4 Restaurants Near Tirta Empul Bali For An Entrancing Culinary Journey!

Warung Sripadi is the one place near Tirta Empul that almost every food guide agrees on, and it is the reason this page exists. It is a small, family-run warung up a short flight of steps from the temple road. You can see its sign from the street as you walk along the temple road. Everything on the menu is plant-based, which is rare for a warung in rural Bali, where even the vegetable dishes are often cooked with shrimp paste.

Order the nasi campur. It is rice with five or six small vegan sides (tempeh, tofu, long beans, spiced vegetables, sambal) and it comes with a bowl of soup. HappyCow reviewers also rate the mie goreng, the pumpkin soup, a vegan bakso made with mock meatballs, and the tempe goreng as a starter. Prices are written on a printed menu and are among the lowest you will find near the temple. Budget about IDR 30,000 to 60,000 (₹160 to ₹315) for a main and a fresh juice.

Two honest notes. The dining room is simple and sits beside a road that gets busy with tour traffic, so do not expect a view. And the listed hours disagree. Google Maps says it opens at 11 am, while HappyCow says 9 am. If you finish at the temple before 11, walk past and look, or message the number on its Maps listing first. Because the kitchen is fully vegan, Jain travellers can ask for dishes without onion and garlic (“tanpa bawang”) and get a clear answer, which is hard to do at a mixed kitchen.

Waroeng De Koi is the most-reviewed restaurant near Tirta Empul, and that is exactly why you should read reviews before you go. It is a large, open warung on the temple road with a koi pond, plenty of tables and parking for minibuses. Many tour drivers stop here, so it fills up fast at lunch.

Its rating tells the story. With more than 800 reviews it sits at 2.9 out of 5, and the most common complaints are from people who were dropped off by a tour and found the prices higher and the food plainer than they expected. One reviewer on Foodeist sums it up, saying if you get dropped off here with a tour, don’t. That is not a reason to avoid it outright. It is quick, it has space for a group, and the toilets are useful after the purification bath. But ask for the menu with prices before ordering, and if your driver suggests it only because it is convenient for him, walk the 5 minutes to Warung Sripadi instead. We include it because you will almost certainly be taken here, and you deserve to know what to expect.

If you want to sit among rice paddies rather than beside a road, Pangkon is the nearest option to the temple. It is a restaurant and small agrotourism garden in Manukaya, the same village as Tirta Empul, with open pavilions looking over green fields. Its 4.1 rating from about 1,000 reviews is a steadier score than the temple-road warungs, and the space suits families and groups who want to eat together at one long table.

The menu leans Balinese, so look for dishes like bebek goreng (crispy fried duck), sate lilit (minced fish or chicken pressed onto lemongrass sticks) and nasi campur Bali. Vegetarians can ask for gado-gado or a vegetable nasi campur, but check that the sambal has no terasi (shrimp paste). Expect to pay more than at a family warung, about IDR 75,000 to 150,000 (₹395 to ₹790) a person. It sees tour groups too, so the same advice applies. Look at the prices first.

Waroeng Podjok GK is where you go to eat what a Tampaksiring family eats. It is a tiny corner warung (podjok means corner) in Tampaksiring town, run by a local family, and its 4.9 rating comes from people who stumbled on it rather than being driven there by a tour. One reviewer wrote that the cook prepares meals the way she cooks for her own family, and that is the appeal.

There is no long menu. You get what is cooking that day, usually a choice of rice with chicken, tempeh, tofu, vegetables and egg, plus soto (a turmeric soup) or mie goreng. Prices are local, about IDR 25,000 to 50,000 (₹130 to ₹265) for a full plate and an iced tea. It is a 5 to 10 minute drive from the temple, so it fits easily into the drive back towards Ubud. Seating is limited, so it is better for two or four people than for a big group.

The Amertha is a proper restaurant rather than a warung, with table service, a printed menu in English and a calm garden setting. Several reviewers mention stopping here after Tegallalang and Tirta Empul, which tells you how it fits a day trip. It sits on Jalan Sentanu in Tampaksiring town, a short drive from the temple on the road south.

