Is Bali worth the journey?

The beautiful Indonesian island of Bali appeals to different visitors: people attracted to the island's spiritual side, budget travellers, hikers and bikers, families and surfers. Tourism is centred on Kuta beach in the south, close to the airport. The island offers a lot despite being only 80 miles across, it's very green away from the heavily developed southern region. Bali's central volcanoes attract heavy rainfall, and streams rush past rice fields. Even though Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country, nine out of 10 Balinese are Hindu. It's a spiritual island whose religion dictates daily life from early dawn offerings are presented to spirits, incense is burned, and prayers recited. An excellent place to get a feel for Balinese culture in the capital, Denpasar, is at the Negeri Propinsi Bali museum. It has antique textiles and its compound contains fine examples of Balinese temple pavilions and admission is only 5000Rp. Hundreds of painters and sculptors are based around Ubud in central Bali and cottage industries are everywhere, with villages dedicated to every kind of art form, and roadsides lined with wood carvings and batik paintings. Many rural Balinese houses resemble temples, featuring walls topped with carvings of gods and exquisite gardens. Balinese style influences hotel, restaurant and spa design throughout the island. For authentic Balinese cooking, the food market in Ubud is home to dozens of stalls with delicious food grilled over charcoal. There are temples everywhere in Bali, even among the bars of Kuta, and at festivals the streets are full of colour and costume. Ubud, Bali's spiritual centre, is still an overgrown village. It effortlessly combines the countryside and spiritual. The whole place is like a temple, and many homes are still traditional compounds of brick walls topped with Hindu statues.

However, Ubud has welcomed cappuccino bars, spas and boutiques, and traffic congestion is a problem. It keeps a uniquely Balinese identity, with shimmering rice fields behind every restaurant and hotel. Ubud is Bali's main artistic centre. It has terrific museums and art galleries. Any day of the year you can catch a dance performance. One of the best places to go for these is the Ubud Palace (still the home of Balinese royalty), which has a highly atmospheric setting surrounded by a temple and gardens. Down south, the cliff-top Pura Luhur Uluwatu is a magnificent natural temple where the Kecak dance is performed each sunset by dozens of bare-chested men above the ocean. Bali's most sacred temple is Pura Luhur Batukau, a spiritual site since the 11th century. It enjoys a gorgeous location on the lower slopes of Batukau mountain, where it is surrounded by forests. It also has beautiful garden courtyards and a seven-tiered pagoda. Seminyak, eight kilometres north-west of Kuta, is one of Asia's most fashionable places, home to numerous Indonesian designers and creative types, and rich Westerners. There are many exclusive, hip hotels, lounge bars, galleries and spas here. It's quite possible to visit volcanic scenery on a day trip from one of the southern resorts. Climbing the Agung is a serious task that takes planning. Near-deserted beaches are not impossible to find, but you won't find them in southern Bali. Head east where Pasir Putih (near Candidasa) is a gorgeous untouched crescent of white sand. Close by, Jemeluk has dark, grey sand and decent snorkelling, but no crowds. Or for that desert-island experience, take a fast boat to the Gili islands around 25 miles east of Bali. Everyone gets around by bike or horse and cart, and is a vision of paradise, with chalk-white sands backed by coconut palms, and sea that's a near surreal shade of turquoise.

Balinese food is hot and sweet, and uses varied spices. The Balinese favour meals of little snack-sized bites of many flavours and textures. Flavours are complex and spices include coriander, cardamom, chillies, garlic, ginger and cloves, mixed with palm sugar, shrimp paste, lemon basil and shavings of dried coconut. Surf culture is everywhere in Bali and the waves are world-class. The water is warm and there are powerful breaks at Legian and Dreamland and reef breaks off the Bukit Peninsula. Kuta remains an excellent place to learn to surf. Bali also offers terrific scuba diving; Indonesian coral reefs are some of the most diverse in the world. Top sites include Menjangan Island, where you're virtually guaranteed to see reef sharks, and Nusa Penida's Manta Point where divers encounter dozens of manta rays.