Ubud Travel Guide: Things to do in Ubud, where to stay and what to eat
Located in the mountainous region of Bali island, Ubud is known as the center of arts and crafts of Bali.
Ubud is hardly “new” or undiscovered – in fact, it is a haven for visitors and very popular. Because of this, the infrastructure that caters to tourism is already well established here: locals speak fluent English, there are plenty of accommodation options from villas and hotels, lots of activities to do, places to visit, and a variety of meal choices from vegan organic cafes to authentic local Balinese food.
Best of all, the costs in Ubud are still relatively affordable compared to Seminyak!
Even though I’ve been to Bali many times, Ubud is the one place I had always wanted to visit but never got the chance to. I heard great things about Ubud and a quick search revealed plenty of exciting activities and places, so we allocated an entire week on our first visit just staying in Ubud. Since then, I’ve visited Ubud a few more times.
What to book before your trip to Bali
a local SIM Card – having a data connection is always important! make sure you are connected throughout the trip so you can easily look at maps and research on the go. This SIM card can be bought at DPS Airport when you land, but it will cost you more than if you had pre-booked it here before your trip. I recommend getting XL.
Airport Transfer – This is probably the best and cheapest option to get from DPS Airport to Ubud. You can pre-book airport transfer here for a very fair price here. Alternatively, you can arrange an airport transfer with your accommodation, but they will normally charge Rp 200,000 – 300,000 depending on where you stay. For more information, you can read my Complete Bali Guide.
How to get around in Ubud
Ubud, like the rest of Bali, is best enjoyed on a motorbike. Most of the roads in Bali are quite narrow so you’ll most likely encounter some traffic jams. It’s easier to navigate through the jams on a bike than in a car. Renting bikes in Bali is very common for tourists and quite affordable – it only costs you Rp 60,000 – 70,000 / day, and fuel is about Rp 30,000 for a full tank.
If you have a lot of places you want to go to, you can also explore hiring your own car with a private driver who can drive you around wherever you want to go. This is more convenient than a taxi since you’ll save time finding one every time you need to go somewhere.
If you can’t drive a motorbike, your best bet is to get a taxi. This shouldn’t be hard to do, as there are plenty of taxi drivers on the streets of Ubud. However, you do have to negotiate a bit with them or they’ll try to rip you off at first. For example, we were quoted Rp 400,000 for a round trip from Ubud Central to Tirta Empul. A quick check of the other apps shows that it should be Rp 150,000 one way, so I negotiated it down to Rp 300,000.
If you don’t feel like dealing with taxi drivers, you can try Bluebird Taxi. Install the Bluebird taxi app, which is Indonesia’s most trusted taxi operator. The app works like a ride-hailing app and you can get a taxi to take you from point A to point B. It’s also a great tool for estimating how much a taxi should cost.
While there are ride-sharing services like GOJEK or Grab, they don’t seem to be very well received in Bali. You can see many anti-Uber/Grab signs throughout the island, and the legality is still questionable in Indonesia. It seems to be fine to use them for longer journeys, but it really depends on the areas you are going to. We used Grab from our villa in Seminyak (a fairly secluded area) to Ubud. However, if you are staying in Ubud Central, no drivers would pick you up. So your best bet for a short distance transport, if you don’t want to bike, is still a taxi or hire a private driver. Bluebird taxis are allowed, however.
Things to do in Ubud
These activities are located in the central Ubud area, where it can be reached either by foot or on a short motorbike ride! Here are some things you can do in Ubud:
- Visit Goa Gajah Cave
Goa Gajah means “Elephant Cave” in Indonesian. It might be worth getting a guide here since there is no explanation whatsoever inside. We didn’t, and I had no idea what the place is about until I read up after.
Outside Goa Gajah there will be ladies trying to sell you sarongs which you must buy and wrap around the lower half of your body before going into the temple. You do not have to buy from them! You can just use the cloth they give out at the entrance of the temple, which is included with the entrance ticket.
