Ubud

The name Ubud comes from the Balinese word ubad, which means medicine, and the story goes back to a holy man from Java or India, Rsi Markandeya, who is said to have meditated in the 8th century where two rivers meet. The place is Campuhan, a word for a confluence, and the small temple Pura Gunung Lebah still stands at the junction. Whether or not the legend is exact, the site has held a shrine for a very long time, and it is why the ridge path today begins beside a temple.

The town's political life belongs to the Sukawati line and the royal house of Ubud. By the 19th century Ubud was a small kingdom, and its palace, Puri Saren, stood where the main crossroads is today. When the Dutch took the south of Bali by force, with the mass suicides of the royal courts of Badung in 1906 and Klungkung in 1908, Ubud's rulers came to terms with colonial rule instead of fighting to the end. That choice kept the palace and the court arts intact, and it is one reason Ubud became the island's centre for painting and dance.

In the late 1920s foreign artists began to settle, the German painter Walter Spies from 1927 and the Dutch painter Rudolf Bonnet not long after. They were guests of the ruling family, and they worked with Balinese painters who had until then decorated temples and calendars. In 1936 the artists founded the Pita Maha cooperative, which sold Balinese painting abroad and set standards for quality. Puri Lukisan, the town's oldest art museum, opened in 1956 and still holds work from that circle.

After independence Ubud grew slowly. Backpackers arrived in the 1970s and 1980s and rented rooms in family compounds along Jalan Monkey Forest. The wellness and yoga boom of the 2000s, and a popular memoir and film set partly in the town, drew a new wave of visitors. Guesthouses became villas, warungs became cafés, and the rice fields nearest the centre turned into hotel gardens. The 2002 bombings and the 2020–2022 border closure hit the economy hard, and the town rebuilt itself around a mix of tourism and craft.

Today the district holds tens of thousands of residents, and the old rhythm is still visible. Each hamlet has its temple calendar, each family a shrine in the compound, and every day begins with offerings. A visitor sees the same royal gates and the same rivers as the artists of the 1930s did, but on roads far busier than anything they knew.

Ubud looks like a town on a map and behaves like a set of villages. Its main roads run along ridges between river gorges, so a short line on the map often hides a steep drop, a bridge or a bend. The centre sits at the crossroads of Jalan Raya Ubud, the east–west spine, and Jalan Monkey Forest, which runs south. The palace, the Art Market and Pura Taman Saraswati are within a few minutes of each other, and most first-time visitors spend half a day there.

West of the centre, Jalan Raya Campuhan drops to the Campuhan bridge over the Wos river. Beyond it, on a spur of land between two river valleys, runs the ridge path that gives Campuhan its fame. The lanes of Penestanan branch off south of the bridge and climb through rice fields; this is the quiet side of town, with villas, art studios and few cars. Jalan Raya Sanggingan continues north-west along the top of the valley, with restaurants and hotels.

South of the centre, Jalan Monkey Forest ends at the Sacred Monkey Forest, and the parallel Jalan Hanoman carries cafés, yoga studios and shops along the east side of the forest. Beyond that lie Padangtegal and Peliatan, villages known for dance and painting, and Pengosekan, where ARMA and many studios stand. Peliatan is about 3 kilometres from the centre and feels like another town.

Every walking day here is built from four clusters: the centre, the Monkey Forest, Campuhan and Penestanan, and Peliatan. Inside a cluster you walk; between clusters you ride. A ride-hail car costs roughly Rp 25,000–60,000 for a short hop, and a car and driver for a day costs Rp 700,000–1,000,000 (2026 estimate). Distances are short, but the traffic is not: the centre jams from about 16:00 to 19:00 and any drive can take twice as long as the map suggests.

Pavements exist in parts of Jalan Raya Ubud and Jalan Monkey Forest and vanish on side roads. Drains are open, steps are steep and scooters share every lane. Roads are named, but addresses often rely on a landmark, so give your driver a map pin. The airport is about 35–40 kilometres south-west, and the drive takes 1.5–2 hours in normal traffic.

Most people in Ubud follow Balinese Hinduism, a form of Hindu practice that grew from Indian and Javanese roots and mixed with older island beliefs. Its guiding idea is Tri Hita Karana, the three sources of harmony: with the divine, with other people and with nature. You see it in daily practice, in the architecture of family compounds and in the way farmers share water.

The most visible sign is the offering. Each morning, women in every household make small woven-leaf trays called canang sari, filled with flowers, rice and incense, and place them at shrines, doorways and on the ground. Offerings on the pavement are for the lower spirits and are meant to be stepped around; those on shrines and gates are for the gods. If you accidentally step on one, no one will shout, but a careful walker looks down.

