North-East Bali

Along the north-east coast of Bali, the landscape tells a different story. The corridor from Singaraja to Tejakula is studded with temples whose stone reliefs record colonial encounters most visitors never hear about: a Dutch cyclist immortalised in 1890 bas-relief at Pura Maduwe Karang, a biplane and Model T Ford chiselled into Pura Dalem Jagaraga after the battles of 1849. History is carved into the coral-pink sandstone here, not sold in souvenir shops.

South of the temples, the coastline opens into volcanic-black beaches, freshwater springs that bubble up at the ocean's edge, and the USAT Liberty wreck at Tulamben — rated among the top ten dive sites in Asia by CNN, yet reachable by shore walk. Dolphins appear at dawn off Lovina. Rural spas charge a fraction of Seminyak prices. And the rice-terraced valley above Sembiran, one of Bali's oldest continuously inhabited settlements, remains almost entirely free of day-trippers. Come before the rest of the world catches on.