The people behind Tirta Bali.

Our story

It started with a borrowed car and a better idea.

Tirta Bali began in 2021, in the quiet after the island emptied out. Ayu — born in a village just outside Ubud — had spent years guiding for big operators, watching visitors get herded through the same ten photo stops and bussed home before the light turned golden.

She knew a different Bali: the water temple with no queue, the warung where her aunt cooks, the back road that opens onto rice fields the tour buses never reach. So she borrowed a friend's car, called two cousins who knew the island as well as she did, and started taking small groups the way she'd take family.

We named it Tirta — "holy water" — for the springs at the heart of Balinese life. Everything we do flows from that.

Five years on, we're still small on purpose. Every guest is hosted by someone who grew up here, every day is private and built around you, and a share of every booking goes back to the villages and temples we visit. That's the whole idea — Bali, shown by the people who call it home.