Each village has three main temples, the temple of origin (puseh), the village temple (desa) and the temple of the dead (dalem). Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal inside the Monkey Forest is a dalem temple, and that is why it looks darker and more crowded with carved demons. Families also keep their own shrines in the compound, and the community group called a banjar organises ceremonies and cremations.

Bali uses more than one calendar. The Pawukon calendar has 210 days, made from overlapping weeks of different lengths, and it fixes most temple festivals. Galungan and Kuningan, ten days apart, come every 210 days, roughly twice a year, and celebrate the victory of good over evil. Tall bamboo poles called penjor line the roads at that time. A temple anniversary, an odalan, is set by the same calendar, so every temple has its own festival dates.

The other calendar is lunar, the Saka calendar, and it sets Nyepi, the Day of Silence, in March or early April. For 24 hours no one leaves home, no lights are on, and the airport shuts. The night before, teams carry giant monster figures (ogoh-ogoh) through the streets to chase away evil spirits. A visitor's job is simple: stay in your hotel, keep quiet and enjoy a strange day off.

Practical etiquette follows from all this. At a temple, cover shoulders and knees, wear a sarong and sash, and stay out of the inner courtyard unless you are there to pray. Do not point your feet at shrines or step over offerings, and ask before photographing ceremonies. A polite guest is welcome almost anywhere.

Ubud's reputation as the island's art town has a clear history. Before the 1930s, Balinese painters worked mostly in the classical Kamasan style, telling stories from the epics in flat, crowded scenes on cloth and wood. The foreign artists who arrived in the 1920s did not teach Balinese painters to paint, but they introduced new materials, subjects and ideas about perspective, and they helped them sell their work. From this mix came the Ubud style, with village scenes, animals and daily life, and the nearby Batuan style, dense with tiny figures and dark humour.

Another movement grew in Penestanan in the 1950s and 1960s, when the Dutch painter Arie Smit taught farm boys and gave them paints. The Young Artists style is bright, flat and full of colour, and it is still sold in Penestanan's galleries. To see the full range, go to Puri Lukisan, which follows the early years, or ARMA, which shows more foreign painters as well as Balinese. Museum Neka on Jalan Raya Sanggingan is a third good stop (check hours).

Dance in Ubud is a living tradition, not just an entertainment. Legong is a classical court dance performed by young girls in gold headdresses, with slow, precise gestures and a strict connection to the gamelan orchestra. Barong tells the story of a lion-like protective spirit fighting the witch Rangda. Kecak, the 'monkey chant', has 50 or more men sitting in circles and chanting rhythmic 'cak' sounds, and the form as tourists see it took shape in the 1930s with Walter Spies from an older trance ritual. Nightly performances at the palace, Saraswati Temple and other stages show a range of these.

Music is the frame for almost all of it. A gamelan is a set of tuned bronze gongs, metallophones and drums played by a group, and the sound is loud and layered. You will hear it at temple ceremonies as well as on stage. A short lesson is easy to book in Peliatan (check operators).

Craft villages ring the town. Mas is known for wood carving, and workshops along Jalan Raya Mas sell carved masks, statues and furniture. Celuk, south of Ubud, is the silver-working village, and Batubulan is known for stone carving. In Ubud itself, batik, weaving and ceramics are sold on the main streets. A good rule is to buy from a workshop where you can see the maker, ask what the wood or metal is, and get a receipt.

Balinese food starts with a spice paste called base genep, which combines shallots, garlic, ginger, turmeric, galangal, chilli and shrimp paste. It is pounded fresh and is the base of most dishes, from the roast pork of festivals to the fish satay. Home cooks make it daily, and it is the flavour you notice at any warung.

The dish that many visitors want most is babi guling, suckling pig stuffed with spices and roasted on a spit. It is a ceremonial food for weddings and temple feasts, and Ubud's warungs sell it in plates with rice, crackling, sausage and lawar, a mix of chopped vegetables, coconut and spices. Ibu Oka near the palace is the best known, and the plate is usually sold out by early afternoon, so go at opening. Other dishes worth trying are bebek betutu, duck slowly cooked in spices and banana leaf, which often needs to be ordered a day ahead, and sate lilit, minced fish on lemongrass sticks.

The everyday meal is nasi campur, a plate of rice with small sides that can include shredded chicken, tempeh, vegetables, egg and a spoon of sambal. The morning market sells it before 08:00 for a few thousand rupiah, and most warungs sell it until they run out. A warung is a small family-run eatery; a restaurant has a printed menu, tax and service, and a warung usually does not.

