Hot Springs in a volcanic caldera

Somehow a trip overseas is always better with hot springs!

In North Bali you will find the Batur Hot springs.

You firstly need to head to Mt Kintamani, pay the road entry tolls and fight through the hordes of sellers attempting to extract any sale from unsuspecting tourists.

Head down the mountain and into the caldera around the lake, following on from the road down (which - take it slowly - is an experience in itself) you will come to a strange moonscape location where the lava from the exploded volcano leaves an eerie reminder that all was not well at one point in this part of the world.

Arriving in the small village there are several hotels, resorts and places you can take a dip in the natural hot springs.

We had met a man along the road delivering his wifes lunch at the most exclusive resort and were guided by him to her workplace.

Heres the direct link

I cant remember exactly what we paid, but it wasn't so cheap - actually we ended up putting it on a visa card - perhaps around $20 pp.

For this you received a welcome drink and entry to the 3 lagoon pools and one huge swimming pool - all fed by warm natural mineral waters.

It was freezing the day we came up, we rode motorbikes and had been caught in icy rain so badly we were quite numb, so to slip into the warm waters was certainly most welcome.

If coming up from Ubud (or further south) plan to have most of a day to do this, the drive is around 1.5hours from Ubud, 2 hours from Sanur/Kuta and you will want to spend a few hours here and perhaps stop for lunch and shopping at Tegallalang on the way home.