Guide · The royal water temple

Taman Ayun Temple, a royal temple in its moat

Taman Ayun Temple was built for the kings of Mengwi and stands inside a ring of water that feeds the rice fields: what UNESCO says about it, how to visit and how to pair it with the lake temple.

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Editorial team, balitempletour.comUpdated October 24, 2026Reading time 6 min36 sources

On this topic: the tour Bali UNESCO Sites: Shared or Private Guided Full-Day Tour 4.9 (410 reviews) 10 hours from$34 Check availabilityFree cancellation until 24 hrs ahead of the start

Key points

01What it is: UNESCO's royal water temple, part of the subak landscape inscribed in 2012.¹ ²
02Who built it: The King of Mengwi, I Gusti Agung Putu, in 1634, says the provincial office.³
03Entry: Rp 30,000 for foreign adults, Rp 15,000 for foreign children.⁴
04Getting there: About 1 hour from Denpasar or Ubud.⁵
05Best time: Mid-morning, for soft light on the tiered roofs.⁶

A royal temple for the kings of Mengwi

Taman Ayun Temple in Mengwi was the royal temple of a kingdom. The Bali Provincial Tourism Office says it was built by the King of Mengwi, I Gusti Agung Putu, in the Saka year 1556, which is 1634 AD, as a place to honour the king's ancestors.³ The Ministry of Tourism adds that it was once the centre of the Mengwi kingdom's activities.⁵

It began as a family temple of the royal house, a pura kawiten, built to honour the spirits of the king's forebears.⁷ Over the centuries it was restored and rebuilt more than once; its last major renovation was in 1937.⁸ What you see today is an old plan in well-kept stone and thatch, set in lawns and water. The care shows everywhere, from the swept paths to the fresh offerings at the gates, and it gives the place a calm, ordered feel that is rare among the busier temples of the south.

UNESCO describes it as an 18th-century royal water temple, the largest and most impressive edifice of its type on the island.¹ The two dates are not a contradiction you need to solve on the spot: one marks the founding by the king, the other the temple as it grew and took its classic shape. Either way, this is the most polished of Bali's great temples.

Royal history

From royal foundation to World Heritage

1634

Founded

Built by the King of Mengwi, I Gusti Agung Putu.³
18th century

A water temple

UNESCO's date for the royal water temple.¹
19th century

Height of Mengwi

The largest Balinese kingdom of its time.⁹
1937

Renovated

The last major renovation of the temple.⁸
2002

Proposed

Bali proposes it for the World Heritage List.¹⁰
2012

Inscribed

Listed with the subak landscape.²

Water all around: the moat and the subak

The first thing you notice is the water. A large body of water surrounds the whole compound and is part of the subak, the cooperative irrigation system of the island.¹¹ You cross a bridge to enter, and from the outer lawns the tiered roofs seem to rise straight out of the moat.

Subak is not just plumbing. UNESCO explains that the temples are the focus of a cooperative system of canals and weirs that dates back to the 9th century, and that it reflects Tri Hita Karana, the joining of the spirit, the human world and nature.¹² ¹³ Water flows through temples on its way to the fields, and the temple congregations share it out. Standing on the bridge over the moat, you are looking at the same idea in miniature: water held, honoured and then sent on to feed the rice.

UNESCO counts about 1,200 water collectives on Bali, each with between 50 and 400 farmers drawing on one source.¹⁴ Taman Ayun shows that system at its grandest: UNESCO calls it the largest regional water temple, showing the subak at its fullest under the largest Balinese kingdom of the 19th century.⁹

Entrance fees

Who pays what at Taman Ayun

Entrance fees as the Ministry of Tourism's temple guide lists them; they are among the lowest of the major temples.⁴

The UNESCO landscape

The water temples and terraces on the list

Site	Type	Why it counts
Taman Ayun	Royal water temple	Largest regional water temple
Ulun Danu Batur	Supreme water temple	On Lake Batur
Pakerisan watershed	Subak landscape	Oldest known irrigation system
Catur Angga Batukaru	Subak landscape	Terraces named in a 10th-century inscription

From UNESCO's description of the property, which covers 19,500 ha in five sites.⁹ ¹⁵ ¹⁶ ¹² ¹⁷

