Ubud

Ubud sits in the hills, among rice fields and river gorges, so there is no beach life in town. The sea is warm, around 28°C, and reachable. The black-sand beaches on the coast south-east of town are the closest, about half an hour to forty minutes away, but they face open water with strong surf and suit watching more than swimming. For calm, reef-sheltered water, Sanur is the usual choice, roughly an hour by car depending on traffic.

For most visitors the sea is a single day out, or a few nights on the coast before or after Ubud. Most cool off in a villa or hotel pool, or a river below the rice terraces.

For a small town, Ubud eats very well. The local food is Balinese: babi guling, a spit-roast suckling pig served with spiced rice and crackling, crisp fried duck eaten at tables overlooking the rice fields, and bebek or ayam betutu, slow-cooked in banana leaf with a dense spice paste. Simple family warungs serve nasi campur, a plate of rice with small portions of several dishes.

The international side is unusually large. Plant-based and raw-food cafés, smoothie bowls, single-origin Balinese coffee and a small tier of tasting-menu restaurants built on island produce cater to the yoga and long-stay crowd. Fine dining is limited, and the main streets lean towards visitors, but the best meals are often in the side lanes.

Ubud has long been the centre of Balinese art and court culture, and you see this in the details more than in any monument. Puri Saren, the royal palace, stands at the main crossroads, and Pura Taman Saraswati sits behind its lotus pond close by. Every lane has family compounds with carved gateways and shrines, and offerings are laid out fresh on the pavements each morning.

The museums are the core of a visit. Puri Lukisan, Neka and ARMA trace Balinese painting from the old wayang style to the Ubud and Pengosekan schools. Just outside town, Goa Gajah's carved cave and bathing pools are worth a visit. The sights are small and best taken slowly over a few days. There is nothing on a monumental scale.

Ubud goes to bed early. Evenings tend to be dinner, maybe a dance performance and a drink on a terrace. A handful of bars along the main streets have cover bands or reggae nights, and some places pour cocktails until fairly late, but by eleven most of the town is dark and quiet. There is no club scene. Visitors who want a real night out travel down to the coast.

The landscape here is green and humid, a tropical mosaic of terraced rice fields, steep river valleys and jungle running up the volcanic slopes towards the mountains in the north. The Campuhan Ridge walk starts in town and climbs a grassy spine between two rivers, and the paddy-field paths of Tegallalang and Jatiluwih show the old subak irrigation system at work. The sacred Monkey Forest brings the jungle and its long-tailed macaques right to the edge of the centre.

Further out, the classic outing is the pre-dawn climb of Mount Batur, about an hour and a half's drive away, to watch sunrise over its caldera lake. Cyclists can take a long, mostly downhill ride from the Kintamani rim through villages, there is white-water rafting on the Ayung, and there are waterfalls in almost every direction. The dry season, roughly April to October, is best. In the wet months, the trails turn to mud.

Ubud makes a natural base for touring Bali's temples and villages. A short drive away are Tirta Empul, where pilgrims bathe under carved spouts in a spring-fed pool, and the rock-cut royal tombs of Gunung Kawi. About an hour east is Besakih, the island's mother temple, ranged up the slope of Mount Agung. On the way you can see the painted pavilion ceilings at Klungkung, and the walled Bali Aga village of Tenganan beyond.

Heading west, there is the sea temple of Tanah Lot, and Ulun Danu Bratan floating on its mountain lake. Uluwatu's clifftop temple and the beach towns are a longer drive. Craft villages for silver, wood and painting are on the doorstep. There is no train on the island, so everything means a hired driver, and traffic can stretch a short hop into a long one.

Balinese culture is very warm towards children, and a villa or hotel with a pool, set among rice fields, can make an easy base for a family. Close to town there is a zoo and a large safari park, as well as gentle rafting on the Ayung, elephant-free jungle walks, and dance performances that older children often love.

The town itself takes more work. The pavements are narrow and broken or missing entirely, the main streets are busy with scooters, and the macaques in the Monkey Forest snatch food and sunglasses and sometimes bite. Most attractions need a driver. Tropical heat and stomach bugs are also things to plan around with small children.

Getting around Ubud means a driver or a scooter. The town has no public transport worth using, and the main streets have narrow, broken pavements, or none, beside steady scooter traffic. Visitors walk between the palace, the market and the Monkey Forest, but anything further out, including most villas and the surrounding sights, needs a car or a bike. Most people book a driver by the day, use ride-hailing apps or take organised tours. Many villas run shuttles into the centre. Renting a scooter is common but risky for anyone without real experience. Congestion at the central crossroads can make short trips slow.

Ubud is a good place to buy Balinese craft. The art market opposite the palace is full of sarongs, baskets, carvings and souvenirs, and you need to bargain. The surrounding villages specialise. Celuk is the place for silverwork, Mas for woodcarving and Batuan for painting, and many workshops welcome visitors. Galleries all over town sell work from serious painters as well as decorative canvases.

Along Jalan Hanoman and Monkey Forest Road there are boutiques selling linen resort wear, yoga clothing, natural cosmetics and homeware. Ubud has no luxury brands, malls or department stores. For those, you would need to go down to the south coast.

Ubud is very cheap for the basics. Family guesthouses with breakfast on the veranda, warung meals, massages and a driver for the day all cost little by international standards, and temple entry fees are small. The cost rises with the comforts aimed at long-stay visitors: private pool villas in the rice fields, the polished cafés and imported wine, which is heavily taxed. Getting everywhere by car also adds up. Even so, a comfortable stay costs much less than in most beach resorts elsewhere in Asia.

Every evening in Ubud, some stage puts on traditional Balinese dance. The courtyard of the royal palace, temple forecourts and village halls host Legong, performed by young dancers in gold brocade, the Barong and Rangda drama of good against evil, and the Kecak, where a circle of men chant by firelight. Local troupes perform with a full gamelan orchestra, and the tradition is still very much alive in temple ceremonies, beyond the shows put on for visitors.

This is the extent of the scene. There is no theatre, opera or concert hall, and live music beyond the gamelan is mostly bar bands.

For many visitors, Ubud is simply where you come to slow down. The town runs on yoga studios, retreat centres, meditation, breathwork and sound-healing classes, and offers spas at every level, from cheap neighbourhood massage rooms to jungle pavilions above the river serving long Balinese massages, flower baths and boreh spice scrubs. Many people come specifically for a week of classes, healthy food and early nights.

The setting helps. Mornings are cool and misty over the rice fields, the sound of frogs and gamelan drifts across the valleys in the evenings, and village life follows a calm ritual rhythm. At Tirta Empul and other water temples, visitors can join the purification bathing under the spring spouts. Busy central streets with heavy traffic are the main thing that breaks the calm.