I don’t know anyone who would just decide to travel to Ubud, but since we were already in Bali, Indonesia, we thought it might be worth a visit. We were not impressed. Ubud is part of the Bali island of Indonesia. It is 1+ hour away from the southern beaches of Bali and into the jungles of Ubud. Since we had already done a jungle trek in Sumatra, it was not worth the trip, but if you decide to check out Ubud, here are some things to keep in mind…
If you are already going to visit Bali, Ubud would give you a different experience of Indonesia. Ubud is known for its many waterfalls, rice terraces, Hindu temples, and lush rainforest. With Ubud being less touristy, it has more traditional Indonesian culture. With that being said, it is also very steeped in the Hindu religion. There were food offerings and what felt like trash (leftover pieces of offering) littering all the streets and in front of almost every house or business, with even alleyways filled several feet high with past offerings. It was a bit overwhelming for us.
While some places may take credit card, we found that we needed cash (Indonesian Rupiah) in many places. Be prepared to take cash. The good thing is that many things were not expensive, so the cash went a long way.
Be sure to check official websites for operating hours and ticket prices for the different places you want to go. Don’t trust Google hours, they are not always accurate.
The waterfalls are beautiful! You can’t go wrong with visiting any of them. There are so many and they are unique in their own ways. We saw 3 different falls, all within a few hour drive, and it was totally worth it. We paid a guy about $50 for a half day to drive us from our AirBnB in Ubud city center to the different falls, but you could also book a tour. We visited Kanto Lampo Falls, which has unique terraced rock formations with water that cascades down to make beautiful photos. Go early to avoid the crowd, otherwise, you’ll have to wait to take photos in the best spots. On our way, we stopped at Goa Rang Reng Waterfall. It’s similar to Kanto Lampo Falls in regards to the water flowing over the rocks. We didn’t go in the water, but we admired the falls before driving to our final spot at Tibumana Waterfall, which is 20m in height and falls into a shallow pool below. It’s also beautiful and picturesque.
Be sure to do the research on the waterfalls you want to go see and if in the area you are staying. Here’s a great blog with details about several popular waterfalls throughout Bali.
Keep in mind, the waterfalls are at least an hour outside of Ubud, depending on where you are staying. And you do have to pay entrance fees to visit the waterfalls, usually about $1-3 per person, so not much. It also takes some time to get to each place and spend time there, so the time goes by quickly. Also, some of the falls might be more of a hike than others, so be sure to wear water shoes or sandals that allow you to walk and get into the falls. There aren’t usually places to leave your stuff at the falls, so don’t take much.
Some people recommended the Ubud Water Palace, a Hindu temple in the city center, but we didn’t want to spend the money to enter, so we didn’t go there. Some people also recommended the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, but we had just trekked in the Sumatra jungle and encountered macaques in the wild. They were not very pleasant, so we didn’t want to go and experience them again. Macaques are considered sacred by the local Balinese people, and there is a Hindu temple in the sanctuary, but once again, it didn’t interest us.
There are tours you can take to see rice terraces. Or better yet, maybe you can stay at one and don’t have to do a tour. While they are unique and cool to see one, they all start to look the same, so seeing them as we were driving to the waterfalls was enough for us. We didn’t feel the need to go on tours of them.
We were told to go on the Campuhan Ridge Walk. Maybe we went at a bad time, but we literally just walked on a path that was so overgrown on both sides and you couldn’t see anything. We passed a temple that you had to pay to go near, and there was a small area with restaurants either at the beginning or end (depending on where you started). The coolest thing we saw was the split gateway near the snack area. We ended the walk hot and sweaty, and we felt like we had wasted our time.
We went to the cultural dance performance at Ubud Palace. It was unique and a bit confusing because there was no real explanation of what was happening, but there are a few options based on what day you’d like to go. There are various reviews on which performance is the best, so you can check them out and decide which one you might like, or it may just depend on your travel schedule.
Across from the Ubud Palace is the Ubud Market. It was one of my favorite places in Ubud. There were so many stalls with a variety of different items to buy: clothing, shoes, souvenirs, decorations, painting, home goods, etc. It was fun to just walk around and see all the things available.
Our favorite thing to do in Ubud was a traditional Balinese spa package. There are several places that offer different options, but we thoroughly enjoyed our time at Putri Beauty & Spa. It was a relaxing and refreshing experience that included a traditional Balinese massage, a lulur scrub, a yogurt mask, followed by a beautiful floral bath. We left very happy with the experience.
Here is a blog post about some different options to do in Ubud. If you are interested, it might be helpful to give you more details about places to stay, restaurants, day trips, etc.
The blog posts mentioned above are from other websites, and they are in no way connected to me, but I found the information interesting, and wanted to share.
Traveling Tribe 