Sambangan Trek Review: North Bali Waterfalls (Aling-Aling, Kroya, Pucuk)

If you’re looking for the most fun, beautiful waterfalls in Bali, you need to visit the ‘Sambangan Secret Garden’!

When we were planning our trip to Bali, I did SO much research on which were the best waterfalls to go to during our (relatively quick) visit. There are so many stunning spots all across the island, but I kept reading that if you wanted lots of swimming and jumping (and less crowds!) that Northern Bali was where it’s at!

After our 5 day stay near Ubud, we got a 1.5hr transfer to a self-catered ‘treehouse’ cottage in Munduk (more on this at the end of this post) near Tamblingan Lake, ready for a couple of days in the north for waterfall exploring.

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Where is Sambangan in Bali? (+ How to get there)

Located in Northern Bali, Sambangan Village is hidden in the mountains close to Singaraja city and about 20 minute from the north coast. It took us about 1 hour by car transfer to here from Munduk (where we were staying), and would take around 2hrs if you were travelling from Ubud.

What is the Sambangan Secret Garden?

Sambangan Village and the local area is known as the ‘Sambangan Secret Garden’, because of the beautiful forest, rice terraces, nature trails and waterfalls that are easy to get to when you walk from the village.

There are several waterfalls to explore in this area, with the main ones all within a trail of about 30 minutes, and a couple of these are well known for great swimming and jumping off points.

North Bali Waterfall Tour with Bali Jungle Trekking

While it’s definitely possibly to explore the Sambangan Secret Garden yourself without a guide, we chose to book a private guide to show us the best spots and I’m really glad we did!

They can help organise transfers for you to and from where you’re staying, but it’s also great to learn local knowledge of the area while you’re walking around (AND they can take photos for you so you can easily create memories of the trip).

We booked the Medium Sambangan Trek through Bali Jungle Trekking and I’d definitely recommend these guys. It was super easy to WhatsApp them to book our trip and our guide was brilliant too (although I am gutted I can’t remember his name… this is what happens when you wait to write up your trip over 5 months later!).

For our 2-3 hour trek (in October 2023), this cost 1,250,000 IDR (~ £64GBP) for 2 people. I messaged them a couple of days in advance via WhatsApp and sent the money over via a Wise transfer in advance.

This price included return transfer (~1hr each way), a local food lunch box and fresh coconut drink, our private guide and the waterfall entrance fees.

The warung we stopped at on the way back for our lunch and coconut was great too!

Aling-Aling Waterfall

The first waterfall we stopped at on our trek was the Aling-Aling waterfall which is huge and spectacular!

We arrived there fairly early (around 10am) and there was NO ONE else around which was totally magical. We swam in the lagoon here for a while and used the rope swings to jump in off a small ledge at the bottom of the waterfall.

I loved this. It was cloudy when we visited but apparently when the sun comes out, it casts a beautiful rainbow over this waterfall as well.

Kroya Waterfall

The next waterfall we came to was Kroya – and this was definitely the main event! There were a few other groups and private guides here by the time we got here, and we could easily see why this was popular.

Not only is it beautiful, it’s also INCREDIBLY fun because there’s a high ledge you can jump off into a deep pool with the waterfall in the background. It was stunning!

We did this several times and our Bali Jungle Trekking guide was great at cheering us on and taking pictures and videos of us when we went in together.

If that wasn’t enough adrenaline for you, the craziest bit was when our guide told us we could SLIDE down this waterfall!

I won’t lie – I was quite scared initially. Surely it would hurt??

But the guides were there helping us and provided us with life jackets as well just in case we struggled at the bottom so I decided it was safe enough for me to give it a go 🤣. It felt insane to be sliding down a natural waterfall in the middle of the jungle, but we both loved it!

Alex went down a couple of times and enjoyed every minute. The rock under the waterfall has been smoothed down over years of powerful water over the top of it, so it felt like a proper slide and wasn’t painful at all (however it was very powerful pushing you down… worse than the Centre Parcs rapids 🙈 if you know, you know). 

Pucuk & Kembar Waterfalls

As we walked down through the valley again, there are a couple more waterfalls with large pools to swim in, and a couple more jumping off points.

Alex was brave enough to try the 10 meter jump in (it looks WAY higher than 10 meters in person!), but we both chickened out at the 15 meter jump further down. Our guide did it instead to show off his moves!

Where to stay near the Sambangan Waterfalls

As I mentioned we were actually staying in Munduk (next to Tamblingan Lake) during this part of our trip, and Sambangan was still an hour’s transfer ride north from here. However this was still much easier than if we were staying in Ubud or further south, and Munduk is an extremely beautiful and largely untouched area of northern Bali that would absolutely recommend as a base!

We stayed in this beautiful treehouse cottage overlooking the jungle, which had its own path down to the stunning Munduk waterfall trail, where there are 3 stunning waterfalls you can explore within an hour or two’s hike.

Alternatively, if you want to stay in the actual Sambangan area for even closer access to the ‘Secret Garden’ waterfalls, below are some great options too!

• Eco homestay at Damuh Pertivi (£)
• Balinese hotel with pool at Shanti National Panorama View Hotel (££)

 

Will Sambangan be going on your Bali bucket list?