Vegetarians do well in Ubud. Tempeh, tofu, vegetable stir-fries and gado-gado are common, and many cafés list vegan and gluten-free choices. Shrimp paste and fish sauce hide in many sauces, so ask 'tanpa terasi' (without shrimp paste) if it matters. Halal food exists but is less common than pork; ask locally.

Drinks come in layers. Balinese coffee is strong, ground fine and served with the grounds at the bottom; tea is often sweet unless you ask for tawar. Beer means Bintang or Storm. Arak, a distilled palm or rice spirit, is served in bars and warungs, but home-made bottles from unmarked sources have caused methanol poisoning, so drink it only from a bar you trust. Water should be sealed or filtered.

To pay well, look for the queue of locals, eat where the food is hot and check tax and service on the menu. Warungs are cash-only in most cases, cafés take cards and QR codes, and a meal for two at a warung can cost under Rp 100,000 while a tourist restaurant dinner costs Rp 400,000 or more (2026 estimate).

The green in every Ubud photograph is rice, and it is grown under one of the oldest water-sharing systems in Asia. The subak is a farmers' association that shares water among the terraces it serves, and it has run on the same principles for about a thousand years. Members meet at a water temple, agree who gets water and when, and hold ceremonies for the goddess of rice, Dewi Sri.

UNESCO recognised this in 2012, when it listed the Cultural Landscape of Bali Province, with the subak system as an expression of Tri Hita Karana. The listing has five sites across the island, including the Pakerisan river valley near Tampaksiring, where Tirta Empul and the rock-cut tombs of Gunung Kawi stand. Terraces at Jatiluwih in the west are a core site. The terraces at Tegallalang, a popular half-day trip from Ubud, follow the same system though they are not part of the core listing.

The rice itself is planted and harvested by hand in many fields. A crop takes roughly 105–120 days depending on the variety, and farmers usually plant in stages, so one hillside can hold the bright green of seedlings, the darker green of growing plants and the gold of the harvest. The season is not fixed to a single calendar month, but planting often follows the start of the rains, and the fields are greenest in the wet season.

Water runs through channels and tunnels called mulut, cut into the hillsides. It emerges from springs and rivers, passes through temple shrines and is shared out by gates. The holy spring at Tirta Empul, whose temple dates to about the 10th century, is the best known. People bathe under its spouts in a purification ritual and, on the day you visit, you may see worshippers in sarongs and a queue for the pools. Visitors who want to take part should dress properly, follow the order of the spouts and ask staff or a guide what is expected.

For a visitor, the etiquette is simple. The paths through the terraces belong to the farmers, so stay on the marked track and do not step on the dykes. Small donations at the entrances help maintain them, and the swings, cafés and photo stops are private businesses rather than part of the subak. Go early: at 07:30 the fields are quiet and the light is soft, and by 10:00 the parking lots are full.

Ubud works best as one bed for four to six nights with day trips by car. Sleep in the centre if you want to walk to warungs and the palace, or in Penestanan if you want quiet rice-field mornings and a shorter walk to the ridge path. A first visit can be built from four walking clusters and one or two driver days, with one slow day for classes, a museum or a spa.

A good day has three parts. Start outdoors early, between 06:00 and 09:00, when the air is cool and the paths are quiet. Rest at midday, when the heat and the crowds are highest, in a café, a museum garden or your room. Come out again after 16:00 for the market, a dance or dinner. Even in the wet season, the pattern helps, because showers usually come in the afternoon.

Driver days are the sensible way to reach the outskirts. Tegallalang is about 25–40 minutes north, Tirta Empul about 35–45 minutes north-east and Goa Gajah about 15–20 minutes east. A car with driver costs roughly Rp 700,000–1,000,000 for a day (2026 estimate), and it is worth agreeing the route, the hours and 'no shopping stops' in advance. Mount Batur sunrise treks leave at 02:00–03:00, need fitness and a licensed guide, and are best treated as a separate outing.

Getting in and out needs planning. Ngurah Rai airport is 35–40 kilometres away, and the ride takes 1.5–2 hours, sometimes longer. If your flight lands late, tell your hotel and confirm a driver, because some homestays lock the gate early. On the way out, leave four hours before an international flight. Sanur or Canggu can serve as a beach night at the end of a trip, and boats to Nusa Penida and the Gilis leave from Sanur and Padang Bai.

Money and safety follow the same logic. Carry small rupiah notes for warungs and drivers, use bank ATMs, and avoid changers with unusually good rates. Do not ride a scooter without a licence and insurance, keep phones and glasses zipped away near monkeys, and do not drink home-made arak. With those rules in place, Ubud is one of the easiest places in Southeast Asia to enjoy at your own pace.