Complete travel guide to the Goa Gajah in Ubud, Bali
Table of Contents
Let’s dive straight in and clarify that the name Goa Gaja stands for elephant cave, which is an awesome tourist point in Ubud. The Goa Gajah Bali is cool setting of a unique courtyard, awesome carvings upon the walls of the rocks, an amazing meditation cave (one of the best cave temples in Bali), cool fountains and of course bathing pools. This really is a magical historic site that you need to check out. If you’re a fan of temples, you should definitely try and visit the awesome Tanah Lot Temple on your travels.
If you’re visiting Bali and looking Ubud boutique hotels, and things to do in Ubud, then the elephant cave is one of most popular places and people travel from all over Bali to see this unique cave. If you’re wondering about visiting Ubud town and wondering whether it’s worth a visit. Let me tell you, this is one of the most awesome places to visit in Bali and the Gajah elephant cave is just one fine example of things to see.
How to get to the Goa Gajah Bali?
The elephant cave is not too far from Ubud town centre. So, How to het to the Goa Gajah in Ubud? The cave is an easy accessible 10 minutes southeast of Ubud in central Bali. And, the best and my favourite way to get there is using a scooter.
Scooter is always the best way for getting around Ubud and Bali. So, you can rent a scooter for $3 a day and fill it with gas for $1. Once you have a scooter, you should drive towards Bedulu and then head left to Jalan Raya Goa Gajah, easy drive.
You can also get a taxi there if you don’t fancy driving on the busy Ubud town centre roads and a taxi should cost between $4-$9 for a single fair to the Goa cave in Bali.
Sejarah Goa Gajah elephant cave entrance fee?
Usual tourist points in Bali generally have a low admission cost and the Bali cave is also cheap. So, to answer the question what is the Goa Gajah entrace fee? The actual cost of the elephant cave is 15,000 Rupiah for adults ($1) and 7,500 Rupiah for children ($0.50). Also, women need to wear a sarong whilst entering the elephant cave in Ubud.
Backpackers dream, a cool thing to check and at very low cost, happy days.
The cave is still an active meditation site, so if there’s locals praying. Please be respectful of them and try not to disturb the prayers! It’s a cool thing to see.
Goa Gajah opening hours
The Bali elephant opening hours are as follow; the cave opens at 8am and closes at 4pm so you should get there within these times. And, you would have guessed it, the cave gets flooded with tourists as the day goes on. It p****s me off when tourists are shoving about to take selfies, I suppose we all do it.
What I’m saying is, get there early to avoid the crowds, you should try and get there for 9am. This will give you time to have your breakfast and head here in good time 🙂
Goa Gajah dress code
So what should you wear to the elephant cave? This is an easy one;
- Women –You have to wear a sarong as with 90% of the other temples and sacred sites in Bali.
- Men – Sorry guys you need to ditch the vests for this one really, sometimes they might let you off. But, it’s a sign of respect to wear a t-shirt. So make you have a t-shirt spare in your bag.
Also, it’s worth knowing that women are strictly prohibited to entry if you’re on your period. This goes with most of the temples in Indonesia, it’s just one of them things and it is a big part of culture.
History of the Ubud Gajah temple
Let’s have a look into the cool history of this amazing cave. The Goa Gajah Bali was first mentioned in a poem that dates back to the year 1365 and it’s believed the famous Bali elephant cave dates back to the distant 11th century.
When you’re exploring the site, you will notice how dated the architecture is and you can tell the carvings on the walls, date way back in time. Such a cool experience.
It is believed Hindu priests carved out this amazing site by hand and it was built for the use of a sanctuary. As a result, it was and still is a place of big significance to the Buddhists that live in Bali, Indonesia.
