Before we had even booked our flights to Bali, Ubud was high on my list of places I wanted to visit. It’s dubbed the cultural and spiritual heart of Bali, away from the metropolitan and ex-pat nature of Seminyak but with plenty to do and see not only in the town but also in the surrounding areas. In all honesty, it was not an instant love affair for me with Ubud, our first day in the town felt hectic, dodging the never ending stream of mopeds and jumping over the dug up pavements. It was not the calm and spiritual place I had been expecting but after a few days I started to see its charm, and in particular that of the surrounding area. So if you’re heading to Bali and want to make Ubud a stop here is what not to miss. 

Ubud Town

The town was bigger than I was expecting, but with that came it being much busier than I expected. Traffic was hectic and dodging the mopeds becomes a skill you develop quickly. Despite seeing so many tourists on mopeds we steered well clear, we had received so much advice before our trip to never get on one and have read the accident statistics, that combined with the number of people we saw walking around with moped related injuries, we didn’t need much convincing to avoid them at all costs. It is easy enough to walk around the town on foot, you can reach everything from the end of the Campuhan Ridge to the Monkey Forest on foot and it will probably take you around 30-45 minutes. 

The Art market is not to be missed and is where we got almost all of our souvenirs, just be prepared to barter. It’s something that doesn’t really come naturally to me but I found setting a price in my head first, starting lower and just walking away if the price couldn’t be lowered to be helpful. Sometimes we got the price we wanted, other times we left empty handed but so long as you’re reasonable and respectful the stall owners know that it part of the game. 

One thing we weren’t short of were places to eat in Ubud. Food was one thing I was really apprehensive of before I went, largely due to having a sever nut allergy, but I found everywhere we ate to be very helpful and accommodating which made everything much more enjoyable. Kismet offers a great range of options with a relaxed lunchtime atmosphere, with plenty of vegan options too. Açai Queen was the perfect stop for an afternoon snack (I went for the Copacabana Bowl with acai) and Caramel was our favourite snack spot; they do the most incredible hot chocolate and you can’t miss their Lapis Legit. We also found plenty of options in Nomad and The Legend Cafe. 

The Rice Terraces

No trip to Ubud, or even Bali, is complete without visiting the Rice Terraces. The are spectacular and were the first things that inspired the trip to Bali. We visited them as part of a day tour that we organised through our hotel and found this to be the easiest thing. You can wander through the terraces and there are plenty of “Instagram Spots” including swings and nests in most locations. Many of these charge an extra fee to use and we found it better to just wander through the fields and take it all in. Make sure you’re wearing sensible shoes though, flip flops are not rice-terrace friendly. This was definitely my favourite spot during our time in Ubud.

Goa Gajah and the Surroudning Temples

Visiting the temples in Bali is a brilliant way to see elements of their Hindu culture in practice, just be mindful and respectful of people worshipping. We visited several temples including the famous Goa Gajah. We had to pay a small entrance fee for all but were given sarongs for free once we had shown our tickets so don’t feel the need to buy them in advance. My uncovered shoulders weren’t a problem but I did have to tie up by hair and both men and women need to wear a sarong unless your’re wearing long trousers. The temples are beautiful and the level of work that has gone into the designs are stunning. We spent the longest exploring the water temple whilst the rocky temple took the longest to get down to and back up from. Goa Gajah was more of a whilstle stop tour as once you have see the entrance of the elephant cave there isn’t much inside. However the surrounding gardens are beautiful and you can definitely spend some time wandering around these and exploring the beautiful wildlife and mini waterfalls. We visited the water temple and rocky temple as part of our tour through our hotel but the tour to goa Gajah was via taxi driver in Ubud. Honestly I think we probably paid over the odds for a return trip and for him to wait (250,000 rupiah) but the weather had turned and we were short on time so we wanted to make sure that we saw it. 

Ubud wasn’t the town that I was expecting when we arrived, and it never quite amounted to my expectations but if you get out of the main town, explore the surrounding areas and beautiful scenery then it is easier to love. There is a lot to do and it certainly feels more authentic than Seminyak, but retrospectively we would definitely do some things differently. Originally we were only due to have 5 days there but decided to extend this to 7 after the earthquakes in Lombok altered our travel plans. We stayed in two hotels, the first more remote, more expensive and with fewer shutttles to Ubud, and we ended up feeling isolated and that we were restricted by their times. The second had a shuttle almost every hour from 9am to 9pm. If you aren’t staying in the centre then make sure that your hotel has a regular shuttle service, most will offer it but it is worth ensuring about the frequency. Had we known in advance we would have had 1 less day in Ubud and only stay at the second hotel. 

Realistically you can do Ubud and the surrounding areas in about 3 days, we knew we wanted this to be a relaxing holiday and honestly expected the weather in Ubud to be a little better so we wanted to have the time to relax a little by the pools etc but 7 days was definitely longer than we needed. It’s a beautiful part of the Island and even if you are just heading to Seminyak and Cangu make sure you take a day trip out there, it’s worth every second.