Loading ...
The best spots in Bali are in regions away from the touristy areas. The island is rich in beautiful nature spots. For instance the cascading waterfall at Git Git in the northern part of the island is very popular with tourists and locals alike.
The Banjar Hot Springs near Lovina are another famous spot, with 3 basins of different temperature to chose from. They are about 25 kilometers from Git Git.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a spot where you can stand under a Waterfall and warm your old bones in a Hot Spring right next door and almost at the same time?
Contrasts
Already Hildegard von Bingen, the famous abbess and herbalist of the 12th century, knew the rejuvenating health effects of water for your metabolism and senses – she recommended all-embracing (universal) water treatments as a good way to increase blood circulation.
In the early 1900’s, ‘contrast baths’ became very popular, with Bavarian Sebastian Kneipp, a priest and founder of the naturopathic movement promoting them heavily and building a whole new business model around then new-age Hydrotherapy.
He treated tens of thousands of people with different applications of water through various methods, temperatures and pressures and made a fortune from it.
His methods became famous as the “Kneipp Cure” or Water Cure.
Even more so today most people enjoy going to Saunas or Spas and get treated in similar ways. It’s nice to pamper yourself once in a while, isn’t it?!
You can spend a fortune there as well, with aroma therapies, herbal baths, mud or blanket packings, compresses and steam saunas to sooth aching bones and muscles, relaxing and rejuvenating your skin and limbs.
Is it real?
Imagine a green paradise nestled between lush rice paddies with small streams and creeks of water coming from everywhere. Need some privacy in a closed cabin to relax and enjoy the hot waters without any outside interference?
Welcome to Angseri Hot Springs!
We only discovered this spot recently after arriving in Bedugul in pouring cold rain. Our cravings for fresh strawberries didn’t collaborate with the weather this time.
Freezing and jittering, with a cup of coffee in our hands, we heard some whispers and rumors about a distant hidden spot, waiting to please our tired bones with hot waters coming out of the depths of the earth.
A name emerged – Patung Jagung (“Corn Statue”), shrouding the place in even more mystery.
Was it real? We had to find out.
Asking some locals around only gave very vague directions. Scooting up and down hill the long-winding roads through the rice fields and plains still brought us closer to our target. The locals responded with more precise directions and after about 30 minutes south-west from Bedugul we reached it.
Soaking wet and calling up our last strengths we made our way through the bushes and climbed down the bamboo stairs to an idyllic dell, surrounded with mist amidst green bamboo and fern trees and thick jungle vegetation. Ahhhh – the joys of hot waters making you feel like a baby in its mother’s womb! 
DIY Hydrotherapy
Okay, enough of prose and drama. You got to have to check this spot out when in Bali! It has a beautiful charm in its own unique way. The small waterfall is a delicious massage for head and shoulders. It’s very cold water of course, but you can feel the heat from the ground when standing on the sand below the waterfall.
In contrary to the Banjar Hot Spring in Lovina, which features big public bathing basins, this Hot Spring offers small private cabins – with rooms for up to 4 people max. For Rp20.000 (app. USD 2 or 1.5 Euro) you can call one of the cabins your own as long as you want – or until you can compete with Lobster in skin color.
They have one larger open-air pool with hot water as well.
The private cabins are cleaned after every visitor and the water is exchanged completely as well. The whole place is practically only a few months old and hygiene looks very good.
There were no other patrons the 2 times we visited the place.
Be aware though, that there is nothing else around, so if you are planning to sip on a beer or fruit juice while bathing, better bring your own!
I found it especially thrilling to change between waterfall and hot cabin every 5 minutes, although you will be exhausted rather sooner than later.
From the water fall, a small plashing creek is winding down the valley, you can easily have a short walk in its bed.
The whole area is surrounded by green vegetation, mainly bamboo, palm and fern trees – as well as cultivated rice paddies, where you can sometimes see the local farmers going after their work in the rice fields.
A mesmerizing idyll in the middle of nowhere!
How to get there?
It’s actually not that difficult. At the start of Bedugul on the hill top take the furthest left road from the main street near the huge food and flower market. Don’t pass through the stone gate, but take the lane left of it. It’s a small winding road going up and downhill for about 20-30 minutes.
You can reach it coming from Tabanan going north-east as well, but then it’s a bit more difficult to find.
The destination village is called Desa Angseri, but ask for the area “Patung Jagung”, as more people know that one and will point you in the right direction.
Coming closer to the destination you will see black and white signs ‘Air Panas’, which means Hot Spring in Bahasa Indonesia.
They have a larger open-air pool with hot water as well, but in the early afternoon this one is already emptied and cleaned for the next day to come. So make sure you arrive not later than lunch time to use this one.
The bigger pool and some more pictures in better quality can be found here.
or save article to your Facebook with 1 simple click:
April 8th, 2008 at 1:44 am
I am definitely going to refer to your blog for off-the-beaten-path tips when I finally get to Bali one of these days!! The Picasa album is having trouble loading, but I’ll keep trying!
April 8th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Oops?! I checked and re-build the link. Please let me know, if it’s still not working!
April 8th, 2008 at 10:00 am
If only I’d known when I was there in October! Surprisingly I didn’t get to any hot springs on my trip, although as you know, I sure went to a ton of spas.
I hope you were finally able to get your strawberries.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:23 am
I couldn’t look at the pictures on-line but I was able to download them at look at a local copy. Very pretty!
