Sidemen Cycling Tour with Local Guide & Gembleng Waterfall

I had an absolute blast! Clear meeting instructions and a friendly, attentive guide. I loved combining cycling, nature and an insight into rural Balinese life, including fascinating conversations about local traditions and ceremonies. The highlight was watching a local farmer climb an incredibly tall coconut palm to collect sap for arak production. Visiting the traditional distillery was fascinating, (although I'd exercise discretion when sampling unregulated alcohol.) I'm an experienced cyclist and felt comfortable sharing the rural quality roads with scooters and cars. We completed the cycling in around 90 minutes, but it could be challenging if you're less fit. The 2 pm heat was intense, so there was no need to hurry! Gembleng Waterfall was wonderfully refreshing, although expect to share it with the Instagram crowd. There's also a café and toilet at the top. If you enjoy authentic experiences rather than polished tourist attractions, I'd highly recommend this tour. A perfect adventure for me!

I had booked the tour in Italian and it was also written on the tickets but there was nothing Italian, I don’t know why he gave the option take it away at least. The guide was nice but a last-minute replacement because at 7am they didn't know who to cover the tour, and I had booked a month before. We spent 95 euros to take a bike ride through some rice fields and get to the falls (free admission) and then lunch at 11.30 (?!?) because there was nothing left to do. Where was the discovery of the traditional village of Sidemen we did not understand. The restaurant had modest prices and even if they had lunch included we would still not spend more than 15 euros. Transfer service to/from the hotel to be paid apart from 150,000 rupees. I was quite convinced that I had also booked silver class but they told me that this was not the case, I double-checked the booking but in the list of things included some elements are indicated as “if the option was selected at the time of booking”. I booked so many things and it was a month ago, maybe I can not remember everything I selected (transfers, lunches, etc...) you can not just make the list of what I selected??? I strongly discourage the activity with children because there are both climbs and descents quite challenging. We spent 95 euros + transfer and after 2 hours / 2.5 hours we were in the hotel. Expensive and disappointing. I specify that it was not the fault of the guide who was still a good guy, nice and with good English and is the only reason for the 2 stars instead of one.

Excellent location, off the beaten track with spectacular surroundings in the jungle passing through small villages. Some very steep hills on this tour so perfect for those with good stamina, anything less coupled with the heat will make this challenging. However, the tour guide was tentative to any needs around this and gave options to manage by helping with the bikes and changing routes to fit our abilities. The tour guide, nickname ‘Boy’, was knowledgeable about the vegetation and wildlife and spoke excellent English. The bikes were brand new and in tip top condition. After the cycle ride we were taken for lunch to a local warung with a spectacular view. The lunch offered Indonesian and western style food off the complete menu, the food we had was excellent and the owners were very hospitable. In the afternoon we completed the tour with a silver jewellery making class where we made a couple of silver rings. The staff were very flexible about what to make and showing us options and explaining the steps involved. We were transported around the venues by private air conditioned car with driver who spoke good English and pointed local points of interest. We had a great day out, we enjoyed the whole experience and would recommend this tour, we thought good value for money for 6 hours (10:00 to 16:00)