Ubud

Long-tailed macaques range across the whole forest, and three temples stand inside it. Zip your bag; plastic bags and sunglasses get snatched here. Hold food in your hand and one will come up onto your shoulder.

Paddies are cut into both walls of a ravine, so a circuit means going down and climbing back up. Several spots collect a donation for crossing private land, and the swings and photo platforms charge on top. Almost no shade anywhere, so walk it early.

Spring water is piped into a row of spouts, and bathers queue up and work along them from the left. Bring a change of clothes and a sarong if you mean to get in. The spouts kept for households in mourning are the ones everyone else steps past.

Ten shrines are cut straight into the cliff above the Pakerisan river. Scholars read them as 11th-century royal memorials, though whose they are is unsettled. A long stair drops from the parking area to the water. Carry water; the climb out is the hard half.

The cave mouth is carved as one huge face, and inside there is only a narrow T-shaped passage. The bathing pool in the forecourt was dug out of the earth in 1954. Down towards the ravine sit Buddhist remains, so two religions share the one site.

A paved path follows the ridge left between two rivers, a little over 2km one way. Long stretches carry no trees, so most walkers set out at first light.

The royal family still lives here, so the inner courts stay shut and only the front yard is open. In the evening that yard becomes a stage, with legong and kecak rotating by day of the week. Tickets are sold at the gate during the afternoon.

Go with the clock in mind: before dawn the same square is a vegetable and offering-flower market, and when morning is done it turns into souvenir tables. Asking prices run well above what things actually go for, and few people pay them.

Balinese painting is hung school by school in separate pavilions, so you can trace which style came out of which village. It opened in 1982, and Western painters who settled on the island have rooms of their own. One pavilion holds kris daggers.

It lies about half an hour south of Ubud by car, with a stair running from the car park down to the falls. The catchment upstream is paddy, so the water turns yellow after rain. You can swim, though the pull right under the drop is strong.

A temple to Saraswati, goddess of learning, reached by a stone path between lotus ponds. The Ubud artist I Gusti Nyoman Lempad did the carving. On evenings with a dance performance, the chairs facing the pond fill first.

The Manila-born painter Antonio Blanco's home, opened as a museum on the rise overlooking the Campuhan bridge. Many canvases show his wife, the Balinese dancer Ni Ronji. In the garden, staff will set a parrot on your arm for a photo.

The Agung Rai Museum of Art on Jalan Pengosekan hangs work by Walter Spies and Raden Saleh. Its galleries are scattered among paddies and gardens, so the walk between them is long. Many evenings bring a dance performance on the garden stage.

Opened in 1956, the oldest art museum in Bali. The collection follows Balinese painting in order of period, starting from the Pita Maha artists' circle of the 1930s. The Ubud palace sits just down the road, making it easy to see both in one go.

Pick-up from Ubud comes around 2am, then about two hours of climbing in the dark to meet the sun on the summit. At sunrise Lake Batur and Mount Agung both come into view. Guides steam eggs over the volcanic vents for breakfast.

Tiered shrines sit on Lake Beratan in the Bedugul highlands and seem to float. The altitude keeps it cooler than Ubud, and mist often settles in by afternoon. Arrive early in the day, ahead of the coach groups, for a quiet lake.

Paddies run on and on along the flanks of Mount Batukaru, on the UNESCO list alongside subak, the water-sharing system. At the ticket booth you choose a short trail or a long one. It is wider than Tegallalang and far less crowded.

The mother temple of Balinese Hinduism, more than twenty temples gathered across Mount Agung's flank. You buy a ticket at the visitor centre beside the car park, then ride a shuttle up. Men at the gate insist a guide is compulsory; there is no such rule.

Walk into a narrow rock gorge in Bangli and the water drops through a cave-like gap overhead. On dry-season mornings, slanting sun through the cleft lights up beams in the spray. The path runs ankle-deep through water, so wear footwear you don't mind soaking.

A sloping stone lane in Bangli where identical house gates stand in rows down both sides. No cars enter the village, and a bamboo forest stands behind it. Residents sell bottled loloh cemcem from their front yards.

A long panel cut into a rock wall around the 14th century, showing hunting and daily life. A short stroll through paddies from Goa Gajah leads here, yet few visitors bother, so it is quiet. Sarongs are lent; a small shrine over a water source ends the panel.

A mountain temple in Karangasem; the split gate framing Mount Agung became famous as the Gates of Heaven photo. Visitors queue by numbered slip at that gate, sometimes for hours. The watery reflection is a mirror the photographer holds under your phone.

A water garden built by the king of Karangasem, crossed on stepping stones laid over the ponds. Koi move in shoals underneath, and vendors at the entrance sell pellets to feed them. For an extra fee you can swim in a pool filled from the water source.

About two hours by raft down the Ayung gorge west of Ubud. Partway down you pass a long relief of the Ramayana carved into the riverside rock. A long flight of steps climbs from the take-out to the road, so the end is the hardest part.

A village where silver workshops and shops line the road from Denpasar to Ubud. Several workshops run half-day classes in which you hammer out your own ring. Shops price by weight, so watch the scale before you pay.

Stalls set up at dusk in Gianyar town, a 20-minute drive from Ubud. A single lap covers babi guling, satay and sweet snacks. Locals are the main crowd, so prices run about half of what Ubud restaurants charge.