Ten shrines (small temples cut straight into the rock of a river gorge), each about 7 metres high, carved 900 years ago. They were probably built for King Anak Wungsu of the Udayana dynasty and his queens. Nobody is certain: no inscription proves it.
Guidebooks call them the royal tombs. Look closer and the story is stranger than that. These are memorials, not graves. No burial has ever been confirmed here. And one part of the complex carries the name Pasar Agung, “the great market”. A market, at a necropolis. It suggests this gorge was once a living, working place, not only a monument. That is a better reason to come than any list of sights.
You walk about 300 steps down through the rice terraces, and the same 300 back up. Entrance is 75,000 rupiah per person, and the steps are free.
Most visitors to Bali never come here. The tour buses go to the next valley instead. It is a 25-minute drive north from the resort.
Also in the valley
