Banjar hot springs
Bali’s most attractive hot springs
Published/Last edited or updated: 22nd September, 2016
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The traditional Balinese temple-like architecture and carvings at Banjar’s sacred hot springs help create the most attractive of Bali’s geothermal baths. Amid lush topical grounds three pools are fed by naturally hot spring water spewing from the mouths of carved stone nagas.
Travelfish says:
The top narrow pool is the shallowest and warmest with a consistent depth of one metre, and here water gushes in from eight of the carved creatures. The lower pool is fed from the overflow via five more naga heads. This much larger pool ranges from a depth of one metre to two at its deepest point, making it popular for local kids to practice dive bombing at the deep end. In the third pool, water streams from three spouts a few metres high offering an exhilarating, bruising massage. The water itself is not clear, but murky-green and slightly sulphurous, with a mild rotten-egg smell (but not offputting). Be careful climbing into the pools as the combination of heat and minerals have made it ideal for slippery algae to grow on the surfaces, and the stairs into the baths are difficult to see, often causing people to slash in unintentionally. The minerals and sulphur will discolour light-coloured clothing yellow and blacken silver jewellery. The colour usually washes out after a few washes, but don’t wear your favourite pristine whites.
This isn’t the place for wearing Western-style swimmers — it’s a holy spring and treated locally somewhat like a temple, so shorts and a T-shirt are more appropriate, although men can usually get away with just shorts. We have seen plenty of Western women in bikinis (and local guys photographing them from behind the bushes), however when we have asked the local women they have suggested more ... Travelfish members only (Full text is around 400 words.)
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Find out more Reviewed by
Sally Arnold
Sally spent twelve years leading tourists around Indonesia and Malaysia where she collected a lot of stuff. She once carried a 40kg rug overland across Java. Her house has been described as a cross between a museum and a library. Fuelled by coffee, she can often be found riding her bike or petting stray cats. Sally believes travel is the key to world peace.