West and highland days

Royal temple, lake temple or both

This page's pick

UNESCO day

Taman Ayun, Ulun Danu Bratan

Hours: 10 hrs
Reviews: 410
Price: from $34

See the tour

North Bali: Dolphin, Ulun Danu Temple, & Banyumala Waterfall

Early start

North Bali day

Dolphins, waterfall, lake temple

Hours: 7 to 10
Reviews: 423
Price: from $32

See the tour

Munduk: Twin Lake Jungle Hike, Ulun Danu Temple, & Waterfall

On foot

Twin lakes hike

Lake Tamblingan and a waterfall

Hours: 2 to 8
Reviews: 685
Price: from $21

See the tour

Decision helper

How should you see Taman Ayun?

Pick by the rest of your day

Both great water temples in one day Just a short stop The best photographs To understand the subak Shade and a rest

The UNESCO day

Taman Ayun, then Ulun Danu Bratan and the Handara gate in 10 hours.

Go on your own

About 1 hour from Denpasar or Ubud, with a low entrance fee.⁵ ⁴

Mid-morning

The Ministry's suggestion for soft light at Mengwi.⁶

Walk the moat

The water around the compound is part of the irrigation system.¹¹

The wantilan

An open pavilion in the outer court, once used for cockfighting.¹⁸

Included in the landscape is the 18th-century Royal Water Temple of Pura Taman Ayun, the largest and most impressive architectural edifice of its type on the island.

UNESCO World Heritage CentreSource 1

One of five sites in Bali's World Heritage landscape

In 2012 UNESCO inscribed the cultural landscape of Bali province, a serial property of five sites where the subak system still fully works.² ¹⁷ Together they cover 19,500 ha of rice terraces and their water temples.¹²

Taman Ayun is the easiest of the five to visit. The others are the Supreme Water Temple of Pura Ulun Danu Batur on Lake Batur, and the subak landscapes of the Pakerisan watershed and of Catur Angga Batukaru, with terraces that a 10th-century inscription already mentions.¹⁵ ¹⁶ The Pakerisan valley is the same one that holds Tirta Empul and Gunung Kawi.

The Bali government first proposed Taman Ayun to UNESCO in 2002, a decade before the inscription.¹⁰ ² For visitors the label matters less than what it explains: why a temple sits in a moat, why its water matters to farmers, and why the island's religion and its rice fields cannot be told apart.

Map

Where the temples stand on Bali

First the whole island with the temples on this site, then the slopes of East Bali around Lempuyang, then the river valley north of Ubud.

Map of Bali with Lempuyang, Tirta Gangga, Besakih, Tirta Empul, Goa Gajah, Ubud, Taman Ayun, Ulun Danu Beratan, Uluwatu and Kuta — The island

Map of East Bali with the Lempuyang gate, the summit temple of Lempuyang Luhur and the Tirta Gangga water palace — East Bali

Map of the valley north of Ubud with Tirta Empul, Gunung Kawi, Goa Gajah and Ubud Palace — Near Ubud

1
Lempuyang gate
The lowest of seven temples on Mount Lempuyang, where the split gate frames Mount Agung on a clear day.¹⁹
In Google Maps ↗
2
Tirta Gangga
A water palace built in 1948 by the King of Karangasem; a 1-hour stop of the site tour.²⁰
In Google Maps ↗
3
Besakih
The mother temple, on the slope of Agung at about 1,000 m, a complex of 23 temples.²¹ ²²
In Google Maps ↗
4
Tirta Empul
A spring temple founded in 962 AD, with 30 showers fed by the spring.²³ ²⁴
In Google Maps ↗
5
Goa Gajah
A carved cave about 27 km from Denpasar, named in a text of 1365.²⁵ ²⁶
In Google Maps ↗
6
Ubud Palace
Meeting point of the site tour's group options in Ubud.
In Google Maps ↗
7
Taman Ayun
The royal water temple of Mengwi, part of the UNESCO subak landscape inscribed in 2012.¹ ²
In Google Maps ↗
8
Ulun Danu Beratan
A lake temple in Candikuning, Tabanan, about 1.5 to 2 hours from Denpasar.²⁷ ²⁸
In Google Maps ↗
9
Uluwatu
A sea temple on a 70-meter cliff, with the kecak at 6:00 PM.²⁹ ³⁰
In Google Maps ↗
10
Kuta
Central Parking Kuta, the other group meeting point of the site tour.
In Google Maps ↗
11
Lempuyang Luhur
The highest of the seven temples, at about 1,175 m, 2 to 4 hours there and back on foot.³¹ ³²
In Google Maps ↗
12
Gunung Kawi
Ancient shrines cut into a rock cliff above the Pakerisan River.³³
In Google Maps ↗

