Karangasem is the Easternmost Regency or section of the Bali island. It encompasses 840 square kilometers and its capital is Karangasem city. The area is lesser explored than its neighbors to the West mainly because a rental car or hired driver are a definite must for exploring it.
White Sand Beach (Bias Tugel)
1. White Sand Beach (Bias Tugel): When we arrived at this beach with our rental car on our first day in Bali, we were literally the only ones there. About one hundred steps lead through the dense forest to this beach named for pearly color of its sand.
Tirta Gangga
2. Tirta Gangga (The Water Palace): This former royal palace is home to some of the most amazing water features and gardens that we have ever seen.
Tirtagangga Water Palace, Bali – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
3. Sideman Rice Terraces: For some reason, everyone we talked to said these terraces weren’t really in use anymore and were nowhere near as impressive Jatiluwih Rice Terraces or Tegalalang Rice Terrace. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Having been to all three, we can confirm that the terraces in Sideman were the most authentic and most impressive. And the best part is that due to their remote location, they are not commercialized. At all. You will not see a single tourist or hawker there. Tegalalang is barely even a rice terrace, and is just popular due its proximity to overdeveloped Ubud. Jatiluwih is impressive, but the confluence of guesthouses, shops and tour buses there kind of detracts from the authenticity of the whole thing.
Pura Besikah
4. Pura Besikah: I guess we couldn’t do a top 5 of this area without mentioning the Mother Temple. While you will be hassled to no end while visiting, this doesn’t take away from the scale or grandeur of this temple complex. We recommend just sucking it up and paying for a ‘guide’ right away and have him fend off the other guides for the rest of the tour. They will tell you a guide is “required”, but from what we read, this isn’t true. Nevertheless, even we gave in to the guides’ persistence as they would not even let you take a picture without getting in your face. This is really the only part of Bali where we experienced this type of treatment.
5. Tenganan Pegringsingan: Tenganan Pegringsingan is a traditional Balinese village (which has been somewhat made into a park/living museum. Inside you can see how an isolated village, largely untouched by the development in the rest of the Bali, goes about its daily life.