Bali by region, not by beach

A chain of volcanoes crosses Bali from east to west, and everything follows from it. Rain falls on the heights, the water comes back down, and for centuries the villages have shared its use through the subak — a network of channels, weirs and water temples run by the farmers themselves. The terraced rice fields are therefore not scenery: they are the plots of an irrigation system still in service, and that is why the landscape changes every ten kilometres.

The central hills. Around Ubud the air is cooler than on the coast and nights often pass without air conditioning. This is where the photographed terraces are, the workshops, the temples, and the greatest concentration of houses to rent overlooking a valley. The drawback is traffic: the roads in the centre are narrow, and twenty kilometres can take an hour at certain times.

The south. Canggu, Seminyak and the Bukit peninsula line up dark volcanic sand beaches where the Indian Ocean swell arrives unobstructed. That means surfing, and it also means currents to respect. The airport is here, so are the shops, and density is the island's highest. At the tip of Bukit the coast drops in limestone cliffs onto narrow coves: a wholly different landscape, fifteen kilometres from the last.

The east and the north. Around Amed and Candidasa the sea is calmer, the villages smaller, and the bottom drops away fast enough for shore diving. To the north, around Lovina, the sand is black and visitors few. This is the choice for a slow stay, two or three hours' drive from the airport — and that figure should be taken seriously, since journeys rarely run at the stated speed.

What you rent. The classic Balinese villa is open: separate pavilions, a bathroom sometimes open to the sky, a pool in the middle, and a family temple in one corner of the plot. It is pleasant, and it calls for two checks — mosquito screens, and what happens in the rainy season, from November to March, when showers are daily and brief. Many houses come with staff: it is better to know whether that is the case and what it covers.

Getting about, and the day nothing moves. The scooter is the commonest way around, and it is also the leading cause of accidents among visitors: an international licence with the motorcycle endorsement is required, and without it insurance covers nothing. The other option, far more usual than people expect, is to hire a car with a driver by the day, at a price that surprises by how low it is. And one day a year the island stops entirely: on Nyepi, the Balinese day of silence, the airport closes, the roads are off limits and everyone stays in — worth checking before fixing dates in March.

Our Bali addresses are rented direct from their owners, who know when the road clears and which temple ceremony closes a street.