Ubud has changed a lot over the years, but it has kept the thing that makes it special: it rewards people who slow down. While the coast is about beach clubs and sunsets, Ubud is about early mornings, temple ceremonies, rice fields and some of the best plant-based food in Asia. If you want a week in Bali that feels calm and kind, both to yourself and to the place you're visiting, this is where to spend it.
Most visitors fly into Denpasar and reach Ubud in around an hour and a half, depending on traffic. Before you go, check the visa rules for your passport on the official Indonesian e-visa website, and pay the Bali tourist levy online through the provincial government's Love Bali portal so you're not queuing for it on arrival. Booking a transfer through your accommodation is the easiest way to get there, especially if you land late.
The food is reason enough to come. Ubud was one of the first places in Southeast Asia to embrace plant-based eating, and it shows. You'll find raw food cafés, healing kitchens and modern vegan restaurants alongside the island's own traditions. Balinese cooking is built around rice, vegetables, coconut, tofu and tempeh, with sambals made fresh every day, so even small local warungs can usually make you something delicious without animal products if you ask. Learn a few useful phrases, like "tanpa daging" (without meat) and "tanpa terasi" (without shrimp paste), because shrimp paste turns up in a lot of sambal. If you're putting together a longer trip around the region, this guide to the best vegan-friendly destinations in Asia is a good place to start.
Spend your mornings outside, before the heat and traffic build. The Campuhan Ridge walk is short, easy and beautiful at sunrise, and you'll share it mostly with locals and a few runners. Further out, the rice terraces are at their best early in the day. Bali's traditional irrigation system, known as subak, is so important to the island's culture that it is recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage cultural landscape, and walking through the fields with a local guide is a lovely way to understand how farming, water and religion are woven together here.
Culture in Ubud isn't something staged for visitors. Every morning you'll see small offerings of flowers and rice placed outside homes, shops and temples, and in the evenings you may hear gamelan practice drifting out of a village hall. A traditional dance performance is well worth an evening; the stories come from the Hindu epics and the musicians are often from the surrounding villages. When you visit temples, cover your shoulders and knees and wear a sarong and sash, which many temples will lend you if you don't have your own.
The food is reason enough to come. Ubud was one of the first places in Southeast Asia to embrace plant-based eating, and it shows. You'll find raw food cafés, healing kitchens and modern vegan restaurants alongside the island's own traditions. Balinese cooking is built around rice, vegetables, coconut, tofu and tempeh, with sambals made fresh every day, so even small local warungs can usually make you something delicious without animal products if you ask. Learn a few useful phrases, like "tanpa daging" (without meat) and "tanpa terasi" (without shrimp paste), because shrimp paste turns up in a lot of sambal. If you're putting together a longer trip around the region, this guide to the best vegan-friendly destinations in Asia is a good place to start.
Spend your mornings outside, before the heat and traffic build. The Campuhan Ridge walk is short, easy and beautiful at sunrise, and you'll share it mostly with locals and a few runners. Further out, the rice terraces are at their best early in the day. Bali's traditional irrigation system, known as subak, is so important to the island's culture that it is recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage cultural landscape, and walking through the fields with a local guide is a lovely way to understand how farming, water and religion are woven together here.
Culture in Ubud isn't something staged for visitors. Every morning you'll see small offerings of flowers and rice placed outside homes, shops and temples, and in the evenings you may hear gamelan practice drifting out of a village hall. A traditional dance performance is well worth an evening; the stories come from the Hindu epics and the musicians are often from the surrounding villages. When you visit temples, cover your shoulders and knees and wear a sarong and sash, which many temples will lend you if you don't have your own.
Slow, mindful travel also means thinking about the experiences you choose. Bali still has attractions built around animals, from elephant rides to cafés selling kopi luwak, the coffee made from beans eaten by captive civets. It's easy to avoid them and there's no shortage of better options: a cooking class with a Balinese family, a batik or silver-making workshop, a guided walk through the villages, or a morning at the water temple of Tirta Empul, where you can watch, or respectfully join, the purification ritual in the spring-fed pools.
Ubud is also one of the world's great places to practise yoga, and many visitors build their week around it. You can drop into classes at the big studios in town, but if you'd like a week where the practice, the food and the exploring are all taken care of, a small retreat in Bali can be a good fit. Look for one that's small, gets you out into the villages as well as onto the mat, and keeps the group together for the week, which makes it especially easy if you're travelling on your own.
Firefly Retreat is one example of that kind of week. It's a small yoga retreat in Ubud set among the rice fields just outside town, and it has been running since 2013. Guests arrive on a Sunday and leave the following Saturday, so everyone goes through the week together, with daily yoga and meditation, vegetarian meals, a Balinese cooking class and trips to temples and villages. With 15 rooms and no more than 20 guests at a time, it feels personal rather than busy, and most guests come on their own.
A few practical things will make the week easier. The dry season runs roughly from April to October; between November and March, expect heavy afternoon rain, greener rice fields and fewer crowds. Carry a reusable water bottle and refill it rather than buying plastic, as many cafés and guesthouses now have refill stations. Bring reef-safe sunscreen, insect repellent and light clothing that covers your shoulders for temple visits. And use ride-hailing apps or a trusted local driver rather than renting a scooter if you're not an experienced rider; the roads around Ubud are busy and narrow.
Above all, leave space in your plans. The best moments in Ubud are rarely the ones you book in advance: a long lunch that turns into an afternoon, a ceremony you stumble across on a village road, or an hour watching the rain roll across the rice fields from a café table.
Ubud is also one of the world's great places to practise yoga, and many visitors build their week around it. You can drop into classes at the big studios in town, but if you'd like a week where the practice, the food and the exploring are all taken care of, a small retreat in Bali can be a good fit. Look for one that's small, gets you out into the villages as well as onto the mat, and keeps the group together for the week, which makes it especially easy if you're travelling on your own.
Firefly Retreat is one example of that kind of week. It's a small yoga retreat in Ubud set among the rice fields just outside town, and it has been running since 2013. Guests arrive on a Sunday and leave the following Saturday, so everyone goes through the week together, with daily yoga and meditation, vegetarian meals, a Balinese cooking class and trips to temples and villages. With 15 rooms and no more than 20 guests at a time, it feels personal rather than busy, and most guests come on their own.
A few practical things will make the week easier. The dry season runs roughly from April to October; between November and March, expect heavy afternoon rain, greener rice fields and fewer crowds. Carry a reusable water bottle and refill it rather than buying plastic, as many cafés and guesthouses now have refill stations. Bring reef-safe sunscreen, insect repellent and light clothing that covers your shoulders for temple visits. And use ride-hailing apps or a trusted local driver rather than renting a scooter if you're not an experienced rider; the roads around Ubud are busy and narrow.
Above all, leave space in your plans. The best moments in Ubud are rarely the ones you book in advance: a long lunch that turns into an afternoon, a ceremony you stumble across on a village road, or an hour watching the rain roll across the rice fields from a café table.
Give the place a little time and it will give you back far more than a checklist ever could!
