The town where Julia Roberts put the love into Eat Pray Love, Ubud is Bali’s spiritual, artistic, and cultural capital, surrounded by waterfalls, rice terraces, and Hindu temples. From yoga to water blessings, silversmithing to Balinese dance, it’s easy to tend your zen here. But some of the best things to do in Ubud nurture the body, not the soul. The Ayung and Telaga Waja rivers offer white-water rafting; ATVs and bicycles put the countryside within reach, and it’s a great place to discover the art of Balinese cooking.
Many travelers prefer to visit Bali during the dry season (roughly mid-April to mid-October), but Ubud can feel overcrowded during the summer peak (mid-June through August). October sees the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Southeast Asia’s biggest literary festival, while yoginis flock to the BaliSpirit Festival in early May. Nobody goes to Ubud to sunbake, so rainy season visits are worthwhile—white-water rafting is at its best when downpours set the rivers pumping.
Scenic rice field paths and reasonably functional sidewalks make Ubud by far Bali’s most walkable destination, but many key sights lie some way out of town. There’s no real public transit, and driving and parking are tricky, so most travelers opt for private drivers. Metered taxis don’t operate in Ubud, but you can generally find a 2-wheeled or 4-wheeled ride on the Grab or GoJek ride-hailing apps—or simply negotiate with one of the many street touts offering “transport!”
Ubud is Bali’s arts and cultural capital, and learning a craft is a highlight of many travelers’ visits. Staffed by silversmiths from the island’s jewelry-crafting epicenter, Celuk, Studio Perak offers half-day classes in making silver jewelry. Simply come with a basic idea of what you’d like to make, and tutors will help you saw, hammer, carve, engrave, and solder to bring your design alive.
Attractions 55 | Tours 2,312 | Reviews 71,539 |
A freelance writer, Theodora has been based in Bali, on and off, for almost a decade and writes regularly about it and other Indonesian islands.
go for a walk. Ubud is about the only place on Bali that’s easy to get around on foot, and the Campuhan Rice Field Walk is a great way to get out in nature.
starts with a yoga class or a spa treatment, involves visiting an art gallery and at least one temple, and wraps up with dinner and drinks at one of the town’s top-notch eateries.
Ubud Monkey Forest. Between the jungle and the gorge and the macaques and the temple statues, it’s as atmospheric and photogenic as it looks.
join a workshop or watch a dance performance at Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA). You can try your hand at everything from silversmithing to batik painting.
Ubud’s best views are natural ones of rice terraces and river gorges. Visit Tegalalang Rice Terrace, join a walking tour of the terraces around Campuhan, or go for dinner or drinks beside the Sayan Gorge.
is dressing for the beach instead of for an inland town. While the popular temples all offer sarongs to cover up with, it's best to dress in street clothes instead of beachy ones while sightseeing.
Ubud is known as Bali’s art and cultural capital, home to galleries, museums, temples, craft shops, an art market, and a palace, as well as bars, cafés, restaurants, and yoga studios. Travelers flock to Ubud Monkey Forest, a temple on a river gorge full of macaques, as well as to Balinese dance performances.
...MoreDepending how long you have in Bali, Ubud is worth 2–5 days. A gallery, a temple, and a rice field hike are essential. Instagrammers love waterfalls such as Tibumana and Tegenungan; history buffs adore the 11th-century Gunung Kawi shrines; foodies won’t want to miss Locavore; while spiritual travelers will be transported.
...MoreUnusually for Bali, central Ubud is compact enough to navigate on foot, although many of the sights are outside walking distance. Rules-based driving can prove dangerous in Balinese traffic, there’s little public transport, and rideshares are banned, so the safest option for exploring further afield is to hire a driver or join a tour.
...MoreOne popular Ubud adventure combines white-water rafting the grade II-III rapids on the Ayung River with an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) backcountry trip. Other options include Hidden Canyon, a scramble through water, rocks, and waterfalls, and the Bali Swing, an Instagram favorite that sends you soaring high above jungle and rice fields.
...MoreThe Kura-Kura bus links Ubud with some south Bali destinations. Without hiring a driver, you can easily explore Ubud Monkey Forest and Ubud Palace, eat Indonesian food at one of many excellent restaurants, discover Balinese art at the ARMA, Puri Lukisan, or NEKA galleries, and stroll the Campuhan Ridge Walk.
...MoreThe Ubud area includes dazzling rice terraces—Tegalalang are most famous—dramatic waterfalls, and the craft villages of Celuk and Mas. Besides Ubud Monkey Forest, cultural sights include Tirta Empul, with its sacred springs, Gunung Kawi, with its ancient shrines, and Goa Gajah, a cave carved with elephants. There are a wealth of art galleries.
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