Sidemen
Sidemen is ninety minutes east of Ubud and about a century behind it. Rice terraces climb toward Agung, and gold and silver thread still goes onto handlooms in family compounds in the village.
Sidemen in a nutshell
Sidemen: what to expect
The figures here sit on 688,000+ planned stops across Indonesia on Stippl.
Sidemen is a working rice valley in east Bali, ninety minutes from Ubud, under Mount Agung. The terraces here are farms rather than a viewpoint with a ticket booth, and you walk the irrigation paths between them for hours rather than minutes. Songket, silk woven with gold and silver thread, is still made on handlooms in family workshops in the village. Gembleng waterfall is twenty minutes away, the morning market runs until about nine, and Agung stands over all of it.
Sidemen has the tightest rhythm in the country: almost nobody stays long. Fewer than two stops in a hundred here run five nights or more, against four on Nusa Penida, and one Sidemen trip in ten opens on the valley. Almost half of them also carry Munduk, four hours away on the other side of Bali, which makes the pairing one of the strongest in Indonesia.
Use 2 nights here as a base for east Bali. Tukad Cepung, Besakih on Agung's slope, Tirta Gangga, Taman Ujung and Pura Lempuyang are all twenty to sixty minutes by road and none of them is in the valley. Come April to October, when the paths are dry and the volcano is out. Skip Sidemen if you want restaurants, nightlife or a beach, because the valley has none of them.
Para quién es Sidemen
Walkers
the terrace paths are the attraction and they take hours rather than minutes
Anyone who found Ubud too busy
this is where our sources send them, ninety minutes east
Craft travellers
songket weaving, in the village, silversmithing
Photographers
Agung over the terraces in the dry season is our own data's own claim to the finest views of the peak on the island
Families and slow travellers
quiet, cheap, and nothing that needs booking
Maybe not for you: anyone wanting nightlife, restaurants or shopping, none of which exists; anyone on a tight schedule, because it is 1.5 hours from Ubud and further from everything else; anyone travelling November to March, when the terraces are beautiful and the paths are mud; and anyone who needs a beach: this is inland east Bali
Cuándo ir a Sidemen
Dry season
April–October
and wet season (November–March), as. Our own data names April–October specifically for clear views of Agung and dry terrace walking, and that is the right framing
- The trade-off is real: the terraces are greenest in the wet season and the volcano is visible in the dry one. No source resolves it and it depends on what you came for
- Our travellers are strongly seasonal here: 39.0% arrive in July–September against 5.7% in November and December
- Nyepi, Galungan and Kuningan run here as across Bali. In a working farming valley the temple calendar is more visible than on the coast, because the whole community keeps it
- The rice calendar is the valley's other calendar. What the terraces look like: flooded mirror, bright green, gold, or cut stubble, depends on where each field is in its cycle, and neighbouring fields are often out of step
- Songket is ceremonial cloth, so weaving activity rises before major temple days
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Things to do in Sidemen
Walking the rice terraces
hours of irrigation paths between working fields, best with a local guide at about 300,000 IDR. Our own data and every source lead with it
Watching songket being woven
gold and silver thread on handlooms in family workshops in the village. A living craft, not a demonstration
Mount Agung from the valley
Our own data claims the views of the peak from these fields are among the finest on the island, and our sources' viewpoints article supports it
The morning market
until about nine, entirely local, and the best hour in the village
Gembleng Waterfall
a swimming spot in jungle about twenty minutes' drive from the village
Making silver jewellery
a workshop in the village where you make a piece yourself, named by our sources
Los barrios de Sidemen
Sidemen village
Practicalities
The centre: the morning market, the warungs, a few shops and the guides who take you into the fields
The market before nine, and where you hire a guide.
The rice terraces
off-the-beaten-path
The valley floor and slopes, laced with irrigation paths you can walk for hours
Working subak terraces under Agung, with no ticket booth and no crowd.
The weaving workshops
The craft
Family compounds in and around the village where songket is woven on handlooms
A living craft rather than a demonstration, in someone's home.
The ridge lodges
The view
Eco-lodges strung along the valley's edges, positioned for the Agung view
Panoramas of the terraces and the volcano from a pool.
