Tirta Empul from Ubud: The Purification Ritual, What to Wear, and When It Is Quiet

Tirta Empul is a water temple on the Pakerisan river at Tampaksiring, founded in 962 AD during the Warmadewa dynasty around a spring the Balinese believe was created by the god Indra. The spring feeds a bathing pool with a row of carved spouts, and for a thousand years people have come to wash under them for melukat, a purification. It is one of the six most important temples on Bali and it is busy with worshippers every day, which is part of the experience rather than a problem.

The complex has three courtyards: the outer one with the market and changing rooms, the middle one with the pools, and the inner one with the shrines, which is for prayer only.

You change into a sarong and a separate bathing sarong, make an offering at the small shrine by the pool, then enter the water at the left and move along the spouts in order, bowing under each, letting the water run over your head three times. Two spouts near the right-hand end are reserved for the rites of the dead and are not used; guides point them out and there is usually a sign. Then the second pool, then you change and, if you wish, go into the inner courtyard to pray.

Go with a guide the first time. The order matters to the people around you, and a guide who explains why the offering goes where it does makes the difference between a ritual and a queue for a shower.

A sarong is included in the entry price and a bathing sarong is rented at the pool, but bring your own towel and a full change of clothes; the water is spring-cold and you will be wet through. Swimwear is worn under the sarong, not on its own. Lockers exist and are cheap. Phones are allowed at the pool, and it is fine to photograph the temple, but not to photograph people mid-prayer at close range.

Women who are menstruating are asked not to enter the pools, which is the rule at every Balinese temple and is not negotiable here.

Before 9:00 on an ordinary weekday the pools have a few dozen people. Late morning brings the tour groups. On the full moon, the new moon, Galungan and Kuningan, and the days before Nyepi, the temple fills with Balinese families in white, and the pools become a slow procession; it is the most moving time to see it and the worst time to bathe quickly. If you want the ritual without the crowd, 7:30 on a weekday. If you want to see it as the Balinese use it, come on a holy day and wait.

Our best time to visit Ubud guide lists the ceremony calendar for the year.

Gunung Kawi, ten minutes south, is a row of 11th-century shrines cut into the rock face of the Pakerisan gorge, reached down about 300 steps through rice terraces, and it is the quieter, older neighbour that most Tirta Empul visitors skip. The Tegallalang terraces are fifteen minutes west. The presidential palace built by Sukarno stands on the hill above the springs; it is not open, but the view of it from the temple explains why the site was chosen. A morning that does Tirta Empul early, Gunung Kawi second and Tegallalang before eleven is one of the best half-days out of Ubud; see the temples guide and the Tegallalang guide.