Often overlooked by tourists, Pura Mengening is one of Bali‘s true hidden large. Tucked away in the shadows of the more popular Tirta Empul and Gunung Kawi Tampaksiring, Pura Mengening is a beautiful oasis surrounded by lush vegetation on all sides and even throughout the temple complex. In fact, there’s so much greenery you’ll think will have just discovered a secret garden temple. Also, much like in Tirta Empul, its neighbour temple from down the street, you can take part in a water cleaning ritual but in a much more relaxed atmosphere with much fewer people around. Pura Mengening is also one of three temples in the town of Tampaksiring, including the fantastic Gunung Kawi Tampaksiring, making it easy to see several temples within a single day-trip from Ubud or Sidemen. To help you plan your visit and get the most out of your time here, we put together this Temple Visiting Guide for Bali’s Pura Pura Mengening.
One of Bali’s best-kept secret
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You might also be interested in these pages (coming soon):
Best Things to See and Do in Bali
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The Perfect Three-Week Bali Itinerary
Everything You Need to Know About Visiting Bali
Pura Mengening: Temple Location & Map
Pura Mengening is located in Bali’s Gianyar regency (link to Google Maps), northeast of Ubud and near the Tegalalang Rice Terrasse. There is a large parking lot next to the temple.
How to get to Pura Mengening
Drive times can be highly variable depending on the traffic conditions.
Distance from Ubud: 15 km // Average Drive Time: 30-40 min
Distance from Kuta: 50 km // Average Drive Time: 1h35 – 1h50
Distance from Canggu: 45 km // Average Drive Time: 1h45 – 2h
Distance from Sanur: 40 km // Average Drive Time: 1h30 – 1h45
Distance from Sidemen: 40 km // Average Drive Time 1h15-1h30
In our opinion, the three best transport options to reach Pura Mengening are: renting a scooter (moped), joining a group tour that hits several nearby attractions within a day or a half-day, or hiring a car and driver (which really isn’t as expensive as it sounds).
You can also use Bali ride-hailing apps such as Gojek or Grab, and make use of local taxis, but these options will typically cost more, especially if you plan on visiting several sites and attractions on the same day. Also, Gojek or Grab are not authorized to pick up people in certain locations where local taxi unions limit their services, including Canggu, Sanur, and Ubud. For more information on getting around the island and the different available options, check out our guide on How to Best Get Around Bali.
Regardless of your chosen transportation method, you are likely to enjoy the ride there. The road leading to the waterfall is very scenic. You will pass small villages and beautiful rice fields.
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Getting to Pura Mengening by Scooter: Once you get to Bali, you’ll quickly realize that scooter rental operators are everywhere. Although most street-side vendors will regularly be the cheapest option, they come short in several other aspects compared with more reliable and established vendors. For instance, most won’t offer roadside assistance or insurance that covers theft, nor do they regularly sanitize the helmets or have their scooters undergo regular maintenance. For this reason, we highly recommend using Bikago for your scooter rentals. Renting from them might be slightly more expensive (but still can be rented for as low as 12-15 US$/€ per day) but you get great peace of mind as among many other perks, all scooters undergo extensive quality checks.
What you get with your Bikago rental:
-Helmets
-Full tank of petrol and unlimited mileage
-Free Delivery and Collection at your Hotel
-24/7 Roadside Assistance and First Aid Medical Kit
-Charging Mobile Phone Holder
By Car and Driver hire: Hiring a car and driver to explore Bali can be a practical and cost-efficient way to experience a full day of sightseeing. Although this option is more expensive than renting a scooter (typically 40-60 US$/€ per day), you don’t have to worry about navigating the Bali roads and traffic, Also, most cars are modern and air-conditioned, which is welcome in Bali’s humid heat, and the local drivers always know the best routes to take and can optimize your ideal itinerary. Here are some of the best options to choose from:
By Group Tour: Group tours can be a great option to lower costs and reduce the hassle of having to plan an efficient itinerary. Their main downside is they might not exactly be tailored to your specific interests and preferences. But if you are mostly interested in hitting the main sights and attractions, there are these great tour options that can pick you up in multiple towns and visit places including Pura Mengening:
Pura Mengening – Temple Ticket Price and Operating Hours
Temple Entrance Fee
The Mengening Temple entrance fee is 30,000 IDR per person (2025), which roughly amounts to 1.80 US$/€. This fee helps maintain the temple and its surrounding grounds.
Most temples have modest parking fees (5,000 IDR for scooters and 10,000 IDR for cars), but this was the case for us during our Pur Mengening visit.
Having the exact change or small bills to pay for all costs is preferable as many temple sites don’t accept credit cards and they may not have enough change for large bills (there are a few ATMs in the town of Tampaksiring).
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Unlike most temples in Bali, a guide is assigned to you during your visit. There is no upfront cost, but they of course expect a modest tip at the end. During our visit, the guide followed us for about the first 10 minutes of our visit and gave interesting background and historical information about the temple.
Purification Ritual
If you want to take part in a purification ritual at Pura Mengening (Melakat cleaning ceremony), you’ll need to rent a special sarong to enter the bathing pools (30,000 IDR) and rent a locker to store your belongings (10,000 IDR).
Temple Opening Hours
Pura Mengening is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm.
Temple Facilities
Very basic toilets and change rooms are available on-site.
Temple Dress Code
As with all Balinese temples, it’s important to dress modestly and to ensure your shoulders and knees are covered. The entrance fee includes a sarong (a traditional wrap-around cloth) and sash (belt) rental if you don’t have your own.
About Pura Mengening and its History
Pura Mengening dates back to the 11th century during the reign of King Anak Wungsu and is one of Bali’s most important temples, dedicated to Dewa Tirta Empul, the god of water. Locals come here to pray and collect holy water from its springs, believed to possess healing properties.