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Dónde alojarse en Sidemen
The ridge eco-lodges are what Sidemen is known for, and our own data names Samanvaya and Darmada Eco Resort for the most dramatic terrace panoramas. Our sources add that Samanvaya starts around €150 and is adults-only
Sidemen village
€12–50
The centre: the morning market, the warungs, a few shops and the guides who take you into the fields
The rice terraces
The valley floor and slopes, laced with irrigation paths you can walk for hours
The weaving workshops
Family compounds in and around the village where songket is woven on handlooms
The ridge lodges
€40–200
Eco-lodges strung along the valley's edges, positioned for the Agung view
Qué comer en Sidemen
Balinese ceremonial spit-roast pork, same as the rest of the island, at the valley's lower prices
Rice with a spread of small Balinese sides, the warung meal
Fresh produce from the morning market, open until about nine
Meals cooked by the lodge itself, common practice given the valley has only four warungs
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Sidemen customs and what not to do
Balinese etiquette applies
all of it, and it is, the levy, the 2025 conduct circular, sarongs, the canang sari
These are people's fields
often their compounds too. Ask before crossing, pay the donation where one is asked, and take a guide if you are unsure. This is the single most important local etiquette point and every source touches it
The weaving workshops are homes
Watching is welcomed; treat it as a visit rather than an attraction, and buy something if you can
Dress up from the coast
more conservatively than there. This is a farming village, not a resort area
Processions use the roads
the temple calendar is more visible here than in the south, and processions use the roads
Sí
- Take a guide for the terraces, and pay the field donations
- Go to the morning market before nine
- Choose a room facing the valley
- Do the drive from Ubud slowly
No
- Don't ride a scooter on the terrace paths
- Don't expect restaurants; there are four warungs and a market
- Don't expect the volcano to be visible in the wet season
- Don't walk into a compound without asking
Presupuesto diario en Sidemen
Budget
€17–30
Homestay or guesthouse, warung meals, a scooter
Mid-range
€43–85
Valley-view guesthouse with a pool, a guided walk
High-end
€140+
A ridge eco-lodge with a terrace panorama
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Curiosidades sobre Sidemen
Sidemen is one of Bali's main centres for songket, silk interwoven with gold and silver thread for ceremonial dress
The German artist Walter Spies, who shaped Western perceptions of Bali in the 1930s, spent time in the Sidemen area
The valley sits at the foot of Gunung Agung, Bali's highest and most sacred volcano
It is pronounced "see-da-men", and the name covers the locality including Selat rather than one village
The terraces are working farms, and some landowners ask a donation to walk through their fields
Consejos locales para Sidemen
Cheap scooter rental
A scooter is the local transport and it is cheap. Our sources give about €3.50–5 a day, which is the low end for Bali, and notes it also puts nearby waterfalls within reach
The drive from Ubud
The drive from Ubud is part of the destination. Our own data's own tip is to do it slowly through east Bali's countryside, and no source disagrees
Narrow, steep roads
The valley's roads are narrow and steep in places and the terrace paths are for walking, not riding
See Bali's transport
Everything else about Balinese transport is
Everything applies
rabies endemic since 2009, scooter accidents, the drug law. Not repeated
Agung is active
Mount Agung is an active volcano at Alert Level 2 with a 2 km exclusion zone, and its 2017–19 eruptions closed the airport repeatedly. The valley is well outside the zone; the relevance is to anyone hiking the lower slopes, which our own data lists as an activity
Sidemen questions, answered
As a two-night pause in east Bali, an hour and a half from Ubud. Almost nobody starts here: 2.47% of trips including Sidemen open on it on Stippl. Put it into Stippl between Ubud and Amed and take the drive slowly, because the valley road is half the reason to come.
Two nights. Plans built on Stippl settle on 2 nights for Sidemen and hardly anybody goes beyond it. A walk through the terraces in the morning, a weaving workshop, the market and a long evening looking at Agung is what two nights holds.
24.45% of Sidemen stops planned on Stippl are a single night, and it is the wrong length for this valley. The whole point is the early morning, when the light is on the terraces and the volcano is out before the cloud builds. One night means arriving and leaving in the afternoon.
They are different things. Tegallalang is a ticketed viewpoint on the Ubud tour route, with swings, cafes and a queue at the rail. Sidemen is a working valley ninety minutes further east where the terraces are farmed and nobody charges you. Tegallalang for the photograph, Sidemen for the place.
Not to walk, because the paths through the terraces are obvious and safe. Hiring one is still worth it: you learn what is planted, how the water is shared and where the weaving happens, and the money stays in the valley. Ask your guesthouse rather than booking anything online.
In the dry season, roughly April to October, and usually early in the morning before the cloud builds over it. In the wet months the terraces are greener and the volcano is hidden most of the day. If Agung is why you are coming, get up early and accept that some days it will not show.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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