Should You Visit Ubud, Bali? (2025)

You could spend weeks or months in Ubud Bali and stay busy. Ubud is a nice, it’s quieter in places, with a nicer vibe than Bali’s beaches. You can take day trips to most of Bali’s attractions from Ubud, or to beaches for snorkelling. We even took a trip to snorkel with manta rays off Nusa Penida from Ubud.

The traffic and the main street are terribly busy, but Ubud does still have the spectacular old buildings, including the palace. This is what makes Ubud so special.

If you explore the side streets you’ll see endless beautiful old family compounds, some are flanked by shops selling junky souvenirs, but they’re still there. Some are hotels, some are restaurants. The hotel we used was one of these.

In this post, we’ll explain why it’s still worth visiting Ubud today, with photos from the quiet rice fields and gardens around Ubud, along with really cool places to see on trips from Ubud. We’ve been at least 10 times and we still found a fabulous new temple to see on this trip.

Should You Visit Ubud, Bali?

A lot of places in Bali have been ruined by their own tourist trade. We know because we tested most locations during our many trips to Bali. But Ubud was always lovely for us, and today, if you know where to go, it can still be a great destination.

Bali is an easy family travel destination with everything to offer the family on vacation. There are resorts and water parks, some great food, shopping, beaches, surf, and cultural experiences. It is also crowded, dirty in places, the traffic can be horrific and it’s over-run with influencers.

Bali is not for everyone.

Of all the places in Bali we visited, including Kuta, Sanur, Canggu, Sidemen, the East Coast and the South, Ubud has always been our favourite. We aren’t interested in beaches, if that’s your thing, you need a different travel blog! We go to the beaches to take a look, but that’s about it.

If you choose to base yourself in Ubud for your family trip or vacation, it’s easy to visit most of Bali’s attractions from here.

Don’t do this if you’re a beach lover, but if you prefer Bali’s cultural appeal, this is a better place to be, let us explain!

If you’d prefer to just visit the Ubud area for the day from Bali’s southern beaches, you can do that too, book a trip to Ubud here.

This tour includes highlights such as the spectacular Goah Gaja, Elephant Cave and Tegalalang Rice Terraces. The terraces are a UNESCO World Heritage site but today they’re very commercial and developed. There are better places to see and exploring on foot is a better way to go.

Things to do in Ubud

Things to do in Ubud include the following.

• Craft and Cookery Classes
• Walks and Rice Terraces
• Yoga
• Explore The Sacred Monkey Forest
• Day Trips and Tours To Take From Ubud
• Ubud’s Markets and Shopping
• Take a Cycle Tour
• Watch Traditional Balinese Dance in Ubud
• Go Snorkelling With Manta Rays From Ubud
• Climb a Volcano
• Eat!

If you click on any of the links above, you will jump to that section, or just scroll on down through each activity and look at our photographs. They’re all ours, no stock images.

There are loads of things to do in Ubud that suit families, couples or singles of any age, with many possibilities to keep you busy.

There are cookery and craft classes, beautiful ancient temples, all things spiritual, find the sites and the people mentioned in THAT book (New York Times bestseller, Eat Pray Love), visit art galleries and artists’ homes, take a cycling tour, treat yourself at a spa or watch a shadow puppet performance.

Craft and Cooking Classes

• Cooking Classes (a must-do for our family!)
• Silver Making Classes
• Wood Carving Classes

Family Friendly Cooking Classes in Ubud Bali

Some, not all, cookery classes will take kids. We’ve been taking our kids to cookery classes around the world since they were about 6 years old.

There will be knives and flames, so they’ll need to be well supervised.

I took my tween to a cookery class from Ubud Bali and he loved it as we made his favourite green pandanus pancakes.

The link below takes you to a family cooking class which looks like it will take kids from 5 years old, but double check this for yourselves.

Cooking with kids is really a great thing to do, they learn so much and have loads of fun, in our experience.

Find that cooking class here.

Silver Making Classes

We noticed in Bali in 2025 that silver jewellery making classes were really common in several parts of Bali and that the classes seemed really popular, You can absolutely book a silver jewelery class in Ubud, there is a class to book here, they are very affordable.

