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East Bali
Sidemen
Unspoiled rice valleys below Mount Agung — Bali the way it used to be, without the crowds.
📅 1–2 nightsNatureAuthenticQuietWellness
Unspoiled rice valleys below Mount Agung — Bali the way it used to be, without the crowds.
Why Sidemen? Unspoiled rice valleys below Mount Agung — Bali the way it used to be, without the crowds.
Sidemen is a green valley in East Bali full of unspoiled rice terraces below the sacred Mount Agung — Bali as it looked before mass tourism. Quiet, authentic and photogenic, with traditional weaving workshops and village life.
It's the place to do little but enjoy: walking through the fields, gazing out over the volcano and seeking out the silence. No beach, no crowds.
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Sidemen (say "see-de-men") sits in a broad green valley in East Bali, in the shadow of the sacred volcano Mount Agung. It's the Bali many people picture but rarely find any more: emerald rice terraces worked by hand, palm-fringed villages, little traffic and a slow, gentle rhythm. Artists and writers have retreated here since the 1930s, and the valley is still famous for songket — the intricate gold-threaded weaving you can watch being made on traditional looms. You wake to mist over the paddies and, on a clear morning, the perfect cone of Agung filling the horizon.
The headline experience is simply walking or cycling the rice-field trails with a local guide, learning how the terraces and centuries-old irrigation work. Beyond that, visit a songket weaving workshop, watch arak and palm sugar being made, and take a guided e-bike tour through the lanes. For a shot of adventure there's white-water rafting on the Telaga Waja river. Sidemen also makes a superb base for East Bali's highlights: the water palaces of Tirta Gangga and Taman Ujung, Bali's mother temple Besakih on Agung's slopes, and quiet waterfalls tucked into the hills — all within an easy drive.
Two nights is enough to unwind and take in the valley, though many guests happily linger longer with a pool and a view. Because it's inland and mountainous, Sidemen pairs beautifully with the east coast — snorkelling and diving at Amed, or the beaches around Candidasa — so you get green calm and sea in one loop. It's about two hours from the south and the airport, and roughly 1.5 hours from Ubud.
The valley is spread out and the lanes are narrow, winding and often steep, so a scooter suits confident riders while everyone else is better with a private driver. Bring cash (ATMs are few), pack a light layer for cool evenings at altitude, and download maps offline as the signal can be patchy. There's little nightlife and only a handful of restaurants, so most travellers eat at their accommodation — part of the charm.
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All hotels in Sidemen →1-2 nights for rice-field walks, weaving workshops and pure peace and quiet.
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