What to do around Ubud: the sights worth a plan, with hours and fees

As Indonesia.Travel explains, the town is named after ubad, the Balinese term for medicine, inspired by the abundance of medicinal plants and herbs in the region.⁴ The center still works at a walking scale. The ministry's advice is to explore the town on foot or by hired bicycle or motorbike, and to ask locals which places suit which mode, since the terrain is hilly.¹ Start with the idea that this is a place you move through slowly, with a few firm appointments and a lot of room around them.

That advice shapes the plan. The core sights, the palace, the art market, the Saraswati temple and the museums, sit within a short stroll of one another along the main road, so they suit a half-day on foot. The Monkey Forest lies south of the center, and the terraces, springs and waterfalls lie north and east, where a driver or a rented scooter makes more sense. Pairing a short walk with a driver for the far sights is usually more comfortable than trying to do everything on one mode.

Think in four clusters: the central loop, the green fringes, the sanctuary and the holy-water sites further out. Add the evening dance at the end of the day and you have a complete plan. The map at the top of this page marks each cluster, so you can see how far apart the groups are before you commit to a driver or a pair of walking shoes. Counting the clusters before you book keeps you from stacking two far-flung sights on the same afternoon.

Campuhan Ridge Walk is listed by Indonesia.Travel as a free place open 24 hours on Jalan Raya Campuhan in Sayan, with a gentle trekking path over rolling green hills.¹³ Another page gives the hike to the peak as about 15 to 20 minutes over 2 kilometers and warns that there are no eateries along the way, so bring food and drinks.^2,16 A third page calls it a nine-kilometer hill track, which is a disagreement worth noting.¹⁷

Tegallalang Rice Terrace is a short 20-minute drive north of Ubud, and the ministry suggests allowing 30 minutes to 1.5 hours to explore it.^18,19 It recommends exploring the terraces early in the morning.²⁰ The full guide to the terraces has the stream crossing, the swing sign and the coffee stop; here it is enough to say that it is the usual first stop on a northern loop. Fit it into the morning, before heat and crowds build, and keep the Monkey Forest for later in the day.

For an evening that is not a show, the ministry lists Petulu Village as a free place: the habitat of thousands of white herons that return to the treetops every late afternoon, open daily from 06.00 to 19.00 WITA.⁸ The spectacle depends on the birds and not on a ticket, so it is a good, cheap way to close a day in the rice country before dinner or a dance performance. Arrive before the light fades and find a spot where the birds are not disturbed, since the show is theirs.