Munduk

Munduk sits at around eight hundred metres on a ridge in northern Bali, in country planted with clove, coffee, cacao and vanilla, and it has kept a set of Dutch-era bungalows from the period when the colonial administration used the ridge as a hill retreat. It is cooler and wetter than the south of the island. Ravines cut down from the ridge and hold a sequence of waterfalls - Munduk, Melanting, Golden Valley, Banyumala twin falls further along - most reached by short steep walks through plantation and forest, and walking between them along the irrigation channels is the standard way to spend a day. The village has become a base for people avoiding the Ubud and coastal crowds, with guesthouses along the ridge and views down to the north coast.

The landscape

• Spice and coffee gardens - clove, cacao and vanilla planted around the village.
• A run of waterfalls - Munduk, Melanting, Golden Valley and Banyumala in the ravines.
• Dutch-era bungalows - from the colonial hill retreat period on the ridge.
• Irrigation channel walks - the paths linking the falls through the plantations.

When to go

April to October; it rains here in any season. Two days.

Practical notes

It is wet and cool - not a beach base. Waterfall paths are steep and slippery, and each charges separately. The road up is winding. Mobile signal and power can be patchy.

Nearby

The twin lakes are east; Lovina and the north coast are down the hill.

Key facts