Ubud travel guide: the terraces, the temples and a week inland

Start on the ridge above two rivers

At seven in the morning the Campuhan ridge belongs to the people who live on it. A paved-block track a metre wide runs about 2 km along the spine of the hill. Hillside greenery and rice terraces fall away on both sides. At the bottom two rivers meet, the Tukad Yeh Wos Kiwa and the Tukad Yeh Wos Tengen, and temples and shrines stand along the route. Late in the day it fills again for the sunset. ^{7, 8}

The name Ubud comes from ubad, the Balinese word for medicine, for the plants that grew along this valley. Balinese have treated the Campuhan confluence as a place of spiritual power since the area was settled in the 8th century, and they credit the sage Rsi Markandya with founding both the shared subak irrigation system and the banjar village councils. ¹²

Ubud is a district before it is a town. The kecamatan of Ubud, inside Gianyar Regency, held 74,800 people across 42.38 km2 at the 2020 census. Ubud desa, the village at its center, held 11,971 people in 6.76 km2. Subtract one from the other and 62,829 people live in the rice country around the town you booked. More than three million foreign visitors come each year. ⁷

That gap is the trick of a week here. Sleep in the middle, where the walking is, and take the outings early, in the first hour after each gate opens. The Indonesia travel guide covers choosing islands and arriving in the country; this page prices the week inland.

What are the best things to do in Ubud?

Six outings fill a week. Five charge admission, and the sixth is open ground.

Ubud's paid sights are cheap individually and add up quickly. The sanctuary at Padangtegal is the dearest ticket in town at IDR 130,000, and the Campuhan ridge is free. Everything below was read from the site's own page, or from a named operator and a regency portal where the site publishes nothing. ^{2, 8}

Two of those six sit inside the town and take an afternoon on foot. Three need a car or a scooter. One, the ridge, starts in Campuhan on the edge of town. Book nothing for the first morning and walk it before breakfast. ^{8, 7}

Padangtegal's forest and what the ticket pays for

The Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary is a working temple complex that also holds about a thousand monkeys. Officially Mandala Suci Wenara Wana, it runs along Jalan Monkey Forest at the southern edge of town: 12.5 hectares of forest, 186 species of trees, open 9 AM to 6 PM with the last entrance at 5 PM. Admission is IDR 130,000 for an adult and IDR 100,000 for a child. ²

The sanctuary describes what the place is for in the village's own words: Padangtegal's residents view it as "an important spiritual, economic, educational, and conservation center" for the village. That framing is worth carrying through the gate with you. The macaques live here; the paths and the temple courtyards are theirs. ²

Even the sanctuary counts its own monkeys twice. The homepage says over 1,054 long-tailed macaques; the Visit page says around 1,030. That is a gap of 24 animals between two pages of one site, so 'about a thousand in 12.5 hectares' is the honest version. Either figure makes the same point about density. ^{14, 2}

Time your visit against the crowd, and the crowd is large. Gianyar Regency logged 3,842,663 tourist arrivals in 2017, and 1.3 million of them went through this one gate: 33.8 percent of the regency's visitors that year. Be at the booth when it opens at nine. ^{7, 2}

The terraces north of town, and what UNESCO actually lists

Tegallalang is about a 9 km drive north of Ubud, open 7 AM to 6 PM every day, IDR 25,000 at the booth. Most visits run an hour to an hour and a half, which covers the viewpoints and a loop on the main paths. Heavy rain between November and February can close the lower valley paths. ¹

One correction is worth carrying with you. UNESCO's Bali inscription, the subak system as an expression of Tri Hita Karana, has five components. Its own description names the supreme water temple of Pura Ulun Danu Batur, the subak of the Pakerisan Watershed, the oldest known irrigation system on the island, the subak of Catur Angga Batukaru, and the royal water temple of Pura Taman Ayun. Tegallalang appears in none of them. ¹⁵

So the photographed terraces and the listed terraces are different places. Catur Angga Batukaru is the largest component at over 170 km2 and holds the Jatiluwih terraces. Pakerisan is the one within reach of a morning from Ubud: Tirta Empul and the Gunung Kawi royal tombs stand inside it. Go to Tegallalang for the view and to Pakerisan for the water temples. ¹⁵

The palace, the gamelan and the dance after dark

Puri Saren Agung sits on the crossroads in the middle of town, and Ubud's royal family still lives there. The palace took its present Balinese form during the reign of Tjokorda Putu Kandel, 1800 to 1823. The 1917 earthquake damaged its structures; they were restored quickly, and the palace opened to foreign guests in 1928. Many of its stone carvings are the work of the Ubud artist I Gusti Nyoman Lempad. ¹²

Most nights there is dance in the main pavilion. The stage backs onto an ornamented angkul-angkul, the traditional Balinese gateway, and gamelan percussion orchestras carry the performance. A courtyard, after dark, with the orchestra in front of you and the town's main road a wall away. ¹²

No official page publishes a price or a schedule for the nightly dance, so ask at the palace gate during the day and buy for that evening. Anything you see quoted online for it is a reseller's number, not the palace's.

