Bali

The island where art and water became devotion. In the highland town of Ubud, a working royal palace still hosts dance, a temple to the goddess of the arts rises from a lotus pond, and a forest of macaques guards a temple of the dead. Across the island stand the temples between land and sea: the serene royal garden of Taman Ayun and the sea-rock shrine of Tanah Lot that the tide cuts off twice a day. Read Ubud's core and the temple circuit at your own pace.