Pura Agung Besakih is located in Besakih Village, Rendang District, on the southwest slope of Mount Agung, which is the highest mountain in Bali, but you will only see the Agung when the sky is clear.
The name Besakih is taken from Sanskrit, wasuki or in Old Javanese basuki which means safe and the Besakih Temple is associated with the holy journey of Rsi Markandeya (Hindu Buddhist priest/saint) who came from the Indies. His journey began in the 8th century and he was first on Mount Dieng to do yoga asceticism to spread the teachings of Hinduism in the archipelago.
Nowadays it is the most important temple on Bali, also called the “Mother of all temples”. It is a very big complex, the entrance is completely renovated and adapted to modern times, the time where people come by car, so they made the access roads wider, built a large parking garage and adapted the entrance to modern times.
The entrance price is IDR 90,000 including transport by shuttle to the entrance of the temple, you get a wristband with a QR code which is scanned at the main entrance to the temple, but before you get there it is quite a walk, so there are electric shuttle busses that take the visitors to the main entrance of the temple, where the woman who sell offerings come at you like flies with the message that you have to buy, but it is not necessary at all and so you can kindly ignore them.
The Besakih temple is a different kind of temple, the Besakih is a temple for every Balinese, and it is a large complex with a collection of smaller temples, and at a particlular level the temples date from the time of the clans and the descendants of the clans still have their own temple.
Of course you have to climb a number of stairs to visit the higher located temples and there are guides available who will join you and can provide an explanation about the temples.
If you want to go back to the entrance you will have to walk because the shuttle only takes you up, unless you have difficulty walking then you can take the shuttle back to the entrance, this is because there are many shops and warungs along the way, but the road goes down and it is easy to do, there are also some nice statues along the way and it is a good walk as the road goes down.
Rundung #Megae 