Wood Working Classes

Likewise, wood craft classes are available in Ubud, you can book a carving class here, a great way for kids to learn some skills! Another cheap, fun thing to do in Ubud.

Yoga

Yoga is very popular in Ubud and you can even book a yoga teacher training course here if you’re staying a while (find out how here.)

You could spend months here, one day, maybe, we will.

Ubud Sacred Monkey Forest

I recently asked the boys what their best travel memory was. It wasn’t Disney, it was here in Ubud, at the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary.

It’s a walled forest area at the bottom of Monkey Forest Rd, Ubud, it houses some ancient temples and an awful lot of macaques. The monkeys have no fear and brazenly stole Boo’s map from his hand snarling and scowling.  

So was it the somewhat cute, but light-fingered, monkeys that they loved?

No, of course not, it was Mum swinging her handbag and screaming “Get away from my baby!” like a demented banshee until a nearby Balinese guy came along and chucked rocks towards the grotty-looking primates to scare them away.

These monkeys are huge to small children, they have no fear and they’re nasty.

I know a lot of people who have been bitten by monkeys here, adults. Be careful, this isn’t a very safe area with kids.

Avoiding monkeys is something we make a point of, particularly at the point in our travels as we hadn’t yet had rabies shots.

If you like monkeys you will love it. You should not carry food in your hands, pockets or bags. Do take a hefty handbag or some emergency rocks, just in case.

The temples are beautiful and have sarongs available to borrow, you need them for admission.

You will also see the monkeys outside the sanctuary at the bottom end of the road as you walk around the bend, they are on the road and climbing the buildings.

Watch out, they can and do bite!

Bargain at Ubud’s Markets

The old market complex at the centre of Ubud is huge, much of it is undercover and it is quite a labyrinth to explore. Today there is a huge modern “night market” and “arts marker”, mostly selling souvenirs, that may hide the old market from most visitors.

You can find just about anything here, clothes, fresh fish, fruit and veg and homewares, along with the usual souvenirs. Bargain hard!

We bought loads of clothes for the boys, T-shirts and Thai fishermen’s trousers, these look cute but they are a right royal pain for kids to put on and take off.

There are plenty of shops in Ubud too, along with the new modern market. Some shops have fixed prices, in others, you may bargain.

There is some fantastic silver jewellery on offer and some very nice shops indeed. Shopping for clothes, swimwear and rubber (not plastic) flip-flops is great in Ubud!

Look out for the Gripper, formerly Fipper, rubber flip-flop shop on the main street in Ubud. We always stock up here.

TIP: If you shop early in the morning you often get a good price for being the lucky first customer of the day.

Day Trips and Places to See Near Ubud

Bali is pretty small and Ubud is almost in the centre so it’s easy to see most of the island on day trips from Ubud. You’ll find more about things to do elsewhere in Bali in this post.

Tour Bali From Ubud

To see the sights of Bali from Ubud, a very good way is to book a car with driver for a full-day tour. This tour allows you to set your own itinerary, or take your driver’s suggestions, there are many beautiful places to see in Bali and having your own driver is the way to go, check it out below. If you’re travelling with children this way is so much easier. Today, of course, you can just book a Grab car to go wherever you want to go. It was easy for us to do this in Ubud in 2025.

If you’d rather take a taxi, check the Grab price first, taxi prices are usually lower than Grab prices and there are taxi drivers everywhere.

I’ll warn you again, the traffic is horrific.

Book a car with driver here.

Goa Gaja

At Goa Gajah you can see the famous elephant cave along with other old religious construction. Some have tumbled down into a mossy valley carved by a stream. It’s a beautiful site, worth visiting from Ubud.

There is an admission fee and you will be loaned a sarong.

There weren’t many people there but we did witness police being called after a girl chose to strip off her top and sarong for a photo at the cave mouth. Don’t be her!

Gunung Kawi

Gunung Kawi is sometimes called Bali’s Valley of the Kings because it is an ancient temple and funerary complex.

We visited Gunung Kawi for the first time in 2025 and loved it. I’m happy to report that there were barely any tourists there!

