Bali is variously known as The Land of a Thousand Temples, The Morning of the World and The Island of Paradise. Generations of foreign visitors, mesmerized by the placid lifestyles and fantastic rituals of the gregarious Balinese, have sought to capture the island’s spirit with poetic labels.

This diamond-shaped island attracts more than one million tourists a year, each drawn by the promise of a paradise on earth. This is a land of startling geographical contrasts, of verdant rice terraces and sacred, mist-wreathed volcanoes, of white-sand beaches and dense tropical rainforest. Besides, it is also a home to one of the world’s most vibrant cultures, famed for its dance and music, its ceremonies and fine arts.