Tirta Gangga and Lempuyang

Tirta Gangga is a beautiful water palace located in the eastern part of Bali, Indonesia. The palace was built by the royal family of Karangasem in 1948 and is known for its beautiful gardens, fountains, and pools. Tour guides usually combine a trip to the more famous Lempuyang (also called Gates of Heaven) with Tirta Gangga (considered more of an afterthought).

However, we loved Tirta Gangga, and ended up quite disappointed with Gates of Heaven. Read on to know why.

Tirta Gangga

Tirta Gangga is a water palace, so as expected, there is a lot of water there. It’s a very beautiful garden with a large pond filled with koi. Very pretty, and you can easily spend an hour or two just enjoying the vibe.

Most people buy some fish food to feed the fish and walk on a bunch of stones set in the pond to feed the fish, and that’s what we did too.

Walking among the fish at Tirta Gangga

It was a blisteringly hot day, and Tirta Gangga was quite a pleasant place to hang out – a fair bit of shade, slightly cooler, and there was something very therapeutic about walking on the stones.

If you wish, you can even soak in a nearby tank; quite a few people were doing it. Our tour guide, however suggested we hurry it up as Gates of Heaven would start getting crowded as the day progressed.

So, we reluctantly cut short our time in Tirta Gangga and proceeded to Gates of Heaven. Not before taking a family photo, and then spending time with a random bat and an iguana outside the temple.

Lempuyang (Gates of Heaven)

Lempuyang, also known as Gates of Heaven, is famous primarily for its magnificent gates, a popular photo opportunity. You’ve probably seen photos of this place, even if you’re only mildly interested in Bali.

Seeing this photo might tempt you to visit the place, but I am here to tell you, don’t bother. This is a trick photo created using a mirror to provide that reflection. The Balinese are crazy about reflection photography and provide that as a service at most tourist spots.

The actual Gates of Heaven are pretty, but there is no water. It’s just a cement floor. You wouldn’t be able to recognize the place from the photos.

To get this reflection photo, we had to take a token and wait for the official photographers to call our number. Even worse, they don’t allow you to try this trick on your own. I tried taking a few photos using my phone screen as a reflector, but the locals got quite angry, and I had to stop.

Instead, they gave us a token (#278) and were told to wait. Each token gets roughly 15-20 mins. People do costume changes, yoga poses, lovey-dovey poses, or leaping photos. Apart from these gates, there is a facade on the opposite side.

After we explored this facade, which we finished within 10 mins, there was nothing else to do but wait. Soon Piglet started whining. Why are we waiting so long? I want to go to the beach and so on. I honestly didn’t have a rational answer for him. It did seem ridiculous to wait three hours for a photo opportunity.

A quick decision was unanimously made, and we all exited the premises. As we were leaving from the back gate of the Gates of Heaven, a photographer called and asked us if we wanted a photo from the back side of this place.

And yes, this was a trick photo as well! There’s no water in reality.

We did a corny pose that still has me cringing but at least we got something out of our trip to Gates of Heaven.

So do I recommend this day trip? Not really. There are other, better temples to visit. Both these places are a little out of the way, and unless you combine it with the Besakih temple (which we didn’t as it was too far away and Piglet was mutinous), it’s not worth the bother.