There are a lot of steps down into the valley so if you’re very unfit or have mobility issues, this site probably isn’t for you. It was also incredibly hot climbing those stairs.

We had to pay to enter and we were given sarongs to wear.

There is a “Bali Swing” and zip line above this ancient religious site, which was a bit “cringe” as my kids would say. Nobody was using them.

We took a Grab car to Gunung Kawi, it wasn’t far from Ubud and was well worth a look. It’s also an excellent thigh workout. I’ll add a full post about these temples soon, it’s a big site and I have loads more photos. Yes, it is worth visiting!

Tanah Lot Temple

Tanah Lot Temple is on the south west coast of Bali, a little further west from Canggu. It’s a very pretty spot but is likely to be crowded as it’s so close to the main beach areas.

In our photo, taken a long time ago, all of those people are Balinese, waiting to visit a sacred shrine. It was a great experience to go there back then, I’m not sure how it would be today.

Tirta Gangga Water Palace

We visited Tirta Gangga in 2020, when Bali was quiet. Even then, this place was crowded. It was really busy and frustrating to have to wait for everyone taking their selfies and portraits.

It was impossible to get a photo of the famous pools and stepping stones without multiple people in the shot.

But it’s a beautiful place! It’s on the east coast, so easier to reach from the east coast beaches, like Amed, or you could visit on your way to Amed from Ubud. For the record, we didn’t like Amed at all but there are some good dive sites near there.

Sometimes we hung out in the centre of town, at the crossroads and watched the children having their dance lessons, girls in the palace, boys over the road.

My kids can do a fair impersonation of Bali dance, or they think they can. I’m pretty sure it was Sunday morning that we saw this.

Ubud – People Watching

One of the best things in Bali is people-watching. Early in the mornings, I would watch ladies gathering flowers to make offerings.

Everything was pretty here, they have endless time to attend to the things that we, in the West, don’t place much importance on. It’s lovely to see.

The gardens were beautiful too, with everything done by hand and every plant was as perfect as it could be. I came home and set about my garden with renewed enthusiasm, planted a few more frangipanis, but it still looks sorry compared to Balinese lushness.

Offerings are everywhere, petals, incense, food, local people replace them early every morning.

Walking around, looking at the shops is great fun for the kids, and me, but watch your footing, the pavements can be crowded, narrow and uneven, you may struggle with strollers or prams.

In recent years the sidewalks in Ubud have seen extensive widening and repairs. Central Ubud is almost unrecognisable compared to how it looked on our first visit.

Where to Eat and Drink in Ubud

Here are the restaurants and warungs we thought were good in 2025.

• Italian pizza and wine at La Baracca. Why eat Italian in Bali? Because we very quickly get bored of fried rice and fried noodles. This was good Italian, owned by Italians. Wine is very expensive in Ubud, their wine by the glass wasn’t too pricey.
• This garden compound was cute and the 2 dishes we had were good. They had beautiful orchids at Warung Makan Bu Rus.
• Another hidden warung, tucked away opposite a rice field, with a garden courtyard and fish pond, Warung Gauri. They have a pug who slept on my feet.
• We like the somewhat fancy sate restaurant, almost on the crossroads in Bali, it’s been there years, Prasaja by Arang Sate Bar.

There was a lovely restaurant at the Pura Taman Saraswati, just up from the main crossroads. Cafe Lotus overlooked the lotus ponds of the temple, we enjoyed tea and cakes and watched the fish while seated on the floor at low tables. In 2025 it was closed for building work. Hopefully, it will be back.

For a fancy family meal out, try Bridges. Good dining is very affordable for a family in Ubud, treat yourself!

The vegan and vegetarian scene is also very well catered for in Bali and the ice cream is delicious. Search out simple warungs too, and try the local speciality roast pork dish, babi guling.

The Ubud Capuhan Ridge Walk and Other Rice Terrace Walks

If you like to stretch your legs and enjoy seeing rural landscapes, the Capuhan Ridge Walk from Ubud is for you. This is a free thing to do in Ubud with kids and should take around half a day depending on how long you want to walk. Very young children may struggle, be ready to carry them.