How many days in Ubud?

Four nights for the town and the terraces. Seven if you want an empty day in the middle, which is where Ubud pays off.

Ubud rewards one room and short days out. Everything in this guide sits within about 10 km of the crossroads, so a week here means no packing, no transfers and mornings that start before the vans arrive. Below is the seven-day version, priced from the same pages as the table above.

• Shorter. Four nights carries the town, the ridge, the terraces and one temple morning, and leaves the empty day in.
• Wetter. Heavy rain between November and February can close Tegallalang's lower valley paths, so put the terraces early in the week and keep a spare morning behind them. ¹
• Quieter. In 2026 the island stops for Nyepi on Thursday 19 March, from 6 AM until 6 AM on the Friday. A week built around that date needs a room you are happy to sit in. ¹⁶
• Longer. Seven days is the version above. Anything past that and you are living here, which is a different budget and a different page.

What does the week inland cost before the first ticket?

Two named operators quote two prices for the same airport run, and both are real. Kuta Transport prices a private transfer to central Ubud at IDR 300,000 for one to five people in a minivan with an English-speaking driver, with 21 percent government tax and service, fuel, parking and tolls inside the figure. Bikago's fixed list quotes IDR 350,000. The spread is IDR 50,000, about USD 2.79. ^{11, 17, 6}

Everything on this page is quoted in rupiah first, because that is what the booths take. If you budget in dollars, MMT's exchange-rate worksheet shows what a 10 percent move does to a week like this one.

1. 01

   Budget the levy before you fly

   Bali has charged every foreign visitor a one-time levy of IDR 150,000 since 00:00 WITA on 14 February 2024. It applies once per trip, island-wide. ¹⁰

2. 02

   Price the visa at IDR 500,000

   Indonesia's Visitor Visa, sold as the e-VOA, costs IDR 500,000 and allows a 30-day stay. That is about USD 27.91 at the 17,917 reference rate. ^{9, 6}

3. 03

   Take a car for the first run, not a scooter

   45 km and 1.5 to 2 hours with your luggage, at IDR 300,000 from one named operator and IDR 350,000 from another. Get the quote in writing before the day. ^{11, 17}

4. 04

   Sort the licence before you ride anything

   Indonesian law asks for an International Driving Permit carrying the motorcycle category, or a local SIM C. A car licence alone falls short even with an IDP attached, police checkpoints work the roads into Ubud, and fines run about IDR 500,000. ¹⁸

5. 05

   Draw cash, and ask for small notes

   Tegallalang's booths take cash, farmer donations move in 10,000 and 20,000 notes, and parking is 5,000 or 10,000 at a time. MMT's guide to ATM fees abroad prices the withdrawal itself. ¹

Being a guest in Ubud's temples and ceremonies

Ubud's temples are working temples, and each one posts its own terms at the gate. Tirta Empul hands you a sarong with the ticket and requires that you wear it. The standard IDR 75,000 ticket is a visit-only ticket: the courtyards and the shrines. Bathing in the holy spring pools and the guided Melukat purification are sold as a separate package. ³

On Thursday 19 March 2026, Bali stops. Nyepi, the Day of Silence that opens Isaka year 1948, is the island's quietest day. Bali's provincial government, with the regional police chief, the military resort commander and the Ministry of Religious Affairs' Bali office, ordered every land, sea and air transport operator to halt from 06:00 WITA that day until 06:00 on Friday 20 March. ¹⁶

Radio and television go off air for the same window. Mobile carriers switch cellular data off, with an exception kept open for emergency communication. A guest in Ubud spends Nyepi inside their accommodation, which is a fine day if the room has a view and a poor one if it has a carpark. Choose accordingly. ¹⁶

Ceremonies also fill ordinary weeks. The Campuhan route has temples and shrines along it and a long history as a gathering place for Balinese ceremonies, and the ridge still carries them. When you meet one, step off the path, put the camera down and let it pass. ^{8, 7}