Pura Ulun Danu Batur temple in Kintamani: the lake goddess's home

Pura Ulun Danu Batur stands on the caldera rim above the lake whose water it honors. Indonesia.travel ranks it second among Bali's temple complexes, behind Pura Besakih, dedicated to Vishnu and the goddess Danu as thanks for the lake's water source.¹ Wikipedia adds that it is one of the Pura Kahyangan Jagat, a temple said to maintain the harmony and stability of the entire island, dedicated to Vishnu and the local goddess Dewi Danu of Lake Batur.⁶ Both sources put water at the center, and the place exists because the lake does. It is the Kintamani temple that the ministry ranks second among Bali's temple complexes.¹

There is a disagreement worth knowing about. In its description of the compound, Wikipedia says the main 11-tiered shrine in the inner sanctum honors Shiva and Parvati, his consort, which differs from the Vishnu and Danu named in the ministry article and the page's own introduction.² The sources do not reconcile this, and a visitor cannot settle it from the gate. For a first visit, the sensible reading is that the complex holds many shrines with many dedications, and no single label covers it.

Ancient texts place it in a short list. Wikipedia says old lontars mention the temple several times among the sad kahyangan, the six groups of universal temples.⁷ It also forms part of the Cultural Landscape of Bali Province, which Wikipedia says became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012 together with three other sites.⁸ The geopark adds that the Balinese hold both Mount Batur and Mount Agung sacred, together giving fertility and prosperity.⁹ The temple sits at the point where those beliefs meet a very practical lake.

The temple you see is not on its first site. The Bangli Regency tourism office says the largest recorded Batur eruption ran from 2 August to 21 September 1926 and destroyed both the Ulun Danu Batur temple and the village of Batur.¹¹ Wikipedia gives a detailed account: on 3 August 1926 lava covered almost the whole old compound, the 11-tiered main shrine survived, and it was carried with other heirlooms to a new location on the rim.¹² The accounts differ in tone, but they agree on the year and on the loss.

A first scare came earlier. Wikipedia says that in the eruption of 1917 the black lava flow stopped at the gates of the temple, and the Balinese people read that as a good omen and chose to stay.¹⁰ The geopark itself reports a first documented eruption in 1804 and the most recent in 2000.²⁰ Those dates, and the tourism office's note that the volcano is still active,¹¹ frame the setting: you visit a temple that belongs to a living volcano, and the place keeps that fact in view.

What continues is the ritual calendar. The geopark names Ngusaba Kedasa, a tenth-month ritual at Ulun Danu Batur, as meant to bring fertile fields, national wellbeing and world peace,²¹ and Wikipedia says the temple's odalan, its main feast, falls on the tenth full moon, usually from late March to early April.⁴ The date shifts each year, so ask locally if you hope to see a ceremony. On a feast day, the temple belongs to its worshippers first, and visitors are guests in a crowd.

Pura Ulun Danu Batur in Kintamani is a short stop, and it works best after the sunrise. Indonesia.travel's one-day Kintamani plan places the Ulun Danu Batur temple after the sunrise, the lake and lunch, and closes the day with sunset at Penelokan.^1,24 A jeep morning leaves you free by the afternoon, and the temple is a quiet counterweight to the engine and the lava.

This site's main listing is a private sunrise jeep with a hot spring, rated 4.80 from 4,187 reviews and starting from $45; its own details list the volcano and the hot spring and do not name the temple, so ask your driver whether it can be added. A Batur listing built around burial rituals and a Kehen temple visit rates 4.91 from 437 reviews, takes 8 hours and costs from $33. A private seven-hour Kintamani listing with Tirta Empul starts from $31.

Whatever you book, tell the driver that you want a stop at the temple and agree the time in advance. Ten to twenty minutes in the outer courtyard is enough to feel the place without hurrying the rest of the day. If the temple is closed for a ceremony, the sensible plan is a second viewpoint, a cafe or a second hot-spring dip. A closed gate is part of how a living temple works, and the morning is not wasted.