Twelve reasons to travel to Bali

Verdant rice terraces cover Bali's hills and mountains. Source: Getty Images

A woman paddles on the still waters near the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan Temple. Source: Getty Images

THE mere mention of Bali evokes thoughts of a paradise. It's more than a place; it's a mood, an aspiration, a tropical state of mind

So for the new edition of their Bali & Lombok guide, Lonely Planet have hunted down the fresh, the revamped, the transformed, the hot and the happening.

WHAT'S NEW

1 UNESCO recognition

Playing a critical role in rural Bali life, the subak is a village association that deals with water, water rights and irrigation. With water passing through many, many cores of rice fields before it drains away for good, there was always the chance that growers near the source would be water-rich while those at the bottom would be selling carved wooden critters at Tanah Lot.

Regulating a system that apportions a fair share to everyone is a model of mutual co-operation and an insight into the Balinese character. (One strategy is to put the last person on the water channel in control.)

After years of waiting, Bali rejoiced when this complex and vital social system was recognised by UNESCO in 2012 and added to the World Heritage List. Specific sites singled out include much of the rice-growing region around Tabanan, Pura Taman Ayun and the Jatiluwih rice terraces.

2 Popular Canggu

More a state of mind than a place, Canggu is the catch-all name given to the villa-filled stretch of land between Kerobokan and Echo Beach. It is getting ever-more trendy cafes, restaurants and places to stay. It includes many beaches such as Berewa and Batu Bolong. If you need time away from the sand, some of Bali's best artists show at Sukyf Arch & Art, an attractive gallery not far from the Canggu Club.

3 Kerobokan's Beach

Kerobokan combines some of Bali's best restaurants, lavish lifestyles and still more beach. Glossy new resorts and clubs are appearing along the beach north of Kerobokan. The W Retreat & Spa, the Mozaic Beach Club and the popular Potato Head are but three examples.

4 Bukit excitement

Hot and arid, the southern peninsula known as Bukit (meaning "hill" in Bahasa Indonesia) is popular with visitors, from the cloistered climes of Nusa Dua to the sybaritic retreats along the south coast. The booming west coast with its string-of-pearls beaches is a real hot spot. Accommodation sits precariously on the sand at Balangan Beach, while the cliffs are dotted with idiosyncratic lodges at Bingin and elsewhere. New places sprout up daily and most have views of the turbulent waters here, which have world-famous surf breaks all the way south to the important temple of Ulu Watu.

5 New airport

Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport will get a huge new terminal, replacing its overcrowded old facility by next year. The big question: will they actually staff the many immigration stations?

6 New toll road

Due for completion before next year, Bali's new toll road is meant to avoid the worst of the traffic in and around Kuta. About 12km in length, it runs from the bypass near Denpasar over the mangroves to a point near Nusa Dua, with a branch to Ngurah Rai Airport. The toll will be 10,000 rupiah ($A1); the time-savings over the current clogged roads is hard to quantify. The road's northern end is at the turn to Benoa off the bypass, already one of the most congested spots in the south.

7 Traffic schemes

As its popularity has grown Ubud has become traffic-clogged and tourist-choked that in many ways reminds locals and visitors of - horrors! - Kuta. And day trippers from that very place, having endured 90 minutes or more of traffic, wonder why they bothered coming to Ubud. In an effort to alleviate the traffic, deal with parked cars and give the wandering masses somewhere to dawdle, the local government announced some big plans last year, including a complex new intersection of the Jl Ngurah Rai Bypass and Sunset Rd east of Kuta.

8 Lombok International

The long-completed, rather gleaming new Lombok International Airport in the south of the island near Praya is finally open for business, with more international and domestic flights.

9 Dive schools galore

Several new dive schools have sprouted on the Gili Islands. Hence, formation of the Gili Island Diving Association last year, an effort by the best of the bunch to safeguard local reefs and guests by setting professional and environmental standards.

10 The Anti-Gilis

OK, technically they're Gili Islands too, but Gili Gede and Gili Asahan have a far more removed and tranquil feel than their famed counterparts. Soothing winds gust, birds flutter and gather just before sunset, muted calls to prayer rumble, stars and moonbeams bathe the night.

11 Way out

Lombok's west Further west from Mawi, and just when you think you've seen the most beautiful beaches Kuta has to offer, you reach Selong Blanak. Park and cross the rickety pedestrian bridge to a wide, sugar-white beach with water streaked a thousand shades of blue, ideal for swimming. There is a fabulous boutique villa property and cafe tucked away on the cliffs and inland from the beach. Sempiak Villas is one of Kuta's most up-market properties. At sea level, Laut Biru Cafe is open to all comers. It's an exquisite Swiss-Indo-owned, thatched-roof construction, with remixed world music tracks floating through the room and patio.

12 Low-rent Trawangan

Today, Trawangan's main drag boasts a glittering roster of lounge bars, hip hotels and cosmopolitan restaurants, mini-marts and dive schools. And yet behind this glitzy facade, a bohemian character endures, with rickety warung and reggae joints between the cocktail tables. But even as massive 200+ room hotels begin to colonise the wild west coast, you can head inland to a village laced with sandy lanes roamed by free-range roosters, kibitzing ibu (mothers) and wild-haired kids playing hopscotch. Here the call of the muezzin, not happy hour, defines the time of day. With the opening of the island's first dedicated hostel, a bohemian crash pad (Woodstock), and an exile outpost (the Exile), Gili T value lives on.

This is an edited extract from Lonely Planet Bali & Lombok (14th Edition) by Ryan Ver Berkmoes and Adam Skolnick, Lonely Planet 2013. Published this month, RRP: $39.99.

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