Pura Tirta Empul is famous for its holy spring water, making it a popular tourist destination for those wanting to experience Balinese spiritual beliefs. While there are many water temples around the island, the most famous one is Pura Turta Empul.
Visiting Pura Tirta Empul
Pura Tirta Empul is located only 15km from Ubud and is open from 7am to 5pm with an entrance fee of 30,000 per person. It is possible to go on your own without a tour, however I strongly suggest booking a guide. There are several rules that I would otherwise not have known if our guide wasn’t there, such as certain fountains being off limits (only for priests). I also would have come unprepared without appropriate clothes or a sarong, and unsure of what the ceremony actually meant as I was doing it.
We booked our tour with De, who is also a priestess, which meant that we could accompany her to access the gated interior area for praying. She suggested we go very early in the morning to avoid the crowds, which made for a more intimate experience and no ‘traffic jam’ line ups in the pools.
Experiencing Melukat
Melukat is a purification ceremony in Bali, steeped in ancestral knowledge and tradition. The ritual is believed to clean and purify the body, mind and spirit from our present and past lives, fostering healing and vitality. Trying this water purification ceremony in Bali is a unique experience and one that I can highly recommend—I even wrote about it in my Bali-based travel memoir, ‘With Love from Bali’.
What to expect at the temple
After arriving to Pura Tirta Empul, we put on ceremonial clothes that De packed for us and carried in the offerings she prepared. She guided us through a brief meditation at the alter area towards the entrance to the holy springs before we changed into our bathing suits. De also packed for us sarongs and helped me to tie mine over my bathing suit like a halter-top dress, before changing into her own white robes.
We descended several concrete steps into a small rectangular pool of cold water that reached our chests. Oval shaped fountains are mounted above the pool and forcefully spout water towards us. At each fountain, De instructed me to think of my body being cleansed while placing my head under the water. I followed her lead, holding onto the fountain with my hands for balance and allowed the water to flow over my head and down my back. We moved right to the next fountain, where I ‘cleansed my mind’. The next fountains were for my heart, soul and finally my karma, at which point we noticed tiny frogs perched inside cracks around the fountains. De said she took this to be a good omen.
After the water ritual, we dried off and changed back into our clothing before moving on to the prayer area. This section is behind a gate and I noticed other tourists were not able to enter, though we are unsure if this is because they did not have a guide or because De is also a priest that we were able to go in with her. We sat down to meditate near the elderly priest who was chanting in Bahasa. De meditated beside us before sprinkling us with holy water.
Is it Worth going to Pura Tirta Empul?
I personally really enjoyed my melukat experience and feel it is 100% worth it to go to Pura Tirta Empul. It’s a very special experience which I even included as a chapter in my book, ‘With Love from Bali’. I have done the ceremony twice at two different temples, but I preferred Pura Tirta Empul because it has more water fountains and has larger grounds. I did feel noticeably better after the ceremony, sort of as if any stress I had was gone and I left feeling lighter. However, the effects were quite short lived (that’s probably why our guide De said she does melukat regularly).
I recommend going with De and you can reach her on WhatsApp at (+62)813-5348-5443. Her tour is $81 USD and includes pick up and drop off, mineral water, entrance ticket to the temple, a sarung to borrow and offerings, guiding in the water and special blessing from priest, breakfast with tea or coffee afterwards and assistance with taking your photos and videos!
Conversely, there are tons of different tours you can explore which add on other experiences, such as nearby hot springs, waterfalls or coffee tours.
Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions!
Shop my book ‘With Love from Bali’.
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