Tanah Lot

Tanah Lot - the most important information

Tanah Lot is a rock formation off the Indonesian island of Bali. It is home to the ancient Hindu pilgrimage temple Pura Tanah Lot (literally "Tanah Lot temple"), a popular tourist and cultural icon for photography. Tanah Lot Temple is a complex of wooden structures with origins in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, built on a large coral rock separated from the nearby island of Bali.

History of the Tanah Lot

Tanah Lot is claimed to be the work of the 16th-century Dang Hyang Nirartha. Once joined to Bali, the complex is now separated from the mainland because of erosion. One hundred concrete supports were installed along its shoreline as protection in 1986, but they greatly compromised the aesthetic integrity of the temple and its environment. The concrete tetrapods redirected waves and caused erosion at a different site along the shore while also causing sand accumulation at the seafloor, thus affecting biological life within the coral reef. An increase in tourism to the attractive island also put a strain on the site’s architecture and landscape. Subsequent to the site’s inclusion on the 2000 World Monuments Watch, WMF secured funding from American Express to complete a conservation study to understand technical conditions at the site, as well as to promote sustainable tourism solutions to allow continuing public enjoyment of the site and develop strategies for improving the protection of the historic and natural features of the complex. Funds were also applied to the construction of a 46.5-meter fence around the temple and a 110-meter fence around the entire Tanah Lot site.

Opening hours and tickets for the Tanah Lot

Opening hours: This site is open every day during the year, and you can visit it whenever you want.
Tickets: Entrance tickets cost around 1 USD for Indonesian nationals (0.5 USD for children), but foreigners have to pay three times the price, or 3 USD (1.5 USD for children).

How to get to the Tanah Lot?

This tourist attraction is located in Beraban, Kediri, Tabanan, approximately 13 kilometers (8 miles) south of Tabanan. To reach the temple, visitors must walk through a set of Balinese market-format souvenir shops which cover each side of the path down to the sea. On the mainland cliff tops, restaurants have also been provided for tourists. There are several ways to get to this location:

By car: Tanah Lot is about 45 minutes by car northwest of the main southern tourist areas of Kuta, Legian, and Seminyak and is en-route for those heading to West Bali. From Ubud, it can be reached in about 30 to 40 minutes by car.
By taxi: A taxi from Kuta will be quoted at 20 USD. It's possible to haggle down to a minimum of 7 USD if you stand firm.
Via tour: A visit to Tanah Lot for sunset is one of the most popular organized tours offered in Bali. Check at your hotel.

Tanah Lot trivia:

Tanah Lot temple is an ancient Hindu temple dedicated to the gods of the sea. The buildings were built after religious figure Dang Hyang Nirartha’s sacred journey (tirtha yatra) to Bali in the fifteenth century and have never lost their original function. As a result of continued use, Tanah Lot has been well maintained and remains a site of religious significance to the Balinese people.
Tanah Lot means "Land (in the) Sea" in the Balinese language.
At the base of the rocky island, venomous sea snakes are believed to guard the temple from evil spirits and intruders. The temple is purportedly protected by a giant snake, which was created from Nirartha's selendang (a type of sash) when he established the island.
The Tanah Lot temple was built and has been a part of Balinese mythology for centuries. The temple is one of seven sea temples around the Balinese coast. Each of the sea temples was established within eyesight of the next to form a chain along the south-western coast. In addition to Balinese mythology, the temple was significantly influenced by Hinduism.
Another fact about Tanah Lot is that there are ceremonies called Piodalan or Pujawali which are performed every 210 days. The ceremony at Tanah Lot falls 4 days after Kuningan Day. Not only the local community who came to do the sacred ceremony in Tanah Lot, but also Hindus who came from other cities in Indonesia.
In addition to the amazing variety of facts about Tanah Lot, there is also a myth widely trusted by locals and tourists. The myth says that if you have invited your girlfriend or boyfriend to come with you to Tanah Lot, your relationship could end.