In Reply to: Going North West info posted by Gabrielle on Wednesday, 11. August 2010 at 10:30 Bali Time:
to Bali and Lombok from your library and read up on the routes and info, but in the meantime my suggestions would be to travel up via Pupuan to Serririt(nice rice terracing views at Belimbing, good stop for a meal or snack at Cafe Belimbing I think it might be called) and perhaps onto Pemuteran for a trip out to Menjangan Island (Marine National Park area) if you like snorkeling as an alternative to Lovina.........although if you only want to spend two nights away, maybe then this visit just do Lovina instead (we stay at Villa Agung right on the beach, village of Anturan, it's not in the main village of Kelibukbuk) and Singaraja has a few things to explore, the pasar (market) is interesting to see, also the Museum(Gedng Kirtya) with the old lontar palm manuscripts, certainly Singaraja has a different feel to it because of their higher muslim population there. Donkar (horse and carts) are the local mode of transport as well, that's fun to do. Nice temple to visit with good carvings is Pura Meduwe Karang at Kubutambahan, 11 km east of Singaraja. Find the famous carving of the dutch cyclist there.
Then on the way back you could go via Banjar Hot Springs(Seririt) and across to Munduk and via the two lakes to the Bedugal Road. A nice lunch stop is the restaurant up in the mountains, Ngiring Ngewedang where they can show you how they process the local coffee (kopi) and on a good day views right across to the west of Bali.
The west road via Negara is not that pleasant, very busy with trucks etc. and I only travelled it to visit an interesting temple Pura Rambut Siwi.
Hope this helps with your planning. Any questions just ask, left my email open.