Open the map in Google Maps

Checklist

For a visit to Mengwi

Bring

Small notes for the ticket
Sun hat for the open lawns
A light layer if you go on to the lake

Respect

Shoulders and knees covered
Stay outside the inner wall
Quiet near people at prayer

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Video

A walk round Taman Ayun at Mengwi

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What to see inside the walls

Taman Ayun is laid out like most Balinese temples, in courts that rise from a public outer area to the inner sanctuary.³⁴ The outer court holds a wantilan, an open pavilion first used for cockfighting and now used for gatherings and music.¹⁸ It is a good place to sit in the shade and take in the plan of the whole compound.

The inner court is walled off, and the path that runs around its low wall gives you a clear view of the shrines inside. The tiered meru towers stand in rows: the number of roofs on a meru reflects the status of the deity it honours, and it is always an odd number.³⁵ Counting the roofs is a small game that makes the hierarchy of the temple visible, and children usually enjoy it more than any explanation from a guide.

Walk the full circuit. The path around the inner wall gives you every angle on the merus, and the far side is usually quiet even when the front gate is busy. Look for the carved guardian figures at the gates and the small shrines tucked into corners, which tell you this is still a temple in daily use, not a garden.

Tickets, dress and the best light

The Ministry of Tourism's temple guide lists the entrance at Rp 30,000 for adult foreign nationals and Rp 15,000 for foreign children, with Rp 15,000 and Rp 10,000 for Indonesians.⁴ It is one of the cheaper temple tickets on the island, and the visit rarely takes more than an hour.

Cover shoulders and knees, as at every Balinese temple; sarongs and sashes are usually provided at the entrance.³⁶ On the tour on this page, the operator notes that sarongs may be provided on site and that women who are menstruating may not enter the temple areas.

The Ministry recommends mid-morning, for soft light.⁶ The tiered roofs photograph best when the sun is not yet overhead, and the lawns are cooler then. Late afternoon can be lovely too, but the light drops behind the trees, and the tour groups heading on to the coast often stop here around that time.

Getting there and the day tour on this page

Mengwi lies north-west of Denpasar, about 1 hour by car from Denpasar or Ubud.⁵ It sits on the way to the highlands, which makes Taman Ayun a natural first stop on a day into the mountains.

The tour on this page does exactly that. It drives 1 hour to Taman Ayun and spends 1 hour there, then 45 minutes to Ulun Danu Bratan on Lake Beratan, then 45 minutes to the Handara gate for 1 hour before returning. It runs 10 hours, shared or private, with pickup included and lunch not included.

It has 410 reviews averaging 4.86 and starts from $34. The Bedugul highlands are cooler than the coast, and the operator warns of mist or rain up there, so bring a light layer even if Mengwi is hot.

Pairing it with the highlands

Taman Ayun and Ulun Danu Beratan make a natural pair: the royal temple of the plains and the lake temple that guards the water at its source. Both are water temples, both have tiered merus, and seeing them on the same day shows how the water of the mountains reaches the fields below.

Ulun Danu Beratan stands in Candikuning, Tabanan, about 1.5 to 2 hours from Denpasar or Kuta.²⁷ ²⁸ From Mengwi the tour on this page reaches it in 45 minutes. If you go on your own, start at Taman Ayun early, drive up into the cool air for lunch, and come back down before the evening traffic.

Tanah Lot, a sea temple on the southwest coast, is often sold together with these two. It deserves its own guide and its own sunset, and we leave it to one. Here the focus stays on the water temples, which reward a slower pace and an early start more than any other temples on the island.

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