Tanah Lot, Bali, Indonesia

A visit to Bali will generally entail multiple visits to the many temples on the island.  Each with its own unique story or situation.  Pura Tanah Lot is one of them, situated on the west coast of the island with a dramatic ocean front and with limited access governed by the ocean tide.

Being one of the most visited and probably interesting sites of Bali, the path to the temple is surrounded by shops selling souvenirs, handicrafts and snacks.  There are some interesting items that are quite unique and may be worth sometime to browse through.

It is quite a walk to the temple itself.

Entrance to Pura Tanah Lot

Although we arrived around mid-day with the sun blazing down directly, it didn’t feel that warm due to the sea breeze.  One thing to note that because we were rush for time, we went at mid-day, otherwise for photographers, the best time would be at dusk.

Of course, the most common picture must be taken.  On a search for Tanah Lot online, you will most probably be greeted with this picture, the seemingly “floating” part of the temple.

When I arrived, it was high tide and hence we were not able to walk across to the temple.  Below is an image which may give you an idea of the distance to walk on low tide.

The picture immediately above was taken from the other end of the crescent shaped grounds.  The temple is also known in the past (or is it also in the present) with the abundance of poisonous snakes!  The picture below is a “seemingly” harmless snake that is on it’s way to have itself wrap around tourists for photo taking sessions … which of course, yours truly stayed very VERY far away from.

I would like to suggest that if you ever do go there, bring a bottle of cold water and spend sometime walking around.  Other than the gargoyles (which are everywhere in Bali), there are some very detailed architectural crafts.