Tenganan is a Bali Aga village, a centre of the original Balinese prior to the Majapahit arrival . Unlikethe other well known Bali Aga centre, trunyan, this is a reasonably friendly place and also much more interesting. Tenganan is a walled village and consists basically of two rows of identical houses stretching up the gentle slope of the hill. The houses face each other across a grassy central area where the village public buildings are located.

The Bali Aga are reputed to be exceptionally conservative and resistant to change but even here the modern age has not been totally held at bay. A small forest of TV aerials sprouts from those ohso traditional houses. The most striking feature of Tenganan, however, is its exceptional neatness, the hills behind providing a beautiful backdrop.

Tenganan is full of strange customs,festivals and practices. A magical cloth known as kamben gringsing is also woven here a person wearing it is said to be protected againtst black magic. A peculier , old fashioned version of the gamelan known as the gamelan selunding is still played here and girls dance an equally ancient dance known as the Rejang.

At the annual Usaba Sambah Festival, held around June Or July, men fight with their fists wrapped in sharp edged pandanus leaves similar events occur on the island of Sumba, far to the east in Nusa Tenggara.