Order the Balinese set if you want to try several dishes at once, or the ayam betutu (chicken slow-cooked in spice paste) if you want one strong flavour. There are vegetable curries and fried rice for vegetarians. Budget about IDR 60,000 to 120,000 (₹315 to ₹630) per person. Next door on the same road, Warung Pondok Bali (4.3 from 456 Google reviews) serves young coconuts and lets you choose spicy or mild, a useful option if anyone in your group cannot handle chilli.

Most people who visit Tirta Empul also visit Gunung Kawi, the 11th-century shrines carved into a cliff about 7 minutes’ drive away. Kafe Kawi sits on that site, on the hillside above the rice fields, and its terrace looks straight over the paddies. It is a café more than a restaurant, so come for a Bali coffee, a fresh coconut or a plate of pisang goreng (fried banana) rather than a big meal.

The reason to stop is timing. Gunung Kawi involves about 300 steps down to the river and 300 back up, and the café is where you catch your breath before the climb or after it. Expect café prices of about IDR 30,000 to 80,000 (₹160 to ₹420).

For the history of the site and how to visit, see our guide to Gunung Kawi in Tampaksiring.

Nukad is the most unusual place on this list and the one that turns lunch into an activity. You walk down a set of steps to a riverside spot with a small waterfall, bale (open Balinese pavilions) and sun loungers. The river water is clean and the current is mild, so you can swim before or after you eat. If you did the purification bath at Tirta Empul and are already wet, this is a natural next stop.

Food is simple Indonesian fare, rice and noodle dishes, grilled chicken and fresh juices, priced at about IDR 50,000 to 100,000 (₹265 to ₹525). Reviews are warm about the setting and mixed on service. One visitor noted that tables were not cleared quickly at a busy time. Bring a towel and a dry change of clothes, and wear sandals with grip for the steps. It is about 10 to 15 minutes from the temple by car.

Segara Windhu is about 10 minutes from Tirta Empul on the road up towards Kintamani. It is not a restaurant, but it is where many visitors have their mid-morning drink. A guide walks you through a garden of robusta coffee, pineapple and salak (snake fruit), and you finish at a bale overlooking the valley with a free tasting tray of small cups of Bali coffee and herbal teas.

Here is the part most guides skip. The plantation sells kopi luwak, coffee made from beans eaten and passed by the civet (luwak), and several visitor reports describe civets kept in cages near the walking path. If animal welfare matters to you, enjoy the free tasting and skip the luwak cup. There is no pressure to buy, although staff will show you the shop at the end. A cup of luwak coffee costs extra, and bags of beans are priced well above supermarket rates, so buy your coffee to take home elsewhere.

If your day continues north after Tirta Empul, the road climbs steadily to the rim of the Batur caldera, and lunch with a volcano view becomes the main event. Grand Puncak Sari is the restaurant most day tours use for this stop. It is a large, open dining hall on the Penelokan ridge with floor-to-ceiling views of Mount Batur and the lake below it. It is the buffet house most drivers on this road know.

The buffet covers Indonesian and Balinese staples: nasi goreng, mie goreng, chicken curry, sate, vegetable dishes, fruit and dessert. Vegetarians will find several dishes, but nothing is labelled, so ask. Arrive by 12 noon. Cloud often rolls over the caldera in the early afternoon and hides the view you paid for.

For more choices on the ridge, see our guides to restaurants in Kintamani and restaurants near Pura Ulun Danu Batur.

We could not find an Indian restaurant in Tampaksiring. If your group wants dal, roti and paneer after a day of rice and sambal, the nearest reliable option is back in Ubud. Ganesha Ek Sanskriti is a long-running Indian kitchen on Monkey Forest Road. Its large vegetarian section makes it a regular stop for Indian families, and Jain travellers can ask for dishes without onion and garlic when they order.

Plan it as dinner rather than lunch. Leave Tirta Empul by mid-afternoon and you reach Ubud in 30 to 40 minutes, in time to visit the Monkey Forest, a short walk down the same road, before you eat. Budget about IDR 100,000 to 200,000 (₹525 to ₹1,050) per person for a thali or two curries with naan and a drink. For more choices, including pure-veg and South Indian kitchens, see our full list of Indian restaurants in Ubud.