Bali Cycling Routes: 7 Hidden Gems Beyond Ubud

Search "Bali cycling routes" and you'll get the same three loops over and over: the Ubud rice terraces, the Kintamani volcano descent, and the coastal Sanur–Nusa Dua stretch. Those routes aren't bad. But they're also where every tour bus stops, every Instagram drone hovers, and every scooter rental clusters around midday.

If you're willing to ride beyond the guidebook hits, Bali opens up. The roads get quieter, the climbs get steeper, and the villages stay villages instead of staging areas. Here are seven routes that local riders and Qunafa guides actually use — and what makes each one worth the effort.

The east: where the volcano shapes everything

**1. Sidemen Valley loop (Karangasem regency).** Sidemen is what Ubud was twenty years ago — terraced rice paddies, a single quiet main road, and a long view of Mount Agung from almost every corner. The 35 km loop from Sidemen village up toward Selat and back is rolling rather than steep, with several stops for fresh-pressed sugarcane juice along the way. Start at dawn to ride the rice-mirror reflections before the workday begins.

**2. Mount Agung perimeter ride.** For experienced climbers, the road that traces Agung's western flank — from Besakih Temple south through Rendang and back to Sidemen — is one of Indonesia's underrated climbing routes. About 60 km with 1,400 m of climbing. The road surface is good, the gradient is honest (no walls, no walls of pretense), and the view at the Besakih saddle is the kind of scene that puts the day's effort in proportion. Avoid weekends when ceremony traffic picks up around the temple.

The center: away from the Ubud rush

**3. Tabanan rice belt.** West of Ubud and 40 minutes north of the airport, Tabanan is Bali's actual rice basket — wider terraces, fewer tourists, more working farms. The 50 km loop from Tabanan town up to Jatiluwih (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and back via Marga winds through villages that don't yet have homestays. The Jatiluwih climb is steady at 4–6% for about 12 km — a great training day for anyone planning a Mallorca or Sicily tour later in the year.

**4. The Bedugul lakes ride.** From Mengwi, the long climb to Lake Bratan crosses three climate zones in 30 km. You start in coconut humidity and finish in mountain cool with cloud forest views over Lake Buyan. There's a sleepy temple at the top of the lake that's worth a stop before the descent. The road is narrow but well-paved, and traffic thins above 800 m elevation.

The north and west: where most riders never go

**5. The Lovina coast road.** The drive from south Bali makes Lovina feel far, but on a bike the north coast feels like a different island. A 70 km coastal ride between Pemuteran and Lovina hugs black-sand beaches, passes Buddhist monasteries (yes, in Bali), and crosses river deltas where dolphins sometimes pace the boats offshore. Almost zero tourist traffic. The headwind direction matters — ride east to west in the morning for the cleaner ride.

**6. Munduk to Wanagiri.** This is the route Qunafa guides call "the secret balcony" — a 25 km segment of rolling cliff road between Munduk village and the Wanagiri overlook, with twin-lake views over Buyan and Tamblingan. Best ridden in the late afternoon when the light hits the cliffs from the west. Short on distance, long on quality.

The south: a route worth doing right

**7. Bukit peninsula loop (Uluwatu and beyond).** The cliff roads around Bali's southern peninsula are the only south-Bali route worth a cyclist's time. The 45 km loop from Jimbaran through Uluwatu, Pecatu, and back via Pandawa cliff includes some of the most dramatic coastal climbs on the island — short, sharp, with ocean drops on one side. Traffic is moderate but the views compensate. Combine with a sunrise start to beat the surf-tourist rush from 9 am onward.

How to actually find these routes

Most of these don't show up on standard route apps with much detail — Bali's Strava density is heavily concentrated around Ubud and the south. The best way to ride them well is with someone who has been on them before, ideally a local guide who knows which café in Sidemen serves the better coffee and which descent has a new crack in the asphalt after the last rainy season.

That's the part most travel guides leave out, and the part most riders only learn from doing it badly the first time.

Riding Bali this year?** The Qunafa Archipelago Ascent runs July 22 from Lombok to Bali — a 10-night boutique cycling crossing that links several of these routes into one continuous trip. **19 seats remain on July 22 → qunafa.travel/bali

Related reading: Best Time to Cycle Bali: A Month-by-Month Guide