Ulun Danu Bratan

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan was founded in the seventeenth century on the shore of Lake Bratan at around twelve hundred metres, and its function is practical as well as devotional: it is dedicated to Dewi Danu, the goddess of the lakes, and it sits at the head of the subak irrigation system that carries water down to the rice terraces of central Bali - the UNESCO inscription covers that whole water-temple network as a cultural landscape, and this is one of its principal nodes. The image everyone knows is of two thatched meru towers standing on small islands with the water around them and the highland cloud behind; when the lake is high they are genuinely surrounded, and when it drops they stand on visible ground. The temple appears on the fifty thousand rupiah note.

What you actually see

• Thatched meru on the water - the towers on small islands, floating when the lake is high.
• A subak water temple - a principal node of the irrigation network on the UNESCO list.
• Highland cloud and cold - twelve hundred metres, often misty.
• A banknote view - the composition printed on the fifty thousand rupiah note.

When to go

April to October; early morning for still water and fewer people. Half a day.

Honest expectations

When the lake level drops the floating effect disappears entirely. It is often clouded and drizzling. The grounds are heavily commercialised with photo props and stalls. It gets very crowded by mid-morning.

Nearby

The twin lakes and Munduk are west; Bedugul market is beside the temple.