The temple is roughly around the same age as its two neighbours, Tirta Empul (10th century) and Pura Gunung Kawi (11th century), both of which are less than half a kilometre from Pura Mengening. All three are built along the storied Pakerisan “Keris” river.
Pura Mengening was left abandoned in the jungle for several decades if not centuries, until it was rediscovered by a Dutch archeologist in the early 20th century.
Pura Mengening – What to Expect
To reach the temple from the carpark, you’ll first have to descend a long stone staircase into a valley. As you go down, you’ll notice that the temple is clearly divided into two sections.
The valley floor is filled with multi-terraced pools and streaming fountains, surrounded by beautiful nature from which feeds the sacred spring. Several beautiful walking paths connect all of the water features.
If you choose to perform the Melukat water purification and cleaning ceremony, you’ll be guided by a priest, who will pass you some offerings to leave in the purification pool.
Above the valley floor, there’s a large temple complex (only part of which is accessible to visitors). There are several shrines, ornate stone carvings, and a large structure known as a Candi (in fact, Pura Mengening is often referred to by locals as Candi Mengening), a small replica of a Java-style monument built of stacked stone blocks.
Why You Should Visit Pura Mengening
– Purification Ceremony: If you want to participate in a purification ritual during your Bali, this is one of the best places to do it – and it will be less crowded than Tirta Empul.
– Unique Temple Layout: The clear division between the temple stone structures and the water features (ponds, fountains, and bathing pools) is unlike what we have seen in other Balinese temples. The temple is also beautifully immersed in nature.
– Peaceful and secluded atmosphere: As it is relatively unknown to most tourists, the temple provides a peaceful and secluded experience away from the crowds of more popular tourist spots.
Why You Might Not Want To Visit
– Guided visit: This was our only temple visit that was guided, and we can understand why some people might not want this forced upon them.
How Long Do You Need at Pura Mengening
Pura Mengening is a medium-sized temple complex – you can probably walk around the entire complex in under 10 minutes. You should plan to spend about 30 minutes here to get a chance to appreciate everything this place has to offer, but you should plan for at least another 30 minutes if you plan to take part in the water purification ritual.
Best Time to Visit Pura Mengening
Best Time of the Year
Although we visited during the dry season, there’s no bad time of year to visit the temple. There’s a higher risk of rain during the wet season (November-April), but that shouldn’t discourage you as there are likely to be fewer other tourists around.
Consider off-peak months like May-June or September-October for a more personal experience with fewer crowds.
Best Time of Day
Pura Mengening just doesn’t get the crowds that Tirta Empul gets, so don’t have to get here super early to enjoy an uncrowded visit. In fact, we recommend going to Tirta Empul as early as possible in the morning and, when you’re done, make the short drive down the road to Pura Mengening.
Other Nearby Temples
Pura Mengening is located near a cluster of several other temples. Just a few town blocks away are two other temples: Tirta Empul to the north and Gunung Kawi Tampaksiring to the south, the latter of which was one of favorite temples to visit in all of Bali. In the next town over to the west is Pura Gunung Kawi Sebatu, a scenic temple complex that is also filled with ponds and bathing pools
To discover more of Bali’s temples, be sure to check out our guide on Bali’s Best Temples to Visit.
Other Sights and Attractions near Pura Mengening
Other than the three temples mentioned above, the nearest attraction is the Tegallalang Rice Terrace (Ceking Rice Terrace), less than a 10-minute drive south of Pura Tirta Empul.
A 25-minute drive east is Penglipuran Village, a famous tourist destination and traditional village that offers a unique and well-preserved blend of culture, history and nature. Slightly east of Penglipuran, you’ll find other attractions such as Pura Kehen and three fantastic waterfalls: Tukad Cepung, Yeh Bulan, and Goa Raja.
For a more complete list of attractions that you can visit from Ubud, check out our guide on the Best Day Trips from Ubud.
Where to Stay Near Pura Mengening
In our opinion, the best place to stay is in Ubud, whose location makes it a great base from which to explore several nearby temples including Pura Mengening. All of the following are some of the best mid-range hotel accommodations located within walking distance from the city center:
Komaneka at Rasa Sayang Ubud Hotel
Planning a Trip to Bali?
You might be interested in these pages: (coming soon)
Best Things to See and Do in Bali
Best Things to See and Do in the Gili Islands
The Perfect Three-Week Bali Itinerary
Everything You Need to Know About Visiting Bali
We also highly recommend these guidebooks:
Bali: The Solo Girl’s Travel Guide
Lonely Planet Bali, Lombok & Nusa Tenggara
Photography Gear
If you like our photography, you might be interested in some of the gear we use to shoot our travel and hiking destinations.
Camera Body – Nikon Z 6ii Fx-series Mirrorless Body
Main Lens – NIKON 24-120mm F/4G ED VR AF-S
Zoom Lens – Sigma 745-306 150-600mm f/5-6.3
Polarizing filters – Urth Circular Polarizing (CPL)
Camera Tripod – K&F Concept 64-inch Camera Tripod
Mini-tripod – Lammcou Flexible Camera Tripod
Camera/hiking backpack – Vanguard Alta Rise 48 Backpack
Universal Travel Adapter – VYLEE Universal International Power Travel Plug
Other Travel Essentials
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Car Rentals
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Transfer from Airport
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Kiwitaxi is another private transfer service – we haven’t tried it yet, but it’s currently available in a few more countries (102 as of 2024).
Hotels and Accommodations (coming soon)
Photography Prints
If you found this blog useful, you can help support our blog by purchasing low-cost digital prints. Printed physical prints are also available for purchase.
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Well, that wraps it up! We hope you enjoyed our guide on Bali’s Mengening and that it will prove useful for planning your trip.
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