April 11th, 2008 at 12:21 am
Chris,
Faboulous site. mind if i link to it on my own travel site? I just launched my own travel blog/advice site (http://www.nomadicmatt.com) and am linking other blogs I like.
Your photos are beautiful. I haven’t been to bali yet but am going there next year when i re-tour South East Asia..
-Matt
April 11th, 2008 at 1:20 am
Matt – thanks for the compliments and sure go ahead with a link. I will check out your site as well…..happy traveling!
April 14th, 2008 at 2:39 am
Gorgeous spot. Thanks for the info Chris .
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
great ideas – I feel like a soak right now! thanks for posting.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:47 am
As much as I love the water this post is right up my alley Chris. While I was reading it believe tit or not I swear I heard the sprinkling of the waterfalls. I will probably never make to Bali but your words put me there none the less.
I’m off to check out Nomadic Matt’s blog now…Happy Travels:)
May 31st, 2008 at 4:40 am
Hi !
I just discovered your blog, and I love it ! Think it will really help me to prepare my trip in the south of Asia.
Keep going
October 11th, 2008 at 12:15 am
hi,my name doel Im froom heare.thank for info my vilage,if you want go heare you can called my at nourt angseri ok =D>
October 12th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
[…] grey beaches, stony beaches, sandy beaches, pebble beaches. Deep lakes, mountains, volcanoes, water falls, hot springs, jungles, national parks, rice fields or terraces are here for you. You can simply get lost in […]
November 19th, 2008 at 1:45 am
O skipper shady when you again to my village now bathing in hot water there is a change from the spatial, and accommodation facilities such as small restourant desa.we in the village angseri need help friends foreign tourists, of course we consider our brothers in the village . Thank receive a host shady friends all froom AS and from other countries :-B
September 21st, 2010 at 3:57 pm
My husband and I really loved the Angseri Hot Springs. The directions to the springs were very good and easy to follow before they abruptly ended and suggested that we “ask for the area “Patung Jagungâ€, as more people know that one and will point you in the right direction.” This is what we did, although we were on the right track, just ran out of directions. Anyway, after about the fourth confused villager looked at us like we were crazy, we decided to look “Patung Jagung” up in our dictionary. It turns out, that we had been asking people where the Corn Statue was. We had seen the corn statue back at the last turn and were confused when people kept turning us back. It was pretty funny. Anyway, thanks for the info! The springs are delightful.
April 17th, 2011 at 3:10 am
hi chris. im going to bali soon and i have done some research about the dangers and risks for foreigners who go to bali. i always saw bali as the paradise, but after reading all those negative things that are around in the internet i have become a bit insecure about my plans and i am worried about my safety when going to bali. it would be good if someone like you, who experienced it himself, could tell me how it really is. i have read all the sites, balibs, nastybali, fuglybali and balitravel forum. i know that most of the information is overstated and written by a person willing to harm bali with these sites, but i also believe that much of the information is based on truth. there is always also a dark side, i know that. i just wanna know if i really have to be worried that drug dealers plant drugs on me and point me out the the police to extort money from me, if i can safely visit clubs during ramadan without having to be afraid of terrorist attacks or if i have to be afraid that drugs are planted in my luggage. i read that an indonesian man has been jailed 5 years for taking bananas off a tree growing on a village road, or a couple, both 19 years old, taking bananas from a tree because they needed food to survive and now possibly getting 7 years in jail for it, it really scares me. it seems like i would have to be cautious every single second to not accidentally break the law and a single action, which doesnt seem unusual for a tourist, like taking a banana off a tree somewhere out on an abandoned road could ruin my life. it gives me the impression that anyone could easily just make up a story to get you into trouble with the police if they would wish to harm you. im not going to bali for a tourist holiday in a hotel, i wanna stay there for years. please tell me, do i have to be worried about all these things?
April 26th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
peter, life is a constant danger and uncertainty. I visited those sites also and while I agree on some things stated and explained in more detail there (mainly about corruption, hygiene and lax attitudes), I would agree, that many stories are also gravely exaggerated.
No place in the world is completely safe and Bali is no difference. As long as you use common sense, don’t get engaged in illegal activities (especially drugs) or don’t get drunk and try to fight with others, things are fairly safe here.
In fact I would rate Bali as the safest place in Asia, after Singapore or Hong Kong, way before any tourist destinations in Thailand, Malaysia or also the Philippines. But that’s only based on my experience in living here about 3 years and having spent extended time in most countries in SE Asia.
Still, if you steal bananas out of someones garden or are in the wrong spot at the wrong time, I wouldn’t guarantee for your safety, but then – would you have felt unsafe in Northern Japan before? In Haiti or New Orleans? Or any other specific pace on our globe you would generally consider safe, but which was struck but natural or terrorist events recently?
I don’t know – the only thing I’m sure is that I will die one day and that it could hit be any day. So I try to leave the worries aside and live my life without fear, enjoying every day. Avoiding stupid actions and illegal activities and applying some common knowledge when it comes to material things, money and business matters surely helps. There are thousands of foreigners and Expats living here safely and most of them would probably agree with my stance.
Good luck for your trip and hope you enjoy our paradise island!
April 27th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
thanks alot chris
April 24th, 2017 at 8:45 am
I’m traveling to Bali in September would like to do Komodo Dragons and Rinjani trek
I have 19 days any recommendations?
Thanks !