Most of Bali’s well known waterfalls are up in the mountains. Tegenungan is not. It drops into the Petanu river valley at Kemenuh village in Sukawati, south of Ubud, about 100 metres above sea level in a village that is still mostly farmland, and that is why it is busy: it is an easy drive from the towns rather than a mountain expedition.
The fall is about 15 metres high, which is modest, but the river carries a lot of water and the flow is strong. That combination is what makes it worth seeing and also what makes it dangerous.
A lowland fall on a long river
The Petanu is one of the longest rivers on Bali, about 47km, rising in the highlands around Mount Batur and running down through Tampaksiring, Ubud and Blahbatuh before it reaches Tegenungan. Local people regard the river as sacred and use the area for meditation and prayer.
Because it drains such a big area, what you see depends on the weather upstream. From April to October the water is clearer and calmer and the paths are easier going. From November to March it runs heavier, browner and louder, which looks dramatic from the top and makes the riverbed a worse place to be. detikBali’s advice is simply not to go in the wet season.
Do not swim into the curtain
When the water is clear, people bathe and paddle in the river below, and on a hot day it is easy to drift closer to the fall than you meant to. The current there is the problem, not the depth: rescuers in 2017 believed the pressure of the water kept the victim from coming up. After the second death, Gianyar police asked the operators to put a barrier along the edge.
The Indonesian Wikipedia entry notes that the fall is often used for stunts such as jumping from the top. Do not. You cannot see what is under the white water, and the people who drowned here were in the pool, not on the lip.
Steps, timing and what it costs
Entry was Rp 20,000 per person in 2023, with Rp 5,000 for parking, and the site is open from 6.30am to 6.30pm. The fall is at the bottom of a long staircase. Accounts of how long vary from dozens of steps to hundreds; either way the climb back up is the part that hurts, so take water down with you and wear shoes that grip on wet concrete.
You do not have to descend. There is a viewpoint over the jungle and the fall at the main entrance, and plenty of photo spots around the fall. If you are going to the river, bring a change of clothes.
Go early. Around 7am beats the heat; late afternoon from about 4.30pm is the fallback.
The village around the fall
Kemenuh is still a farming village, with more than 500 hectares of permanent wet rice fields, and many households carve statues at home as a cottage industry. It borders Mas to the west, the village known as the centre of Balinese woodcarving, so you pass through carving country on the way.
Half a day from the south
Tegenungan is on Jalan Ir Sutami in Kemenuh, 21km from Gianyar town and a little over an hour from Kuta when the traffic allows. From Ubud it is a short run south, which makes it an easy first or last stop on a day of sightseeing, or a morning before the Sacred Monkey Forest. For guided days that include it, see our Ubud tours.
