Ubud dance performances: the nightly schedule, tickets and stories

Tonight in Ubud, the gamelan starts at 7:30

At 7:30 PM the courtyard goes quiet and the gamelan starts. The stage at Ubud Palace sits against an ornamented angkul-angkul gateway, with the percussion orchestra ranged along one side. ¹ A seat costs IDR 100,000, about USD 5.58 at Bank Indonesia's reference rate for 25 September 2026. ^{2, 4, 5} That is roughly the price of a coffee and a pastry at home.

Ubud keeps no single official stage. At least five venues each run their own weekly bill, so the dance you watch follows the night you pick as much as the address you walk to. ^{3, 2, 6} Four of those venues charge the same IDR 100,000 and open at 7:30 PM. The fifth, ARMA Museum & Resort out on Jalan Raya Pengosekan, prices each show on its own. ⁶ MMT's Ubud travel guide covers the daytime half of the same week.

The palace has been a stage for far longer than it has sold a ticket. Puri Saren Agung took its present form under Tjokorda Putu Kandel, who ruled from 1800 to 1823. The 1917 earthquake damaged the buildings, the royal family restored them, and the compound opened to foreign guests in 1928. Many of the stone carvings are the work of the Ubud artist I Gusti Nyoman Lempad. ¹

Which dance plays on which night?

Four stages within a short walk of each other, one price, and a different bill every evening.

Pick the dance first, then the night. Ubud Palace leans Legong and saves Ramayana Ballet for Tuesday and Barong for Friday. Saraswati Temple, up the same street at the corner of Jalan Kajeng, puts Kecak on Tuesday and Thursday. Pura Dalem Ubud and Padang Tegal Kaja are the stages for Kecak with fire. ^{2, 3, 4}

That grid makes a two-night plan easy. Ramayana Ballet at the palace on Tuesday, then Kecak with fire at Pura Dalem Ubud on Friday, gives you the two loudest forms in Ubud for IDR 200,000 together, about USD 11.16. ^{2, 5} A third night at Padang Tegal Kaja on Thursday adds Legong and Barong on one bill. ²

What does an Ubud dance ticket cost?

Four stages hold the same price, so choosing between them costs nothing. IDR 100,000 buys a seat at Ubud Palace, Saraswati Temple, Pura Dalem Ubud or Padang Tegal Kaja, and the figure is the same on four unaffiliated Ubud guide, operator and guesthouse pages read on 26 September 2026. ^{2, 3, 4, 7}

ARMA runs on a different clock and a different tariff. Its own page lists a show at 7:00 PM every night of the week. Six of them cost IDR 150,000 a head, about USD 8.37: Kecak on Monday and Wednesday, Barong on Tuesday, Legong Lasem Peliatan on Thursday, Ramayana Ballet on Friday and Barong Prakpak on Sunday. Saturday is the buffet night, and it costs more. ^{6, 5}

ARMA's own programme note gives Barong Prakpak a story none of the other stages tell: animals harmed by deforestation, healed by holy water granted after prayer. ⁶ Its Saturday package costs IDR 200,000 more than a standard ARMA seat, about USD 11.16 extra, and the dinner is the reason. ^{6, 5}

Legong: the palace dance and the story it carries

Legong Kraton is on UNESCO's list, and it is on the board most nights of the week. In 2015 UNESCO inscribed three genres of traditional Balinese dance, wali for temple ritual, bebali for ceremony, and balih-balihan for the wider community. Legong Kraton sits in the third group. ^{8, 9}

The form probably began in the 19th century as royal entertainment. One account has a prince of Sukawati falling ill and dreaming of two young women dancing to gamelan, then arranging real performances once he recovered. Another traces the movement back to the sanghyang dedari trance ceremony. Both agree it grew up in the courts. ¹¹

Legong dancers were traditionally girls who had yet to reach puberty, starting hard training at about five years old. Today a dancer may be any age. ¹¹ What you watch at the palace is a living repertory, danced by named groups from Ubud who train for years to hold it. ^{11, 10}

The story is usually the tale of Lasem. Drawn from the Malat, a collection of East Javanese and Balinese heroic romances, it follows the king of Lasem, at war with the family of Princess Rangkesari. He wants to marry her. She flees, and is captured. As he marches out for the final assault, a monstrous raven attacks him and foretells his death. ¹¹

Two dancers carry the leads. A third, the condong or attendant, sets the scene and later becomes the raven. ¹¹ ARMA names the same king and princess for its Thursday show, Legong Lasem Peliatan, though its own program note ends the tale differently: Lasem is defeated in battle by Prince Panji, Rangkesari's brother, rather than doomed by a raven's omen. ^{6, 11}

Barong and Rangda: the fight, and the kris

Barong is a lion-like king of the spirits who stands for virtue. Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism describes the opposing figure as Rangda, widow in Javanese, queen of demons at the head of an army of witches. The dance stages their fight, and the fight has been going on for as long as the story has. ¹²

In the dance drama called Calon Arang, Barong steps out to counter Rangda's magic. Men fight each other with kris daggers. When Barong appears, they turn the blades on themselves and, in trance, take no wound. Barong defeats Rangda, holy water brings the entranced men back, and balance returns to nature. ¹²

