South of Sukawati and 18 kilometers southeast of Gianyar, this is one of Bali's largest, fully cooperative villages, with 14 'banjar' and around 1,500 heads of household. As in many of these 'Old Bali' villages on the slopes of Gunung Batur, the headman is also the spiritual leader, decides legal matters, and oversees the village temple (pura puseh).

The village possesses a remarkable set of extremely Sakti female masks that are used in an archaic form of the Legong dance, the Legong Bidadari, first conceptualized in the late 19th century by a priest of Ketewel who had seen two angels in a dream.

The houses, temples, and public structures of Ketewel are fine examples of the slender, spare, and beautiful south Gianyar style of architecture, their stonemasons, woodcarvers, and gardeners being respected all over southern Bali.

Sights include the handsome 'wantilan' and the grand Pura Peyogaan Agung, whose scale and craftsmanship is equal to any of the island's state temples. Check out the inner courtyard during the biannual 'odalan' when the ghostlike Ratu Dedari mask dance is staged.

Also see Ketewel's Pura Beji holy water temple fed by a mountain spring, as are the communal baths. From Ketewel's T-junction, the road to the east leads to the beach at Pabean where purification ceremonies are held at sacred Pura Segara Sea temple. On the same road, in the southern part of the village, is the cemetery and death temple with a view of the sea. From the same T-junction, the road to the south leads after two kilometers to Gumicik, a village with a nice beach.