In Reply to: Route to take in Amed and Lovina posted by swt on Sunday, 23. January 2005 at 09:05 Bali Time:
There are basically 3 main ways of getting yourself around the island. Drive yourself, get a driver to drive you, or get shuttle busses. The latter I would not recommend, as you are usually sandwiched in and you miss out on the best thing about Bali and that is being able to stop and admire the great scenery this tropical island has to offer.
If you are used to heavy traffic on rather narrow roads, then you are probably ok for driving yourself around. It will take you a while getting used to the style of driving here but the great advantage of driving yourself is the freedom it gives you. Getting a driver has a few risks, in that you might not get on with him, or he might be always trying to take you to places where he can get a commission from what you buy, or eat. If you do hire a car just be careful of anyone while you are driving pointing at your tyre as if there is something wrong. Don't stop as they will pull your petrol hose out and you will stall 500meters down the road where low and behold there will be someone to help you at an exorbitant price.
Re traveling up to Lovina, you have the choice of three of the most beautiful roads in Bali. The most direct and shortest rout is right up the center passing through the old volcanic lakes of Bedugul. This is a well looked after road but is quite busy, especially on Sundays when it is full of local Balinese day-trippers. The main places of interests on this rout, is the lake Bedugul and the temple built on the side of this beautiful lake. You can parrasail, ski, or just take a relaxing boat ride on this tranquil lake. Just before you get to the lake it is really worth stopping at the markets, that sells many tropical fruits, local vegetables, spices, plants and all the usual touristy things. Close by to this market is the Botanical Gardens, where you will see some of the largest ferns, plus great views of the lake. Another few kilometers further on you will come to one of the few forests left in Bali where monkeys wait by the side of the road to be fed by the passing traffic. These monkeys are good in the fact they are still too shy of people to start any tricks like pinching cameras or jumping in your car to look for food (like they do in monkey forest Ubud) but you can still feed them by hand, just don't try and touch them. Just a short way up past the monkeys you will reach the top of the mountain range before heading down to Singaraja and Lovina. You can take a left hand turn at this junction and get off the main road but be warned it is not that well sign posted and you will need very good brakes for the extremely steep descents you will get on this road. The advantage of going this way is you get away from the traffic plus you get great views looking all the way down to Lovina, the Bali sea and Java. Soon after turning left you will get great views of another volcanic lake that nearly joins another further on. After about 4 kilometers further on you will need to take the first turn right and follow the signs to Selat. From Kuta to Lovina using this rout will take you about 2 and a half-hours if you don't have any stops.
Another rout you can take is a little further to the west through Tabanan and then take the turn off to Pupuan. This will take you about 20 minutes longer than the Bedugul road. This is also a well looked after road and is not as busy as the Bedugul one. The best thing about this road is the great rice terracing you will see for most of the way. Great for photography along this road.
Another longer rout is via the active mountain of Kintamani. You will need to head east from Kuta towards Ubud. The roads along this way are not so well looked after and have many tour busses as well. Kintamani is quite active at the moment with quite a lot of smoke and some small explosions from the side of the mountain. Be warned though due to all the one day tour busses that go this way, when you stop to take in this spectacular mountain you will quite likely be swarmed upon by the most aggressive sellers Bali has to offer. Try not to stop in Penolakan, or near any of the many Restaurants built along this old volcanic rim looking across to Mt Kintamani. Go a little further to avoid these not so pleasant sellers and the views are just as great. This way will probably take about 3 and half-hours of actual driving time.
When you get to Lovina you could try out my place for a pleasant family run place.. We have budget through to luxury accommodation with 2 pools set in a large tropical garden. Our place is called Rambutan Beach Cottages. Our Webb page is www.rambutan.org/