Indonesia · Bali
Plan your Ubud trip
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
01Your itinerary
02Where to stay
Central Ubud
Best for first-timers and short staysWalking distance to the palace, the market and most restaurants, with the trade-off of Ubud's worst traffic and noise. The right call for a short first stay or if you want to be able to walk home from dinner.
Sri Aksata Ubud Resort
Look one lane back from the main road for a pool courtyard that muffles the traffic without losing the walk-everywhere location.
$$Puri Saraswati Dijiwa Ubud
Paying a little more here buys genuine walking distance to the evening dance performances and the art market.
$$$Penestanan
Best for rice-paddy views without leaving townA hillside artists' village across the Campuhan ravine, reached by a steep staircase, ringed by working rice paddies and noticeably quieter after dark than the centre while still an easy walk into town.
A family-run guesthouse with a paddy-view terrace
Many rooms here look straight over active rice fields; ask specifically for a sawah-facing room when booking.
$A small design hotel on the ridge
Higher rates buy an infinity pool positioned to catch the sunset over the valley below.
$$Nyuh Kuning
Best for a quieter, more local stayA traditional village ward south of the centre, right against the Monkey Forest's quieter southern edge, where family compounds have converted spare rooms into guesthouses without losing the temple-and-banjar structure of daily life.
A homestay inside a family compound
Breakfast is often cooked by the family who owns the house, and you will hear the village's own temple ceremonies rather than tourist gamelan shows.
$Sayan & Kedewatan
Best for a splurge honeymoon or anniversary stayThe luxury resort ridge west of town, perched above the dramatic Ayung River gorge with jungle-cut infinity pools and serious spa programs. Spectacular and secluded, at the cost of a car ride for dinner in the centre.
Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan
Ask for a villa with a private plunge pool on the gorge side — the standard-view rooms face the car park, not the river.
$$$$Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.
03Tickets & tours
Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary
A shaded nature reserve and temple complex in the middle of town, home to several hundred long-tailed macaques and three 14th-century temples woven…
Tip Arrive at opening time before the tour groups, and leave sunglasses, dangling earrings and snacks in your bag, zipped.
Ubud Palace (Puri Saren Agung)
The former seat of the Ubud royal family, still lived in by descendants, with an ornately carved gateway and courtyard stage that hosts traditional…
Tip Buy tickets for an evening performance rather than only photographing the empty courtyard by day — the carvings come alive under stage light.
Campuhan Ridge Walk
A paved ridge trail running north from the Campuhan bridge through open grassland between two river valleys, with views over palm-thatched huts and…
Tip Start before 7am; the ridge has almost no shade and gets uncomfortably hot and crowded by mid-morning.
Tegallalang Rice Terraces
The postcard terraces, cascading down a steep valley about 20 minutes north of central Ubud using the centuries-old subak irrigation cooperative…
Tip Skip the crowded main viewpoint by the road and walk down into the terraces themselves — a small entry donation to the farming family buys you the empty-field version of…
Ubud Art Market
A dense covered and open-air market opposite the palace selling everything from mass-produced sarongs to genuinely well-made woodcarvings and…
Tip Prices are opening offers, not final ones — a friendly 40 to 50 percent reduction from the first quote is normal and expected.
Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave)
An 11th-century rock-cut meditation cave with a carved demon-face entrance, a bathing pool with restored stone nymph fountains, and a quieter garden…
Tip Walk past the main cave entrance down into the ravine behind it — most visitors stop at the carving and miss the older ruins below.
Museum Puri Lukisan
Ubud's oldest fine-art museum, set in tiered garden pavilions, tracing the evolution of Balinese painting from traditional wayang style through the…
Tip Pair it with the nearby Neka Art Museum on the same day for the fuller arc of Balinese and expatriate art history.
Pura Taman Saraswati
A small water-palace temple behind Ubud's main street, its entrance framed by an ornamental lotus pond that turns the whole scene into one of the…
Tip The Mozaic at Beji Restaurant terrace overlooks the pond — book a table there for the view without the crowd at the temple gate.
Day trips from Ubud
Tirta Empul & Gunung Kawi
A holy spring temple where Balinese Hindus queue to ritually bathe under a row of stone spouts, paired with the nearby 11th-century royal tombs cut…
Day tripMount Batur sunrise trek
A pre-dawn 3am start and a two-hour climb up an active volcano north of Ubud, rewarded with sunrise over the crater lake and a simple breakfast…
Day tripSidemen Valley
A quieter, less-visited answer to Tegallalang an hour east — deep terraced rice valleys with Gunung Agung looming behind them, weaving villages, and…
Day tripBrowse tickets, tours and activities
Skip-the-line tickets, guided tours and day trips, all in one place on Booking.com.
04Getting there & around
Getting around
There is no airport in Ubud. Everyone arrives by road from Ngurah Rai International near Denpasar, a drive that takes anywhere from 60 to 100 minutes depending on the time of day and whether you hit the Sunset Road bottleneck; pre-book a hotel transfer or an app car rather than negotiating with the taxi touts at arrivals.
Flights
Compare fares into Ubud and pick dates that suit the days you planned.
Airport transfers
Book a private or shared ride from the airport so the first evening starts at your door, not at a ticket queue.
Car hire
Only worth it for day trips beyond the city — in town, the plan above works on foot and public transport.
Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.