Smart cultural tourism needs to be developed in Indonesia to build knowledge and love of culture
among tourists. Indonesia has hundreds of cultural islands in which ethnic cultures are originating.
The island of Bali, for example, is a cultural island that has hundreds of traditional villages forming a
mosaic of Balinese culture. So far, tourists come by to Bali and visit traditional village tourism objects
at random, according to personal taste or according to a tour guide's taste. It is necessary to think
about tourist routes arranged according to specific criteria based on cultural research, aiming to
produce cultural knowledge in the minds of tourists based on structured empirical facts on each island
or series of islands they visit. The method used in this paper is a literature review, limited empirical
study, and interviews with parties related to tourism management. As a result, it is necessary to
develop tourist routes based on specific criteria based on research connecting ethnic, cultural tourism
objects, forming smart tourist routes that aim to build deep ethnic, cultural knowledge in the inner
world of tourists through their travel experiences. The implication is that this intelligent tourist route
can be the key to smart tourism, which can elevate ethnic, cultural tourism as one of the leading
national tourism destinations. The role of cultural research becomes the backbone in the formation of
this smart cultural tourism route.