Sidemen Valley

Sidemen lies in a valley on the south-western flank of Mount Agung, terraced in rice and irrigated by subak, the Balinese water management system of shared channels and temple-linked allocation that UNESCO inscribed in 2012 - the terraces here are working farmland rather than a viewing platform, which is the difference between Sidemen and Tegallalang. Walter Spies, the German painter whose work shaped how the West saw Bali, lived here in the 1930s and the valley has drawn a quiet stream of people since. It is also a weaving centre: songket, silk with supplementary gold or silver thread, and endek, weft ikat, are made in workshops in the villages, and some open to visitors. Guesthouses look up the valley at Agung when the cloud clears.

What you actually see

• Working subak terraces - rice irrigated by the shared water system, not a viewpoint.
• Songket and endek weaving - gold-thread silk and weft ikat made in village workshops.
• Agung above the valley - the volcano at the head, when it is not in cloud.
• The Walter Spies connection - the valley he lived in during the 1930s.

When to go

April to October; terraces are greenest mid-cycle. Two days.

Honest expectations

Agung is often hidden by cloud. Terraces are private farmland - stay on paths and ask before walking through. Weaving workshops are small businesses; visits are best arranged rather than dropped in on.

Nearby

Besakih and Agung are north; Klungkung and the east coast are south.