Little-known ‘theme park for influencers’ – with £2.50 entry, photoshoot dresses for hire and flower swings

THE stunning island of Bali has a picture-perfect opportunity at every turn, but the Insta-famous all head to one spot – Tegalalang Rice Terrace.

Surrounded by green rice paddies and breathtaking views, I paid £2.50 to enter the trendy tourism spot known as the ‘theme park for influencers.’

Everywhere I look, social media wannabes pose in flowing dresses on swings and ziplines soaring over the fields, or on the picturesque paths cutting through the fields.

Visitors flood social media with hundreds of thousands of pictures of the tiered rice paddies every year, with hashtags like #EatPrayLove and #BaliVibes.

But it’s not just a stunning backdrop – it’s also a vital part of Balinese culture, highlighting centuries of agricultural tradition and the island’s deep spiritual connection to the land.

After a picture-perfect 20-minute taxi ride from the arty town of Ubud in central of Bali past farms and fields, it costs just £2.50 to get in and explore – and the rice terrace even takes credit cards.

For an extra £15, visitors can swing 20 feet in the air over the paddies suspended between two trees, or zip line from one side to the other for the ultimate birds’ eye view.

If you’re only packing shorts and flip flops, enterprising locals tout racks of flowing dresses for hire, at a price – with a sign warning freebie-loving influencers ‘no money, no honey’.

Cruise ship dancers Lowis Fitzsimmonds, 23, from Yorkshire, and Kai Charlesworth from Wiltshire – visiting with friend Rossina Lozoya, 31, from Texas – were among those on the swings and lazing in bamboo baskets.

Kai, 23, said: “We’ve just been to Thailand and we’re taking thousands of pictures everywhere.

“It’s our first time in Bali and the landscapes are stunning. We saw pictures of the rice terrace online and knew we had to stop here.

“Next we’re off to the monkey forest in Ubud to see if we can snap a selfie.”

According to guide Gusti Made Swaditi, who takes dozens of tourists to the rice terrace each day, visitors used to take in the landscape.

But nowadays, it’s all about the social media selfies, and more hillside restaurants, swings and bamboo baskets are popping up every
year to keep up with demand.

Gusti, 45, who has watched posh cocktail bars and pricey five-star hotels spring up over the past two decades around his traditional house in a sleepy corner of Ubud, said: “Hundreds of tourists come here every day starting at 7am.

“Early in the morning the joggers run among the fields, then it’s all influencers until the sun goes down – it’s the number one place to visit in Bali for pictures.

“Years ago, they just wanted one quick picture in front of the terrace, but now sometimes they pose for 20 minutes or more to get all the angles.

“We are happy to welcome them here, because Bali is a beautiful country and it needs visitors more than ever after the pandemic.”

Mrunmayee Pradhan, 33, a business analyst in the US, had broken off from a wedding party to rent a sparkling white dress for a five-minute photoshoot with one of the terrace’s guide among the trees.

Tourists visiting Bali – which attracts millions of foreigners every year from across the globe – are facing a major crackdown on bad behaviour after a series of high-profile incidents.

Indonesian officials introduced a raft of measures after a naked German woman gatecrashed a sacred dance routine and a naked content creator prayed in front of a temple.

Officials are now said to be considering additional measures, including tourist taxes and a ban on rental motorbikes for visitors.