Uluwatu Temple

Pura Luhur Uluwatu clings to the very edge of the Bukit Peninsula, Bali's limestone tail, where the land ends in a sheer cliff about 70 metres above the Indian Ocean. The name says as much: ulu means edge or tip, watu means rock. Standing at the parapet, you look straight down onto a churning blue surf break, and the temple's split gates and shrines seem to grow out of the rock rather than sit on it.

Balinese tradition gives the sanctuary a long pedigree. A small shrine is believed to have existed first; the Javanese priest Mpu Kuturan is credited with enlarging it in the 11th century, and the sage Dang Hyang Nirartha, who came from East Java around the turn of the 16th century, with adding the padmasana shrines — thrones left empty for the supreme god. Uluwatu holds a particular place among Bali's temples: it is a sea temple, one of the chain guarding the island's coasts, and at the same time one of the nine directional temples that protect Bali from the points of the compass. Here the deity is venerated in the form of Rudra.

The setting is the main show. A cliff-top path runs along the headland with views back to the temple perched on its promontory, best when the late light turns the water silver. The forest around the shrines is home to long-tailed macaques, famous for snatching sunglasses and sandals and — researchers have found — for trading them back for food, a learned habit passed down the troop. Every evening a Kecak performance is staged on the cliffside: a ring of men chanting the Ramayana in interlocking rhythms while the sun drops into the sea behind them.

Getting there

The temple is near the village of Pecatu on the southwestern tip of the Bukit Peninsula, about 14 km from Tuban, the district beside the airport. Denpasar's I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) is about 13 km away. There is no public transit to the headland worth relying on; most visitors come by taxi, hired car or scooter along the peninsula's main roads, and the inner sanctum itself is reserved for worshippers.