VacationSelector
The Plaza de los Naranjos and its fountain in the old town, Marbella
MarbellaThe Plaza de los Naranjos and its fountain in the old town
Rice terraces and palms at Tegallalang, Ubud
UbudRice terraces and palms at Tegallalang

Photos: Marbella by Décio Franchini, Pexels License; Ubud by Pinterpandai, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Marbella or Ubud?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Marbella for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Marbella’s own page.

Choose Ubud for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Ubud’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Marbella 76, Ubud 38: Marbella leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Marbella and Ubud are level on 60.
Culture & sights. Marbella 32, Ubud 58: Ubud leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Marbella 64, Ubud 15: Marbella leads by 49 points.
Nature & outdoors. Marbella 70, Ubud 80: Ubud leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Marbella 77, Ubud 72: Marbella leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Marbella 70, Ubud 48: Marbella leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Marbella 38, Ubud 10: Marbella leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Marbella 58, Ubud 52: Marbella leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Marbella 30, Ubud 80: Ubud leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Marbella 30, Ubud 47: Ubud leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Marbella 52, Ubud 96: Ubud leads by 44 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Marbella and Ubud.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Marbella
55match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Ubud
55match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Marbella in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Ubud in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
110 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MarbellaUbud

Where the figures come from

Marbella's temperatures are measured 40 km from the centre, at Malaga / Aeropuerto.

Marbella has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Ubud's temperatures are measured 29 km from the centre, at Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai.

Ubud's station stands 209 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Ubud has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Marbella: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (39.7 km from centre). Ubud: 1991-2020 normals, Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai (29 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMarbellaUbud
Official languageSpanishIndonesian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Rupiah (IDR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112112
Elevation22 m210 m
Main airportMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)39 km from centre166 non-stop destinationsDenpasar I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS)29 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMarbellaUbud
City population159,786-
People per km²1,398-
Museums within 10 km614
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Marbella or Ubud somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.