Astungkara Way: a fascinating walk across unspoilt Bali

The Astungkara Way is an 85-mile trail to the 'wilder' north of Bali

(Image credit: Astungkara Way)

Concrete holiday villas and "slick cafés" have proliferated in Bali in recent years, but large parts of this beautiful Indonesian island are still unspoilt by tourism.

Among the best ways to discover its ancient landscape and traditional culture is to walk the Astungkara Way, said Sarah Reid in National Geographic Traveller. Launched by a Bali-based Canadian teacher in 2021, this 85-mile trail runs from the island's touristy south to its wilder north. The trail's founders have produced maps for self-guided walks, but also run group hikes, which include accommodation with local families and a range of daily activities. Villages on the trail benefit from the income it brings, and profits are used to support regenerative farming practices, which are aimed at profiting both local farmers and Bali's ecosystems. It takes ten days to walk the entire trail, but I limited myself to a three-day, 22-mile section, beginning from the village of Tua, 1,500 feet above sea level. The path meandered at first through a patchwork of "neon-green" rice paddies and fields of flowers, which are grown as temple offerings (nearly nine-tenths of Bali's people are Hindu).

Every so often, we passed a tree wrapped in a sarong, indicating that it is sacred, and at a temple fed by several springs we took part in a melukat, or water purification ceremony, which involved being immersed in water and blessed. We spent the first night at a traditional family compound, a walled "village within a village" where we made the spicy condiment sambal, and tried recreating a traditional performance of gamelan music.