Barong Ket is the most common form of Barong across Bali, and the ministry names Batu Bulan in Gianyar and Kesiman in Denpasar as the places where regular performances draw the biggest crowds. ¹² Ubud's Barong nights are the local bill of a form that is more famous elsewhere on the island. ¹²

In Ubud you can find it four stages in a week. Ubud Palace runs Legong and Barong on Wednesday and Barong on Friday, Pura Dalem Ubud stages Barong and keris on Thursday, Padang Tegal Kaja on Tuesday and Thursday, and ARMA has Barong on Tuesday and Barong Prakpak on Sunday. ^{2, 6}

Ramayana Ballet, Kecak and the rest of the board

Ramayana Ballet is the epic told in movement, usually with no spoken dialogue. ARMA's programme calls it Sendratari Ramayana and describes it as a highly stylised retelling of the Sanskrit Ramayana, the saga first written by Valmiki. Music, dance and drama carry the plot between them. ⁶

The form travels. The same epic is staged as Sendratari Ramayana in Java and Bali, as the Ramakien in Thailand and as the Reamker in Cambodia. ⁶ Watching it in Ubud on a Tuesday sets up every version you meet later on a longer route through Southeast Asia.

Beyond Legong, Barong and Ramayana, the week fills out with forms most visitors meet only once. Here is what else the boards carry. ^{2, 10}

• Kecak with fire, the chanted men's chorus, at Pura Dalem Ubud on Monday and Friday and at Padang Tegal Kaja on Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday. ^{2, 3}
• Janger and Joged at Saraswati Temple on Sunday and Monday. Joged Bumbung is the third dance UNESCO named in the entertainment genre, alongside Legong Kraton and Barong Ket Kuntisraya. ^{2, 3, 9}
• Bamboo gamelan at Pura Dalem Ubud on Wednesday, an orchestra of tuned bamboo instead of bronze. ^{2, 3}
• Legong Trance and Legong Mahabarata at Ubud Palace on Thursday and Sunday, two variants on the palace's signature form. ^{2, 3}
• Wayang Kulit, the shadow puppet show, nightly at Oka Kartini at 8:00 PM, which starts half an hour after the dance stages. ¹⁰

The groups have names, and they are worth knowing. A Ubud tour service lists Sadha Budaya, Bina Remaja, Jaya Swara and Panca Arta at Ubud Palace. Semara Ratih plays Pura Desa Kutuh and Pura Dalem Ubud, and Tirta Sari plays the Balerung Stage in Peliatan. ¹⁰ Peliatan is a short ride east, and its groups have their own following.

The dances on these evening bills belong to the balih-balihan genre, made for the wider community to enjoy. The wali dances UNESCO named, Rejang, Sanghyang Dedari and Baris Upacara, belong to temple ritual and keep their own place in Balinese Hindu practice. ^{8, 9}

How do I plan the evening?

Ticket, arrival time and what the courtyard is actually like once the drums start.

Arrive by 6:45 PM and the front row is yours. Seating in the palace courtyard is open, so the queue decides the view. The courtyard is open to the air with no fans, and vendors work the crowd during the show with drinks, beer included, at a markup. ⁷

1. 01

   Choose the dance, then read the night

   Work back from the grid above. Legong at the palace, Kecak with fire at Pura Dalem Ubud or Padang Tegal Kaja, Ramayana Ballet at the palace on Tuesday or ARMA on Friday. ^{2, 6}

2. 02

   Buy the ticket

   Online in advance, or from a seller on Jalan Raya Ubud any time after 5:00 PM for the same price as the door. Bring rupiah for the street sellers and the drinks. ⁷

3. 03

   Dress for heat and for a temple

   Dress light for an open courtyard with no air conditioning. ⁷ Three of these stages stand inside working temples, so carry a sarong and sash; the rules at the gate are the temple's own, and MMT's Ubud temples guide covers how they are applied by day.

4. 04

   Get there and settle

   Ubud Palace is on Jalan Raya Ubud at the main crossroads, at the corner of Jalan Suweta. Saraswati Temple is up the same street at the corner of Jalan Kajeng. ^{7, 4} Scooter parking nearby runs about IDR 5,000 to an unofficial attendant. ⁷

Five nights of dance come to IDR 750,000, about USD 41.86. The worksheet below takes a different stage every night. Kecak comes round twice, with fire at Padang Tegal Kaja and as Sang Hyang Jaran at ARMA, which are two different shows built on the same chanted chorus. ^{2, 6, 5}

From here the evenings stack up against the rest of the island. The Indonesia guide sets the wider route and the one-month Bali itinerary sets the week in Ubud. Five nights of dance at IDR 750,000 cost less than a single two-dive day: Amed Jepun Divers published IDR 1,100,000 for two guided dives in one day when its price page was read on 28 September 2026. ¹⁴ MMT prices a month of that in a diving month in Amed.

Book the Tuesday first, the only night the palace runs Ramayana Ballet. ^{2, 3} The rest of the week arranges itself around it.