Ubud is the best place to start your Bali trip. Take a taxi from the airport and experience the real Bali. Whether you’re going down here for a spa retreat, a cooking class or one of the many temples, Ubud has it all.
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Good to know
How to get there: by taxi from almost anywhere on the island
How many days: 3 – 4 days
Language: Indonesian
Valuta: IDR
What to do
Art market
When arriving in Ubud, make sure you’ll visit the art market. This market has the most amazing souvenirs, and you can buy paintings, sculptures, jewellery and clothing for a very nice price. Don’t forget to bargain for the price. Michiel and I learned this a little bit too late, but the vendors will try to sell their stuff to you for rp. 100.000, while you can easily get it down to rp. 50.000 or even rp. 30.000. Just pretend your not interested, move along and they’ll catch up with you to sell it for a lower price.
Walk around the center
Walking around Ubud is an activity on its own. You will smell incense everywhere, as this is part of a ritual: Balinese make an offering to their god twice a day, as they are Hindu. Ubud has tons of stores you an browse, and don’t forget to visit one of the many temples. Live music is to be found there as well. Just enjoy everything that there is to be seen, heard and smelled.
Monkey Forest
Even though Michiel and I didn’t visit the monkey forest, lots of people recommend you to go there as it is a fun experience. Make sure to keep you belongings tucked away in you backpack, as Balinese monkeys are not afraid of you and will try to steal everything from food, to glasses to phones. Nothing is save!
Camphuhan ridge walk
Wake up early and take a taxi to the Campuhan Ridge Walk, easily the most beautiful walk of Ubud. It gives you a wonderful view of the jungle and later on of the rice terraces. Go early in the morning to enjoy it the most – the temperature is still good and it’s not too crowded.
Mount batur trekking
Even though you can do this trekking from almost anywhere on Bali, we’d recommend you to do it from Ubud, as tons of guides offer a trekking up the mountain. You will be picked up by a taxi around 2 am in the night, and will start the trekking around 4 am. You will be at the first viewing point at sunrise. It was one of the most amazing experiences during our visit on Bali.
museum puri lukisan
If you want to get away from all the noises of the busy city center, opt for this arts museum. It’s not the most exciting thing to do, but it’s very interesting to learn about the Balinese culture through art, and it’s quite relaxing.
Where to eat
One of our favorite things about Ubud is how all the local restaurants are mixed with the more Western restaurants. We recommend you to first try some local places and not go for fries or pizza the first night. Local food is much tastier and much cheaper!
Warung Biah biah
On our first night out in Bali, we went to Warung Biah Biah, situated in the most populair food street in Ubud. It’s crowded, but very cozy. The warung has won a couple of TripAdvisor awards, and we we’re super happy with our choice of this restaurant. We got Nasi Goreng Ayam for rp 26.000 (which is like €1,60) and a Bintang beer for rp 30.000 (€1,88). A full and very tasty dinner for €3,51 per person. Imagine that!
Warung lokal
On our second night in Ubud we wanted to eat local again, and what is a better place to eat local than at Warung Lokal? Pun intended. For dinner we had Soto Ayam (rp 30.000) and one portion of Balinese Satay (rp 35.000). We both had a large Bintang beer (rp 40.000). We sat at the front of the restaurant and spent the night chatting about our trip. The restaurant had a chilled atmosphere, perfect to relax after a busy day in Ubud!
Toro Sushi
The last day, we had Nasi Goreng Ayam for lunch at the hotel, so we decided to have something else for dinner today. We were tired from the Mount Batur trekking, so we decided to have sushi at Toro Sushi. This place was way more expensive than the warungs we ate at the first two nights, but we just craved some good sushi. Luckily, this place serves very good sushi! You pay about rp 45.000 – rp. 80.000 per roll of 10 pcs. We opted for a daily deal, and payed about rp. 450.000 (€28,24) in total for drinks and food.
How to get around
By taxi
Getting around Ubud is done best by foot, but if you stay outside of the city center (like we did), you can best use a taxi. You hotel can probably get you a driver to drop you off somewhere around Ubud and can usually pick you up ass well. If not, there are plenty of taxi drivers hanging around the main junction, who are totally willing to drive you somewhere. Again: make sure you bargain the price. Around rp. 50.000 – rp. 60.000 is a normal price to drive you from the center of the city to your hotel.
By Uber/Bluebird
In Ubud, both Uber and Blue Bird are forbidden. You cannot use these services here.
By scooter
It’s possible to rent a scooter and drive around town yourself. As traffic is pretty crowded in the city center, we wouldn’t recommend you doing this if it’s your first time driving around on Bali.
Where to stay
In Ubud, there’s, again, plenty of choice. We advice you to pick a hotel just outside the center, so you can enjoy the lush surroundings of the Balinese jungle. We stayed at Taman Amartha Hotel and couldn’t be happier. It was one of the best hotels we ever stayed at and would definitely stay there again if we’d ever go back to Ubud. It’s about €50 per night, and you’ll get a lot of luxury, super friendly staff, amazing beds and the best food you can wish for!
We booked our hotel via Booking.com: https://www.booking.com/hotel/id/taman-amartha.nl.html
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