Pura Tanah Lot is located at a village called Braban, included in the administrative of Kecamatan Kediri Kabupaten Tabanan. The location is 30 kms from Denpasar city, Big bus can reach the parking lot that is especially constructed by local government on the beach where also found some restaurants, shops and art shops. On the east side of parking area there are shops and restaurants, from here visitors have to walk on foot around 300 meters to the beach. On the beach again some drink stalls along the direction of east west and they put some wooden or bamboo chairs on the beach where visitors can relax waiting for the sunset.
The beach on the area is drop cliff continuously under abrasion of strong sea water. On the edge of the sea below is very find black sand mixed with sparkling quartz. This black sand is used to make decoration such as mirror frames, photo frames or building decorations due to its sparkling reflection under light.
The name of Tanah Lot temple in tourism bibliography about Bali almost never absent. Among those temples as a tourist visit it is probably Tanah Lot is second most popular after Besakih. The name Tanah Lot is probably from " tanah laut " means land in the sea. It is the fact that the strong sea abrasion has separated the temple area with Bali mainland, so it looks that the temple nests on a small hill of rock bulging up on the ocean. Despite the fact that strong hit of sea wave but the site is still standing while the whole side have disappeared by the raged waves of hundreds of years.
No historical record is found so far to construct the history of the temple. Scripture of Dang Hyang Nirarta ( a fairy priest from Java ) mentions that the priest Dang Hyang Nirarta had visited the temple and asked the people around the area to build shrine. While the priest also educated fishermen there in making fish trap. The temple as a whole has 8 shrines with Merus ( superimposed roofs ) assemblaged on the narrow cliff that bulges up from the sea bed. See from the name of main shrine it suggests that the temple was built to honor a person who probably had important rule at the area with posthumous name as " Pemekel " It is common that, when a temple is built say the main shrine indeed dedicated to god, but second main shrines in a complex normally dedicated to persons who had dedicated himself for the welfare of the people or at least a person who had strong influence among the people.
For tourists, it is not only the traditional magic of the temple is interested, but the location in the natural setting, especially during the sunset, the temple changes into silhouette against the sunsets above Indonesian ocean.
