved me a way telling me “it’s ok, I know, I know.” Sure enough, he did know and I wound up with mostly in-focus photos of myself.

Another great benefit of the waterfalls in Bali being developed as businesses is that we learned some actually have insurance and staff look out for your safety. They also will close the falls if it’s too rainy. That’s partly because not many people want to go swimming in the pouring rain, but partly because it gets slippery and dangerous and becomes a hazard for guests.

Anyway, we managed to make it to five waterfalls in Bali from our home base in Ubud, so here they are.  

Tibumana Waterfall

Tibumana is the most picture-perfect of the falls we visited. It is a beautiful sheet of water pouring over a semi-circular cliff into a pool below. It was a great place to swim, though the pool is small so on a busy day, it might feel a little bit like you’re photo-bombing everyone’s pictures.

There was a man there who I think was a life-guard. His job was to make sure no one got too close to the cliffs or under the falls. Rocks falling from the edges presents an obvious safety hazard and he clearly took his job very seriously. Incidentally, I also felt pretty safe leaving my camera and bag on the rock right next to him while I went for a swim.   

Gitgit Waterfall

Gitgit Waterfall is pretty far north of Ubud, it took us a couple hours to drive there. We decided to combine the trip north with a visit to the temple on the lake, Ulun Danu Bratan, which is perfectly on the way. The drive is stunning. As you climb the road up into the mountains, the view out over the valleys of rice fields and towns is unbeatable.

We stopped for a lunch of fried noodles adjacent the Gitgit Waterfall parking lot before crossing the street in search of the trail entrance. Finding the trail requires crossing the street and walking a couple of minutes back up the road, but luckily people were happy to point us in the right direction.

We paid 20,000 IDR to enter the falls and wandered past the many shop stalls that popped up on the trail from the parking lot. The walk was about 15 minutes and the area surrounding the falls was full of banana flowers and lush green foliage.  

Tip: Go early in the morning. Apparently, up in the mountains the risk of rain is much higher after about 11am. It was raining so hard by the time we started the trail that I didn’t bring my phone or camera, which means no photos.

Goa Rang Reng Waterfall

This is another waterfall walk that doubles as leg-day. There are a lot of steps back up, but the trek is worth it. Truthfully, none of the walks were that bad – and if you stop for a breather, you have beautiful scenery all around you. There are two sides to the waterfall that you can walk to.

On one side there is a wide rushing hybrid of white water and waterfall. The current is deceptively strong and the rocks are slippery. One of the staff, a loud boisterous guy who clearly loves to hype up guests and has showmanship down to an art, showed up how to slide out to the middle of the falls.

From there, guests can take a 10 to 15-minute hike to the other side where there is a canyon and a swing. The staff will equip people with water shoes because you must walk through the river to get there. We were short on time so we didn’t make that walk, but a lot of the photos of this waterfall that you see online are from this other side.

Bandung Waterfall

This waterfall was one of my favorites and it is very easy to get to because it’s right near the road. I loved the beauty of the winding cave-like walls of smooth stone that framed the falls. The waterfall itself is man-made and is actually used for rice field irrigation. It’s new as a business so they take donations instead of charging a set entrance fee.

The guys who maintain this waterfall were delightful so we spent some time chatting with them and watching them jump off the platform into the pool of water below… until we could work up the courage to jump ourselves. (Ok, I’ll speak for myself; my brother had no problem jumping.) The tricky thing about the jump is that there is one particular place you must land because everywhere else is too shallow.

Once I jumped, I found myself in the warm water under a slightly overhanging rock formation in a secluded pool. It started to rain, but even the rain there is warm so it doesn’t feel as intrusive as it does elsewhere. Eventually, we collected our electronics, wrapped them up in our towels and ran back to the car.  

Tegenungan Waterfall

Tegenungan waterfall is perhaps the most crowded of the waterfalls we visited (for good reason). It is close to Ubud and easy to get to. The walk to the falls is short (but again, lots of steps) and there are plenty of photo ops set up along the way.

There is plenty of space to sit, hang out and enjoy the view. There’s even a changing room, though it’s damp and smells like mildew. The pool is relatively shallow, so it was easy to wade out into the water and just stand there staring up at the falls right in front of us.

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The waterfalls in Bali we missed

There is still a long list of waterfalls I would have loved to check out – but we consciously balanced the amount of time spent chasing waterfalls with the time spent relaxing at the villa with cocktails. Here are some that remain on my Google Maps list of “want to go” waterfalls in Bali.

• Aling-Aling
• Sekumpul
• Leke Leke
• Twin Falls
• Nungnung
• Cepung

Have you been to any of the waterfalls in Bali? Which did you like the best?