What’s New on Our Eat Pray Love Tour?

We’ve been doing our Eat Pray Love Bali tour for almost 3 years now, and over time, we’ve changed it up a bit, based on feedback and our own experiences. Here’s what we’re doing on our September (and probably future) tours!

Our Welcome Dinner in “Italy” has moved to Ubud! Though we had some incredible experiences and wonderful meals at the Amanusa’s Italian Restaurant, Bali traffic can be truly unbelievable.  We’ve moved the welcome dinner to the more accessible  Terazo Restaurant in Ubud, where we’re working with the executive chef to prepare a custom meal with Italian wines – of course, on the Eat Pray Love Bali tour we will end with Tirami su for dessert, unless your taste runs more to local sorbets. Passion fruit, anyone?

Next, we’re trying something new with our hotel.  Honestly, we really looked hard at the Ubud Inn, where book author Elizabeth Gilbert stayed when she was writing about Bali.  Despite stunning grounds, we were just underwhelmed with the rooms, and didn’t love the location.  It’s in very busy Monkey Forest Road, set too close to the street.  We wanted something more tranquil, even in the heart of Ubud’s bustle.  The Pertiwi Resort & Spa seemed like a great spot for our Eat Pray Love Bali tour, and it’s located a little further along Monkey Forest Road,.  However, we may also return on future trips to our beloved Alila Hotel – the staff and the food and the environment are really incomparable!

Another big shift is in the temples we’ve chosen.  We teach our guests how to pray like the Balinese, and show them what to wear and how to wear it so that we can enter the inner sanctuary of each temple, and be blessed by the local Pedanda, or priest (who is sometimes a woman, which I just love!) On every other Eat Pray Love Bali tour, we’ve gone to Besakih Temple — called the Mother Temple, it’s nestled at the base of Mount Agung, about a 3 hour ride from Ubud. So this trip, we decided instead to visit our very favorite temple, Tirta Empul. It’s a delightful day trip (about a 2-hour drive) to the pool where all the sacred waters in Bali are gathered for the local temples.

Tirta Empul is an incredible experience, and we are often the only non-Balinese woshippers!   We’ve even witnessed a Balinese exorcism here. We can go into the streams and be cleansed during our Eat Pray Love Bali tour, under each of the 13 rushing fountains – an amazing experience of bliss.

Of course, we’ve still got the visit to Ketut Liyer, to Wayan the healer, to a pizza restaurant that will make you think you’re eating your Margarita ‘za in Napoli, yoga and meditation to make you feel like you’re in India (for an hour at least!) and even spa treatments at the very spot where the film crew for Eat Pray Love got all their massages.  It will be another incredible tour – I hope you can join us!