The Gate Of The Heaven Bali with Top Places To Visit In The East of Bali

We had a great time! Our driver cum guide Gede was very fluent in English and really took good care of us through the day! Definitely recommend them.

Temples are supposed to be sacred places of worship and enlightenment for those spiritually devoted to their religion in Bali right?...WRONG! this is The Gate of Heaven temple in Lempuyang famous for all the wrong reasons. This religious site is devalued into a feeding frenzy for tourists who are sandwiched between 2 gates posing for a few shots to take back home. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and had we known this beforehand, we would have chosen a different activity. Our choice of excursions so far had been a great mix of beautiful sceneries, culture and fun activities, but sadly got caught out with this one as it swallowed up a good part of our day. This activity starts from 5am or earlier as the first photo shoots starts at 6.30am, so you can have your ‘dream pose’ with the sunrise and Mount Agung as a backdrop if the sky is not marred by a curtain of rolling mists and grey skies. The weather has many changing faces at this time in the morning so really it’s luck of the draw. We’d set out from Seminyak at 7am arriving at Lempuyang at 10am. We enjoyed the quietness of the drive through lush countryside, catching glimpses of locals in early morning rituals praying, chanting and watching swirls of smoke from fragrant incense sticks disappearing into the morning dew. The drive is about 2 hours depending on traffic and your location, we reached Lempuyang tired but happy to leave the comfort of our seats. Kadek, our guide was right the place was heaving with buses, taxis and swarms of tourists. We climbed up a steep hill leading to the temple gave a donation and wrapped ourselves in sarongs like sushi. On entering the courtyard we were given a ticket number ours was 176, where we joined a pallet of about 200 coloured sarongs. Kadek said it would be a 3 hour wait (actually it was 4 hours by the time we had our photos), he left us for breakfast and catch up on his much needed sleep, (his not stupid!). It’s sad to see this temple turned into a ‘cat walk’ watching a sea of tourists all waiting to have their photos taken, and locals jumping on the bandwagon. If you wander off or you’ll miss your slot as your number gets called out once (maybe twice if your lucky). Don’t be fooled by the glossed instagram pictures there is no water, the effect is created by holding a mirror underneath your phone to give that illusion. Once your number is called out you get posing and it’s ‘click click click’ with the photographer shouting ‘jump’ & ‘next pose’ our 4 hour wait was over in a matter of seconds! tip: practice your poses beforehand, there’s no 2nd chances here you get a shot of about 10 pictures so make them count. You’ll need patience, confidence and a creative mind for those fun poses (not recommended if your camera shy as you’ll have about 200 people watching). Personally, we don’t recommend this activity as you’ll waste a good part of your day when you could be visiting other beautiful sites around in and around Bali, but if it is high on your agenda then go for it, perhaps get there by 5am, and then enjoy the rest of the day at your leisure. Our day ended with a couple more stops first to Tirta Gangga Water Palace in Ababi, and a luscious Strawberry Farm in Bedugul in Pacansari. A far more lifting experience and fun, and certainly compensated our “faux pas” at Gate of Heaven. Many thanks to Kadek for an enjoyable day. Indu & Versha.

I met with Md Eras, who guide me to take from my hotel around 3:30 am in the night and we went to see the gate of heaven...he is so helpful and the gratitude he shows which was extra ordinary. He even took some short video of us and later he sent me thru WhatsApp like a movie.....it will be less if I only thank him. Eras is very gentle in nature and having good knowledge of Bali. Thank you Eras and I will definitely share my view in my friend circle to connect you and Bali Bliss when they wish to come.