The sarongs they sell outside have more patterns but you shouldn’t pay more than Rp 30,000 for them – you have to haggle a bit for this price. At first, I thought we got totally ripped off buying sarongs here, but we ended up using them a lot on the trip as sun protection while biking, or as an extra layer at other temples. I think it was actually a worthy purchase. - Campuhan Ridge Walk
This is a short and very easy walk (ie: well-paved) with an abundance of greeneries around the trail. It shouldn’t take more than an hour to go to the end of the ridge and then back, but you might end up spending a long time here if you’re taking pictures. But! There is almost no shade throughout the walk so I recommend doing this in the morning or late afternoon. - Kajeng Rice Field Walk
Close to Ubud Central, there is a nice walk that takes you through the rice fields. It starts from Jalan Raya Ubud, and takes you up Jalan Subak Sok Wayah – a small paved street lined with cafes, villas, yoga studios, and homestays. It was quite a pleasant walk! You can loop through to another rice field, and head south. You’ll find your way back to Jalan Raya Ubud near Cafe Lotus.
Follow this walking map for a rough guide. Keep in mind that Google Maps isn’t very accurate – at the point when you’re close to Sunset Cafe & Bungalows, keep an eye out for a small trail that takes you down to the valley below near the small stream. From here on, the road will not be paved so be careful! It will look more like a hiking trail.
Keep north when you get near the stream, and you’ll find a bridge where you can cross and loop back south. You’ll be walking in the middle of the forest for a while before you’ll finally see a clearing and you’d soon be walking by the rice field again. When you see Luxe villas, you’ll know you’re on the right way!
This walk took us about an hour to get through, at a very leisurely pace. - Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary
I was reluctant about going to the sanctuary since I heard stories about the monkeys being aggressive and would attack if you have a backpack with food.
While all of that is true, they are quite okay as long as you heed these warnings posted all over the forest: do not look at the monkeys in the eyes (they’ll try to establish dominance and get aggressive if you do), do not taunt them with food, do not bring food inside your bags, and most importantly do NOT pet the monkey even as they are perched on your head eating bananas. Personally, I wouldn’t even try to feed the monkeys.
Please take this seriously as unfortunately, some visitors had gotten bit by the monkeys there. We actually saw a guy getting bit by one of the monkeys because (I think) he had bananas inside his bag and the monkey was trying to get to it – he swatted the monkey away and got bit in the process.
I also saw a group of the monkeys bullying a small toddler when we were in the more remote areas of the park. It was really scary as the monkeys were relentless and chased the poor child even as we tried to scare the monkeys away. I absolutely do NOT recommend bringing your small children to this park because of this.
So yeah, there are lots of disclaimers in visiting this sanctuary: keep your distance and don’t keep food in your bag. And if you could, don’t bring small children to the park.
The place itself is very beautiful. It’s surrounded by lush rainforest and stone architecture that makes it look straight out of an Indiana Jones set. So even if you decide that the monkeys are too scary, you’d still enjoy walking around the area. - Kecak Fire & Trance Dance Performance
Kecak is a traditional Balinese dance involving fire and the Hindu Ramayana story. The dance is usually performed at a temple, making it a very picturesque and dramatic performance.
There are various Kecak performers with different show schedules and locations around Ubud – just find one that suits your schedule
Kecak Dance at Pura Dalem Gede – Every Sunday and Tuesday at 7PM
Kecak Dance at Puri Agung Peliatan – Every Thursday at 7PM
I would recommend reading the story ahead of time (the event booklet will have this info) as the entire story portion of the dance is performed in Balinese – I speak Indonesian fluently and I didn’t understand a word.
To end off the night, there will be a trance performance called Kuda Lumping, where a performer in a trance will step all over burning coal barefoot without getting hurt.
Blog Courtesy : https://girleatworld.net/
