Tegallalang Rice Terrace : Most Photographed Rice Fields In Bali

What’s Ubud without Tegallalang Rice Terrace? The most famous rice paddyfiled in the whole of Bali, or some may say in South East Asia. If you’ve ever cyber-stalked photos of Ubud on Instagram, chances are you’ve seen photos of the Tegalalang rice terrace. So, when we based ourselves in Ubud during our Bali trip in August, we decided to include Tegallalang Rice Terrace into our itinerary despite our limited time in Ubud.

The best time to visit Tegallalang Rice Terrace is actually in the morning, when the weather is not too hot, and the place is yet to be packed with tourists, but since we went out for Mount Batur sunrise hike in the morning, we had no choice but to see Tegallalang in the afternoon. We paired out visit with Tirta Empul as they are both in the same direction, which is north of Ubud main street.

Weather was kind of gloomy when we visited and by the time we left Tirta Empul, we were worried that we may get soaked in rain while walking around Tegallalang. Fortunately, we were blessed by the weather god that day and it only rained after we reached Ubud main street. But for those of you who plan your visit in the afternoon, I’ll advise to wear comfortable, airy clothes as it can get really hot in the middle of the day. Bring an umbrella along too if you plan to walk around the rice field. A rain coat will also come in handy in case it rains.

After riding from Tirta Empul for about 15 minutes, we finally saw a row of shops by the road side selling clothes and souvenirs, and the rice field is there right behind the souvenir stalls. It’s not hard to spot as the busy street stands out from the rest of the road we were riding on.

I read that there is an official entrance to the rice field, and you can easily follow the “Rice Trekking” sign where you will be hiking down some stairs and reach the bottom of the terraces, where some locals will request entrance fee from you. It used to be in a form of donation, but in recent years, they turned it “official”. As we got lost finding the entrance, we ended up hiking down from the side where no one were collecting any entrance fee. On our way out though, we passed by a desk which I think could possible be the “fee collection” booth, but we notice no one checks whether you paid. So, if you really want to get away from paying, you can hike down from the side like what we did.

Besides demanding for donation, the locals working in the fields also found many other ways to make money, which includes charging tourist for photos. If you take a photo and they’re in it, they will ask you for money. Some locals also have those rice-field hats you can put on and a bamboo pole you can throw over your shoulder and snap a photo with. All these will of course come with a charge.

In recent years, they also set up a Giant Swing in the middle of the rice field, following the hot trend of Bali Swing. But to get there, you would probably need to pay different donations to different rice field owners in order to get there. Was it worth it? It’ll let you be your own judge.

Apart from the swings, another instagrammable spots in Tegallalang is definitely the “LOVE BALI” sign, placed at one of the café. It used to be free, but now only the café guests are allowed to use the sign for photography purpose. Well, who could blame them when they created it and it is indeed placed in the café premise? If the walk around the rice field builds up thirst in you, it’s probably worth stopping by some refreshing drinks here while making use of the beautiful sign. There are also quite a few other café and restaurants in the area if you prefer sitting down and enjoy the beautiful view instead of walking in the mud.

We didn’t spend much time there as the sky were dark and looked like it could rain anytime. Plus, we didn’t feel like paying those donations, so after about 30minutes, we left and headed back to Ubud Center, in search for some nice Babi Guling for lunch. Unfortunately, the Gung Cung Babi Guling which is famous among the locals had sold out by the time we dropped by and we had no choice but to head to Babi Guling Ibu Oka which has now made a name for being an overly commercialised restaurant, cater only for tourists. We order a plate of Babi Guling to sample and we think it was okay but truly nothing to shout about.

Cost

There are many ways to get into the rice field and that would determine your entrance fee. General entrance is 10,000 IDR, but you will need to give a donation to cross over a bridge in the bottom of the valley, and you will not be allowed over to the main terraces until you give a donation. There could also be other section which further donation might be demanded.

How to get there

Tegallalang Rice Terrace is 25 minutes north from Ubud main street. The visit to Tegallalang can be combined together with Pura Gunung Kawi and Pura Tirta Empul which are respectively 20 and 15 minutes away. If temple visit isn’t your cup of tea, there are also coffee plantation along the same road.

Renting a scooter is a wonderful way to see the Ubud. We rented a scooter for two days through our hotel for RP 100,000. A one-day rental will set you back for RP 70,000. If you can’t ride a motorbike or travelling in a large group, hiring a driver is another popular way of going around Bali. Price varies between RP500,000 to 600,000 per day, including petrol and parking fees.

We hired a driver for RP 500,000 on the last day of our trip to cover the area of Bedugul. Do contact our driver, Joe for more information - Facebook:  Bali Driver & Tour Organizer | Whatsapp / Wechat: +62 813-3741-2185

Best Time to Visit

I strongly advise to avoid visiting at midday. We had absolutely no choice and had to visit in the middle of the day but were fortunate to be blessed with a cloudy day. I could imagine that it gets really hot on a sunny day. It is best visited in the early morning or late afternoon and, if you’re into photography, those dawn and dusk golden hour times are your best friend. Tourist buses normally come around 10am and left by noon, so if you don’t like the crowd, avoid those timing too.

If by any chance that you had to visit during the busiest time of the day, don’t be scared by all the cars parked along the road side. The rice field is pretty big, and you can also hike down from the other side instead of the main entrance, which is a lot quieter.

The ride from Ubud center to Tegallalang is a pretty scenic as you pass by beautiful rice fields. Be sure to drop by at any one on your way back to Ubud center, but be considerate not to destroy the farmers’ crops. Too bad it was drizzling when we returned to Ubud main street so we couldn’t stop for a photos.

Epilogue

Tegalalang isn’t the blissful and peaceful heaven that you see in photos, where you have the whole place to yourself and walk undisturbed amongst rice paddies with golden sunlight washing over. With its immense popularity, it is overly visited and definitely over-exploited, where you will find locals pestering you pretty regularly, whether it’s to ask for a donation or ask you to some tourist trinket. The place is also packed with tourists and you could hardly get a full panoramic photo without anyone in it. That being said, if you are in Bali for the first time, I would still suggest paying a visit, since it’s one of the must-do thing in Bali, specifically in Ubud. The view from the top before you hike down to the valley is still spectacular as you are presented with layers and layers of lush green rice fields. This is something you don’t get to see in other rice fields in Ubud. After all, what’s a visit to the Ubud without a walk in Tegallalang Rice Terrace?