Bali waterfalls by scooter: one morning from Ubud, ahead of the crowds

How far are the waterfalls from Ubud by scooter?

Between half an hour and two and a half hours each way, and on a scooter that difference decides your day. The three falls south and east of Ubud sit inside a 40 minute ring. Nungnung is an hour north. Banyumala, Sekumpul and Aling-Aling are a full morning's ride into the mountains, which is why they belong to another day.

Most lists of Bali waterfalls rank them by the photo. This guide ranks them by the road and the clock: where you can get to on two wheels before breakfast, where you can stand in the pool, and the hour at which the day-tour crowd arrives. Every time and rule below comes from a guide published in 2024 or later, named under each drawing.

Is it safe to ride a scooter to the waterfalls?

It is the riskiest part of the day, more than any pool. The Canadian government's travel advice for Indonesia (updated November 2026) calls motorcycle and scooter accidents the main cause of death and serious injury among foreigners, and the British Foreign Office advice reports a large increase in moped accidents on Bali, some fatal. The ride to the three morning falls is short, which is the best case for a scooter day. Check these five things before you start the engine.

• An International Driving Permit together with your own licence. A UK licence alone is not valid, says the Foreign Office; Canada asks for both.
• A helmet in good condition, fastened, for you and anyone on the back.
• Travel insurance that covers you on a scooter. Ask your insurer before you rent.
• Cash in small notes for every ticket booth and car park, and the scooter key in a pocket that zips. Rental scooters are often stolen, Canada warns.
• Back in Ubud before dark. Outside the main roads, some drivers ride without lights.

From November to March, the wet season in the Canadian advice, parts of Bali can flood with little warning. On a wet morning the steps at every waterfall are slippery too, so a rainy day is a good day to keep the scooter parked.

In which order do you beat the crowds?

Start at the waterfall that fills up first and finish at the one where you want to swim. That gives Tegenungan at 7 am, Kanto Lampo at 8 am and Tibumana from 9:30 am. The crowds build from 10 am at Kanto Lampo and from 11 am at Tegenungan, while Tibumana stays quiet until late morning.

7 am, Tegenungan: down the stairs while they are empty

Tegenungan lies 10 kilometres south of Ubud in the village of Kemenuh, a 25 to 30 minute ride. It is the big one: a wide fall over a dark wall into a broad pool, open every day from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm except on Nyepi. Two villages, Tegenungan and Blangsinga, each run an entrance. You walk down 168 steps according to the FINNS Beach Club guide to Tegenungan, about 200 according to Bali Holiday Secrets, in ten minutes.

Swimming is allowed when the current permits, at the edge of the pool and away from where the water lands. There is no lifeguard, and in the wet season swimming can be closed. The climb back up is the hard part, and after 11 am you share it with the groups. At 7:45 am you are back on the scooter with the stairs behind you.

8 am, Kanto Lampo: water to your knees

Kanto Lampo is about 30 minutes south-east of Ubud, in Gianyar. The water drops in tiers over a black rock face, like a set of curtains, and most visitors come for the photo beneath them. The walk is five to seven minutes, the shortest of the day. You paddle here rather than swim: the water reaches your ankles or knees.

The last metres cross wet rock in the riverbed, and slipping on wet rock is the most common injury at Bali's waterfalls. From 10 am to 1 pm people queue for the picture, so at 8 am you have the curtains almost to yourself. If Google Maps shows Kanto Lampo as closed, look again: in 2025 it was listed that way for a while when it was open. In high water during the wet season the gorge sometimes does close.

9:30 am, Tibumana: the swim

Tibumana is 16 kilometres from Ubud in Bangli, 30 to 40 minutes on the road. This is the one to swim in: a single narrow fall from a dark, overgrown wall into a sheltered pool that usually comes up to your waist. A concrete path and then a stretch through the gorge take twelve minutes. At the entrance you find parking, lockers and a changing room, and someone from the village keeps an eye on the water, writes FINNS Beach Club.

Tibumana opens at 7 am and only fills up towards the end of the morning, around lunch, which is why it comes last. Arrive at 9:30 am and you swim in a quiet pool. After long rain the fall splits in two; then you stay at the side. Around 11 am you ride back to Ubud, and the afternoon is free.

What do you wear on a waterfall day by scooter?

Swim shorts you keep on from the first stairs to the last. You ride in them, you are wet from the spray before you reach the pool, you climb out and get back on the scooter. You change once at most, so the shorts have to hold your cash, your key and their shape through all of it.

The Sanwin Miami has an elasticated waistband with a drawcord, which you pull tight before you wade through the gorge at Kanto Lampo. Inside the waistband sits a small coin pocket for the entrance money, next to two side pockets, and the quick-dry peach-skin polyester is dry again on the ride to the next fall. The Sanwin Tampa has a zipped back pocket, the right place for the scooter key.

Miami Apple Reddrawcord, inner coin pocketMiami Fern Greentwo side pockets, quick-dryTampa Solid Sky Bluezipped back pocket for the key

The Miami has a classic fit and comes in S to XXL; size M measures 79 cm around the waistband relaxed and 98 cm stretched. It runs small: of the customers who exchanged for another size, four in five went one size up, so if in doubt take the larger one. The Tampa is tailored, with a zip and buckles, and its size is your waist in inches, as with jeans. Every colour is in the Miami swim shorts and the Tampa swim shorts. For more freedom on the stairs, see our guide to short swim shorts for men.

Can you reach Sekumpul and the northern falls by scooter?

In theory yes, in a day no. Banyumala, Sekumpul and Aling-Aling are two to two and a half hours from Ubud each way, in the mountains. That is four to five hours on a scooter before you have walked a step, with the ride home after dark. Sleep a night in Munduk and they become the best swimming of the trip.

Nungnung: a morning of its own

Nungnung, in Petang north of Ubud, is the one exception: an hour's ride, an hour and a half in heavy traffic. The ticket booth opens at 9 am and until 10:30 am it is quiet. Below, the river drops from a great height into a pool so rough that you get more spray than water. You can swim, carefully and at the edge.

Leave Ubud at 8 am, ride back by noon, and save your legs: the climb up is the hardest part of the day, harder than the ride.

Banyumala, Sekumpul and Aling-Aling: from Munduk

From a room in Munduk the order is the same idea as in Ubud. Banyumala at 7 am, when its spring-fed pool is often empty until 10 am. Sekumpul between 9 and 11 am, before the busiest hours of noon to 2 pm; since December 2024 the walk down to its rock pools goes with a guide from the village, 30 to 45 minutes. Aling-Aling in the afternoon, open until 4 pm, where you do not swim in the sacred main fall but jump from 5, 10 or 15 metres at the smaller falls downstream, also with a guide. Jumping is safest in the dry season, April to November.

After a morning of river water, rinse your shorts in fresh water and let them dry in the shade, which keeps the colour. The full range is in our men's swim shorts.

Before you go: Nyepi, brown water and your shorts