Kintamani Volcano and Coffee Plantation Tour

The Kintamani volcanic highlands sit at the heart of Bali at an elevation of over 1,500 metres — a dramatically different world from the coastal lowlands, cooler, greener, and dominated by the brooding presence of Mount Batur, one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia. Our guided tour combines the spectacular natural scenery of this volcanic landscape with a fascinating visit to a working Balinese coffee and spice plantation.

The journey to Kintamani follows the famous Artist Road through Ubud, past traditional painting villages at Pelliatan, the silver-working capital of Celuk, and the stone-carving workshops of Batubulan. Each of these communities has maintained its traditional craft specialisation for generations, and stopping briefly at working studios gives a genuine sense of Balinese cultural geography.

Mount Batur Caldera viewpoint is the tour’s centrepiece — a massive oval depression formed by volcanic collapse approximately 23,000 years ago, now containing a lake of extraordinary beauty and a newer volcanic cone that has erupted dozens of times since 1800. Standing at the rim, you look across the steaming surface of Lake Batur with Batur’s perfect cone reflected in its still waters and Mount Abang rising on the far side. The scale of the landscape is humbling.

The coffee plantation visit introduces you to the full production cycle of Balinese arabica coffee — from the cherry to the cup. You’ll learn about the luwak (Asian palm civet), whose partial digestion of coffee cherries produces the world’s rarest and most expensive coffee, and have the opportunity to taste a range of single-origin Balinese coffees alongside teas, herbal drinks, and spice preparations. The plantation grows vanilla, cloves, cacao, and cardamom alongside coffee, and tasting sessions are informative and genuinely enjoyable.

A traditional Balinese lunch is served at a clifftop restaurant overlooking the caldera before the return journey.