There are several other pleasant, traffic-free walks in the countryside parallel with the Ridge Walk, on the same side of the road. There are also some unspoiled areas on the other side of the road.

This ridge walk is the most famous, but there are other walks and other areas of rice paddies and farms to explore I’ll tell you about those too, in detail, with maps, in another post. This post can only be a quick guide because it’s over 6000 words long!

Most of the walk is very exposed to the sun so be sure to wear sunscreen and take water. There are craft shops and coffee shops along the way and you’ll see padi fields with rice at whatever stage it’s at, ducks, and rural activities.

The start of the Campuhan Ridge Walk is off the main road through Ubud, it’s not far to walk to the starting point and there are some lovely buildings right at the beginning of the hike. It’s really not long enough to call it a trek, it’s more of a pleasant stroll and you can turn back at any point.

Family Friendly Ubud Cycle Tour

Not all bike tours from Ubud will take kids, but this one takes kids from 6 years old, it seems to take infants too, so hopefully they have baby seats and helmets.

Look at the fine print closely, just check they have everything your family needs. Check it out here.

Watch Traditional Balinese Dance in Ubud

There are a number of options for watching traditional dance, the best one for us was the Barong dance performance held in the palace in the centre of Ubud.

The Barong dance probably appeals to children more as the Barong creature makes an appearance along with some monkey dancers.

The Barong is a fearsome-looking protector spirit and leader of the hosts of good.

The dancing mesmerised our small boys, right through to 10 pm. We tried a butterfly dance performance too, further down the road at an indoor venue, the boys fell asleep. 

Go Snorkelling with Manta Rays from Ubud

Ubud is landlocked. But it is possible to book trips from here to snorkel off Nusa Lembongan. You can go there and back in one day.

See our review of this snorkel trip from Ubud here, or just go ahead and book it, it was fabulous. I wouldn’t recommend this one for small children, weak swimmers, or anyone with a fear of water.

On these tours you cross to Nusa Lembongan by ferry from Sanur and get a chance to see some of the stunning attractions nearby, as well as swim with giant manta rays.

Book that manta ray swim from Ubud Bali here!

Climb a Volcano, From Ubud

A popular activity in Bali is the dawn volcano hike, we took this tour from Ubud and it was easy to arrange by booking a volcano climb online. The tour included an early pick-up from our Ubud hotel.

We completed the volcano hike with kids are 12-15 but I did ask our guide if young children could climb the mountain. She said yes, and that off-road motorbikes were available if anyone wasn’t up to walking.

It’s a bit of a scramble in places but it’s a fairly short hike and the views are breath taking as the sun rises.

My kids particularly loved bathing in the hot steam rising from the active crater area.

Wrap up warm, take a thick fleece at least. We completed this hike in December, so you could do this in the Christmas holidays (we took the manta snorkel tour in December too).

There may be some monkeys hanging about to feed at the summit, too.

Book the volcano walk here!

Take a Walking Tour of the Rice Paddies and Villages

On our first ever stay in Ubud our hotel organised a rice field walk for for us with a guide, and we really enjoyed it. Strolling through the fields, checking out the irrigation systems before wandering through a village and taking lemon grass tea in a traditional courtyard home.

The owners were artists and sold us a lovely picture, unfortunately, we later saw the same picture for less than half the price in the supermarket in Sanur. If you want to buy pictures, that is the place to go.

It isn’t necessary to take a tour or a guide, just get out and walk, or run, as we do.

We came across a huge Golden Orb Spider hanging in its web, while we were oohing and ahing an old man came past, grabbed the spider in his hand and told us he was taking it home to cook for the baby to stop him wetting the bed.

If you have bed wetters at home maybe this will work for you

for Pinterest…

How To Get To Ubud From The Airport

Denpasar Airport is a fair way from Ubud, but right next to Kuta. The airport is really modern and attractive. It’s surrounded by a one way traffic system. These one way systems in Bali, plus the terrible traffic, can really affect your journey times and costs.

The easiest way to get to Ubud from the airport is to book a Grab Car. The airport wifi isn’t great, in our experience it cuts out and you can’t connect to it from the car/taxi pick up place, outside the terminal building. If you don’t have a Bali SIM card you won’t be able to use Grab.

