During our stay in Amed, we made a day trip to the Lempuyang temple complex. This consists of 7 individual temples on the mountain Lempuyang, which you can visit one after the other during a 3-4 hour hike. The temples are located at an altitude between 590m and 1050m.
Most visitors go only to the first temple. This one has a gate through which you have a wonderful view to the volcano Agung. With the trick of holding a mirror horizontally under the camera lens, it then looks as if the image is reflected in the water. This image is THE Instagram photo spot. Due to the crowds for this photo spot, a number is already printed on the ticket. This number tells one the waiting list place for the photo appointment. So you can then wait there in the shade until the number is called.

According to our driver, the interest is so great among some tourists that they still get up in the night and drive here, then start lining up around 5 a.m. to be one of the first when the temple complex opens at 6.
Tip: If you want to get a similarly beautiful temple photo without waiting, you can take this one at the lower end of the first temple. Here you also have a nice motif and also here the reflection trick can be used. The only disadvantage is that from this side you have no view of the Agung and possibly other tourists (from the main photo spot) in the picture.

We had no great interest in waiting long and instead (after the tip photo stop just mentioned) set off with a guide to see all 7 temples. Unfortunately, we had no great luck with our guide (you get them assigned in the entrance area after paying a flat fee). He was very friendly, but very inexperienced and could barely speak English. Because of the language barrier, it was difficult to learn anything about the temple.
The 1st temple called Pura Penateran is the largest temple. From here, as I said, you have a beautiful view of the Agung. As expected, at the first temple, countless tourists were already bustling around waiting for the photo. These were partly very stylish (and not practical for a temple visit) dressed and brought, for example, also cloths to be able to make the most extraordinary photos.
Who then makes his way to the 2nd temple (Pura Telaga Mas), first follows an asphalt road. For this part of the hike you still have the possibility to be brought to the 2nd temple with a motorcycle cab. All the way after the 2nd temple you have to walk.
Right from the second temple there was no more tourist rush. Only a few locals were to be seen, which prayed at the temple or have made themselves then further on the way to other temples.
From the second temple, the hike is characterized by a large number of steps, which fortunately mostly lead through a forest and you have at least a shady ascent.

The third (Pura Telaga Sawang), fourth (Pura Lempuyang Madya) and fifth (Pura Puncak Bisbis) temples are very close to each other. After that, you have a slightly longer walk again to the sixth temple (Pura Pasar Agung). The hike between the 6th and 7th temple I have particularly nice in memory - there are again a little more normal forest paths and a little less steps and the views are beautiful. The last 200 meters before you reach the 7th temple (Pura Luhur Lempuyang), you have to be careful of the monkeys. These are apparently used to be fed often by locals and therefore very trusting to aggressive.
Of the temples, I liked the first temple the best. However, I would still recommend the hike, because the path is simply great due to the variety of breathtaking views. It must be aware, however, that you have to cope with a variety of stairs, so you should bring enough time and nerves 😊

On the way back just before the exit, we passed the 1st temple again. Our guide asked us if we wanted to take the famous photo now. There were a lot of people there waiting for their photo slot with their entrance ticket. We didn't have much interest in waiting and jokingly said "If we don't have to wait more than 5 minutes, we'll take the photo!". With that info, our guide went to ask at what wait number the photo queue was currently at.
With our ticket, we had wait number 248. The queue was at 270 by the time we returned (after 3.5 hours of hiking) - so we had already missed our slot. And it additionally meant that people waited about 3 hours for that one picture - so while we experienced the entire hike to all the temples, the other people did nothing but wait!
The fact that we had missed our photo slot did not disappoint us much. We were already making our way towards the exit when our guide asked us why we didn't want to take the photo. We looked at him questioningly and explained that we had missed our time slot after all. He said that since our number is below the current number, we can go next - that's no problem. So we really passed in front of all the other waiting people and were able to take this popular photo directly next without waiting.

That was a great end to a super exhausting but beautiful day. :)
What have you ever waited a long time for on a vacation? Was it worth the wait?
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