Day 2: After Breakfast – Ubud
Enjoy the best of Balinese cuisine with a sumptuous breakfast at your hotel before you check out and hit the road to Ubud. Set in the interior of the country, Ubud in the Balinese uplands is a town surrounded by deep ravines and gorgeous paddy fields. Nature and culture go hand in hand here, as does adventure and pure fun.
Get in touch with your spiritual self at one of Ubud’s numerous spiritual retreats. Fancy monkeying around a bit? The experience that awaits you at the Ubud Monkey Forest is sure to be unbeatable. Watch the Balinese long-tailed macaque in its natural habitat at the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary which is home to over 1000 monkeys belonging to six groups.
Walk the contemporary boutique, guesthouse and restaurant-lined Jalan Raya Ubud or the Campuhan Ridge Walk, which is a 9-km free and easy nature trek. The Blanco Renaissance Museum, home and studio of the late Philippine-born maestro, Don Antonio Blanco, is a tribute to art in Bali. Buy or rent a sash and sarong and drop in to see the Taman Saraswati Temple with its lotus-lush entrance. Don’t forget the camera here.
Soar to the skies on an iconic Bali swing, check out the Tegallalang Rice Paddies, or shop for curios and souvenirs at the Ubud market. The architectural delights of Elephant Cave and Ubud Palace is sure to appeal to the art lover in you, not to mention offering the perfect backdrop for those Instagram stories. Right opposite the Ubud Palace is the Ubud Art Market where you can buy beautiful silk scarves, lightweight shirts, statues, kites, handmade woven bags, baskets or hats and many other hand-crafted goods to support the local community.
In the afternoon, catch the Bali Agung Show - a theatrical art performance that retells a Balinese legend through the help of dance, costumes, music, and modern light and sound arrangements.
Stroll around the open-air museum of Taman Nusa Cultural Park – 45 minutes from Ubud. The 10-hectare site has more than 60 authentic traditional houses in their recreated compound settings, giving you a fascinating glimpse into the way of lives and cultures of Indonesia’s many ethnic groups.
Ubud is dotted with ancient temples, villages, and carved memorials. There are also art museums like the Museum Rudana, Neka Art Museum, ARMA, Gedong Arca Museum, and the Setia Darma House of Masks & Puppets. Take a relaxed walk and drop into these gems as you come across them.
Kids can have a bash at the ecotourism centre at Bali Eco Adventure Bayad with its guided treks and labyrinth visits or at the Bali Bird Walk. Family fun is up for grabs at the Tegenungan Waterfall where a rolling river gushes over a precipice lined with dense foliage.
A popular, yet offbeat thing to do is taking a class one of the culinary schools in the region. Learn authentic Balinese cooking, mostly from a typical Balinese family. Keep in mind, though, that the sessions tend to be long, and if you are a first timer in Ubud, you may have to miss many of the other wonderful sites here. But if you have already been here and is looking to know Bali deeper, then this might just be the thing for you.
The day promises to be packed with delights that you can pick and choose, and you can wind down in the comfort of your hotel for a good night’s sleep.
- Overnight Stay : Urban Beach Hotel in - Kuta/Legion/Semiyak/Nusa Dua - Region
