Ubud: Electric Bike Tour to Tirta Empul Temple with Lunch

4.96

(312 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I didn’t expect the electric bike to feel so easy—almost like cheating, but in a good way. We started somewhere just outside Ubud, and within minutes we were gliding past those thick green rice terraces you always see in photos. I could smell wet earth and incense from a little roadside shrine. Our guide, Wayan, waved at some farmers and pointed out a jackfruit tree (I’d never seen one that big). The air was warm but not heavy yet—it was still early enough that everything felt fresh.

There was this moment when we rolled into a village and an old woman smiled at us from her porch. She had this tiny laugh when I tried to say “selamat pagi”—I probably butchered it. Wayan told us about the ceremonies happening that week, and I could hear distant gamelan music somewhere behind the houses. The ride wasn’t hard at all thanks to the electric bike, which honestly made me wish I’d had one back home for hills.

Tirta Empul Water Temple was quieter than I thought it would be. The smell of flowers mixed with something mineral in the air—maybe from the spring water? We watched people moving through the pools, heads bowed under fountains. Wayan explained how locals come here for purification rituals; he even showed us how to tie our sarongs properly (mine kept slipping). Afterward, we sat down for lunch—rice, chicken satay, spicy sambal—and I still think about that taste sometimes when I’m hungry late at night. The whole half-day tour felt like pressing pause on regular life. Hard to explain unless you’ve done it.