My suggestion would be to check the Grab app inside the terminal, check the Grab price, and then find a taxi driver who will match, or beat that price. Agree the cost of the ride in advance.

There are taxis with meters in Bali, but with the terrible traffic delays, I’m not sure if this is a good idea. Alternatively, book an airport transfer to Ubud here. How much does a transfer to Ubud cost, from the airport? The transfers are really cheap, $45 Au approx, $20 US for 4 people.

The distance from Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport to Ubud is only about 40 Km, 24 miles. But the traffic can be so bad that the journey may take hours. I can’t even give you a guide to the journey time! Book a comfortable car, don’t take the bus.

On this trip we considered hiring a car and taking a road trip around the north of the island. After seeing the traffic and the one-way systems, we were very glad we didn’t! We have a friend who has taken the rental car option and after 2 days he gave up and returned the car. You could hire a scooter if you feel safe doing that,but the roads are absolutely choked with scooters and we saw some really, really, bad driving from foreigners with no experience.

Where To Stay in Ubud

Our last trip to Bali was as a couple, so we booked a very affordable hotel, near the rice terraces, with a swimming pool. We liked the gardens, fish pools, and the old family compound buildings. It was good because there were two entrances, one to the road, one to a narrow car-free street. It gave us shortcuts to restaurants. It was this one. It wasn’t perfect, but we enjoyed our stay. It had good wifi and that’s really important. Some places we stayed on the coast (notably Canggu) didn’t.

If I were going to Ubud again I’d try one of the hotels in the rice fields. We took a look at this one (The Rice Joglo Eco Stay), with an organic garden and resident ducks and goats, or there was this one (Joglo Organic Guest House), right opposite, which was a lot cheaper. Photo below.

Family accommodation in Ubud is fairly easy to find and comes at every price point.

A few places we can recommend for a kid-friendly family stay in Ubud include:

• The best, most luxurious hotel we could find in Ubud, with family accommodation, is The Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan. This 5-star is a little outside bustling Ubud, set in a stunning natural landscape. Service and amenities are superb at this hotel chain, so if your expectations are high and pockets deep, take a look at the two-bedroom private family villas at this hotel. Family suites with bunk beds are at a more affordable, but still luxury, price point. There is a surprising range of room configurations at this property to suit the large or small family. This hotel advertises a kids’ club to allow mum and dad some relaxation, romance, or spa time. Check out this Four Seasons property here.
• You can find a much more affordable family villa, but still towards the “best hotels” end, at the K Club Ubud. This hotel near Ubud has family villas with pool and garden views to suit small and larger families. The hotel advertises a kids’ club and barbecues for guests to use. Take a look at K Club Ubud here.
• For a bargain stay, in central Ubud, or a short walk away, try Rumah Roda, this hotel or guest house has family rooms and a pool, at an incredibly low price. See Rumah Roda homestay here. on Booking dot com, or you may find a better deal on Agoda, here.
• I’m going to suggest you stay in the rice fields, away from the traffic. This has drawbacks. These properties are off the road so you’ll have to get there on foot or on the back of a scooter, with your luggage. It’s not for everyone and it’s not the cheapest. If we go to Bali again (and it’s a big if) this is where we’ll stay. We’ll also book somewhere with a nice pool and traditional gardens, because I think in Bali, with the streets so hectic, you have to have a place to relax and enjoy.

When To Visit Ubud

I would visit Ubud at any time of year. I think, if anything, I’d avoid the peak season because Ubud was so busy in February, low season. You’re much more likely to get a cheap deal on flights in low season too, we found a flight from Cairns to Bali for just $150 Au, which is rare!

The “official” best time to visit Ubud is June, July, August, September and October. These months should be slightly cooler and slightly less wet. The wettest months in Ubud are November, December January and February.

Remember that Ubud is at a small elevation (215 m, around 690 feet), so it will be slightly cooler than on the coast.

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So what do you think? Do you like the look of Ubud, or have you been? Can you give us any more suggestions on things to see and things to do in Ubud as a family or with your kids?

If you'd like to hire a car during your stay, use this car rental comparison tool to find the best deal!

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