Gunung Kawi, Tampaksiring

Gunung Kawi is a set of candi carved out of the cliffs of the Pakerisan gorge rather than built on top of them. Ten tall niches, each shaped like the facade of a temple tower and standing around seven metres high, face each other across the river in two groups, understood as memorials to an eleventh-century Balinese king and his household. Around them are hermit cells hollowed into the rock and a small working temple. The approach is half the experience: a long flight of stone steps drops through rice terraces and carved gateways, the sound of water rising as you descend, and the same steps have to be climbed on the way out.

What's there

• The rock-cut shrines - ten temple facades carved into the gorge walls in two facing groups.
• The hermit cells - chambers cut into the rock beside the shrines.
• The stone stairway - the long descent through rice terraces to the river.
• The river - the Pakerisan running between the two groups of shrines.

When to go

April to October is the drier half of the year, and early morning is much the best time: the steps are shaded, the site is quiet and the heat has not built. Tour vehicles start arriving mid-morning. In the wet season the steps get slippery and the gorge stays humid all day.

Before you go

The return climb is several hundred steps in tropical heat, which catches out anyone who assumed this was a roadside stop, and there is no shortcut. The stalls lining the stairway press hard on the way down and again on the way up. A sarong is required and hired at the gate if you have none. The shrines themselves are weathered and plain rather than richly carved.

Nearby

The spring temple of Tirta Empul is a few minutes up the road; Ubud is half an hour southwest.