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Ubud is located north of the Kuta region and takes about 40-60 mins from Despensar airport in a taxi. There a multiple different ways people like to travel to Ubud. One of the most common ones is renting a motorbike from the Kuta region, and driving on up. This does you many benefits, as it gives you more flexibility and freedom during your stay. Or you can just get a taxi there which takes half the time, more comfortable and then hire a bike once in Ubud. Today I bring to you the perfect Ubud Itinerary.
Introduction to Ubud
Unlike other places in Bali, Ubud is a bit more hands-on. In contrast to Uluwatu, that is a lot more chill. Ubud is about exploring and has more of the hustle and bustle about it than most other destinations on the island. It’s also a popular destination with digital nomads and co-working spaces in Ubud are on the rise.
How long should you Spend in Ubud?
Most travellers passing through Ubud find that 4 days in Ubud are perfect. You will have more than enough time to visit the monkey forest sanctuary, Mount Batur National Park and Ulun Danu temple. If you are short of time then you can fit this schedule into 3 days if you speed up the pace. If you have 5-7 days you can do the same Ubud itinerary that we have outlined here but spread it out and have more time for some relaxation and yoga.
Ubud Itinerary – 4 days in Ubud
So what can you do with four days in Ubud?
Day 1 – Ubud City Centre
On day one of your Ubud Itinerary, you can tick off all the close-by things in the area. To begin with, it’s probably best if you locate yourself in the city centre, giving you a perfect base to get to see everything. It also means you don’t have to do much travelling. Staying at a place like Alam Terrace would be absolutely perfect! The hotel is incredibly clean, the food ridiculously cheap and has an excellent pool. The location is also brilliant as it’s centrally located and near the main parts of Ubud.
After arriving in Ubud and checking in, if you are a good motorcycle driver you should hire a motorbike straight away. You can rent one from the hotel for just 50k a day (which seems to be the standard price in Ubud). From here it’s a short trip to your first activity, the Monkey Forest Sanctuary. The sanctuary is an incredible experience. The tickets are 50k each and give you a great chance to see a lot of wildlife up close and personal. As the name suggests, there are a lot of monkeys which come close to you. So, just be careful about them jumping on you! You can spend as long as you want here, but it usually takes a good one hour and 30 minutes to see the whole sanctuary.
At this stage, you’ll start getting hungry and want something to eat. A perfect place in Ubud is Buddha Bowel. The restaurant is round the corner from the sanctuary, and it serves phenomenal Asian food. I would recommend any curry they do!
To finish your first day, you can go and visit Camphuan Ridge. You’ll get to walk through the rice fields and surrounding mountains. I’d suggest going when the sun is setting as well. This is because if not walking through rice fields will be incredibly uncomfortable (which you’ll find out later). Additionally, you’ll be able to witness an incredible sunset with a fantastic backdrop. The ridge walk is also completely free of charge!
Day 2 – Tegenungan Waterfall and a Yoga Retreat
As you’re based in the centre of Ubud, you can take your time with what you want to do. Quite close by, you can drive to the Tegenungan Waterfall. It only takes around 20 minutes to get there, and the drive to the waterfall is really nice. The waterfall is spectacular, but compared to what you’ll see in coming days, it hardly scratches the surface. (This is only because Nung Nung waterfall is just amazing!)
Make sure you also check out a yoga retreat while you’re in Ubud! Ubud is known for its’ yoga and has some fantastic resorts for you to go and explore.
Although in Bali, there is a great Mexican restaurant (Taco Casa) which was absolutely rammed all day from the moment it opened. We decided for dinner we would eat here and wow it didn’t disappoint! After visiting Mexico earlier this year and falling in love with the food, I would never have expected for a restaurant in Bali to live up to the standard of food I had in Mexico – But it did! As you can imagine, the food is more expensive here than eating traditional Balinese food, but if you can afford to splurge a little then make this one of your places to eat.
Day 3 – Rice Terraces and/or Mount Batur National Park
Day three will be a lot busier than day two. To begin with, you will want to go and visit the rice terraces just north of Ubud, which will give you an impressive view of the area and allow you to take some great pictures. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can go on one of the massive swings they have!
After you’ve finished having fun, you’ll want to visit the Mount Batur National Park, where annoyingly you’ll have to pay 32k Rupiah to get in. A little tip, if you’re going to go and climb the Volcano, you can go, but the mafia had taken it over and was charging ridiculous amounts to climb it.
You can still enjoy the area and drive down to the lake and chill for a bit. There’s not much there, but it is nice after a long drive to take some time to relax and not move. You’ll have another long journey to probably the best waterfall I have ever seen. Nung Nung Waterfall is one of the biggest waterfalls I have ever visited, and also stunning. What made it great is that no one was even there, which made us have the entire waterfall to ourselves. If you’ve never seen a picture, you need to! Genuinely, I still have not seen a better waterfall than Nung Nung. Some in Iceland and Norway come close, but the sheer beauty of Nung Nung is just incredible!
Day 4 – Ulun Danu Temple
On your last day in Ubud, go and check out the Ulun Danu Temple in the north of Bali. The temple is far away from Ubud (around a 1 hour and 30 minutes drive) but worth it!
The temple is “floating” on water and is in the midst of an incredible mountain range! The only problem with the temple is its location. If you are planning to visit the temple, then I’d suggest setting off early so you can go and see other things throughout the day before they close.
As you can see 4 days in Ubud is probably the perfect amount of time needed. If pushed for time, you can see all the main stuff in two days, but you really don’t want to rush your stay here. Ubud is one of Bali’s most significant hotspots and really offers you the chance to see some incredible things. If you have more time in Bali, then check out this itinerary guide.
Ubud 3 Day Itinerary
For an Ubud 3 day itinerary you can condense the above itinerary by missing out one of the suggested destinations or rapidly speed up the pace. Alternatively you can spend 3 full days in Ubud and then skip Ulun Danu or tag on Ulun Danu temple at a later date if you are spending more time in Bali.
If you enjoyed this Ubud Itinerary you might also like to read about the best Yoga retreats in Bali. If you have more time to spend then why not tag on this Lombok Itinerary following Bali.
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