VISIT THE ‘GHOST PALACE’: AN ABANDONED HOTEL IN BALI

Are you game to visit the ‘Ghost Palace’ hotel in Bali? The abandoned Bedugul Taman Hotel has a mysterious history and is now open to the public for adventurous explorations.

GHOST PALACE IN BALI – THE EXPERIENCE

With one day free in Bali before heading off an adventure what do you do? The obvious answer is rent a cheap surfboard, enjoy the beach and have a beer at sunset. But that’s all a little too cliche for me. Instead, I joined Mike Corey, who is an abandoned place world explorer, for an epic adventure.

By the way yes that it is Mike’s job title, he roams the world exploring abandoned places and visiting unbelievable festivals. You can check out his Youtube by clicking here.

Our plan was to head north to the ‘Ghost Palace’ Hotel in Bedugul also known as the Bedugul Taman Hotel. We crammed on a moped as you do in Bali and weaved our way through traffic from Kuta all the way to Bedugul in just over an hour. We had read a little about the abandoned hotel in Bali but there was no concrete information on if there was security, risks or even… ghosts.

Here’s what we know about the ‘Ghost Palace’ Hotel in Bali

There are a number of theories about the Bedugul Taman Hotel, which mention why it was abandoned and if it is haunted.

1. The first theory is that the hotel is haunted by the ghosts of workers who died during the construction of the hotel. Locals supposedly shun the site and taxi drivers refuse to enter the grounds because of the spirits. Our taxi driver waited outside the gate.
2. The second theory, which was told to us by several people we met at the ‘Ghost Palace’ and seems to be the most popular on the internet is a bit more plausible and verifiable. The theory is that Tommy Suharto, the son of the President at the time, was building the property in 1990s as an investment project. Tommy wasn’t the cleanest of characters and was sent to prison in 2002 for ordering the assassination of a judge, who had been responsible for convicting him of drug charges in a previous case. Once Suharto went to Jail in 2002 the building project ceased as funding and leadership went amiss.

The ‘Ghost Palace’ Hotel in Bali: Current Condition

Today the ‘Ghost Palace is overrun by vines, bushes, trees, and moss. The elegant tile floors are now smeared with mud, moss, and puddles. The walls are covered in spider webs and vines.

As we walked through the huge property we noticed the fittings were never completed and many finishes were left undone. This led us to believe the hotel was in fact never opened as we had read and that the construction was abruptly aborted.

To give you an idea of just how big the property is I flew the drone overhead, although the conditions in the middle of the day weren’t great for aerial photography.

How to get into the ‘Ghost Palace’ Hotel, Bali

In the past, people have jumped over the back fence, which is in fairness hardly a fence and more of a barrier from the adjacent road. From there you can wander down to the hotel and explore. However, there is security and they are charging 10,000 IDR at the entrance. To put things into perspective you can pay $1 and walk through the front gate and shake the hand of the security guard or jump the back fence and dodge the security for two hours as he patrols the property. We paid the dollar.

They had no issue with us bringing drones, cameras and running around the hotel for over two hours. In fact, once we were in they didn’t bother us at all. Only a few other couples ventured onto the property while we were there during the middle of the day. Access during the night may be different and also a little spookier.

If you are looking for more unique things to do on your vacation check out this handy Bali Travel Guide for first-timers.

What did we find

The coolest parts about the hotel were the following:

• The giant stone serpents on either side of the staircase in the garden, overgrown by trees and bushes. This is an epic stairway to the roof area.
• We found a live snake, live frogs, fish, giant spiders, and lizards.
• Moss covered floors that folded back like carpet
• Huge dining room and entertaining area on the top floor with beautiful marble tiles
• The eeriest part was the cellar area or the downstairs. Here the floor was covered in sand a few inches deep and light shone down only through cracks. If you dared me to spend the night down there I might wet myself.
• Beautiful hotel rooms with walk-out balconies overlooking the mountains and some rice-paddies

Where is the abandoned ‘Ghost Palace’ Hotel?

This location on Google Maps is deadly accurate and if you click on the location you will even see the photos. You can trust Google Maps on this one.

 

Happy exploring! Here are a few more shots from our adventure.