Bali: Ubud
This is a continuation travel recap of my trip to Bali and Singapore in April 2023.
Ubud was our next destination after staying 2 nights in Seminyak. It is known as a center for Balinese art and is famous for the rainforest and terraced rice paddies. I stayed in Ubud with my fiance and 2 friends for 3 nights and here is everything we did!
Recommended: Read my travel recap on Seminyak, a beach resort area at the southern end of Bali.
Transportation to Ubud
We took a Gojek (basically an Uber) from Seminyak to Ubud. It was roughly a 1 hour drive with traffic and the Gojek costed us maybe $20-30 CAD. We recommend getting a more comfortable car (more spacious) since it is a bit of a drive. Most of us fell asleep in the car.
Private driver
One of our Gojek drivers offered to be our private driver for the day for $50. He drove us to multiple locations and waited for us throughout the day but had to leave by 7pm ish to go home to his family. I found him to be very entrepreneurial since he proposed this offer to us and even hooked us up with a driver for when we leave Ubud to go to Kuta. He explained that he meets customers through Gojek, and then he provides his own whatsapp number if they are interested in hiring him or having him become a guide to Ubud.
Accommodations in Ubud
We booked an Airbnb for Ubud, which costed $965 CAD total, so roughly $80 per person per night. Our Airbnb was a 2 bedroom villa with a private pool and kitchen/living area. This Airbnb was super nice because it has a modern look to it and I really like the pool that kind of spans down the side of the villa.
The 2 bedrooms are separated and not connected, so you will have to walk outside to go into the middle living/kitchen area. The bedrooms were spacious and clean. There is a TV in each bedroom as well so you can watch Netflix or plug in your own laptop. They also have a makeup table, which I loved but they didn’t have a real closet (just holes in a wall, very modern/rock-esque). The bathroom was really beautiful with a big shower and lots of counter space. There was one day when there was no more hot water though, and the property manager informed us they have to refill it so we had no idea there was a limited supply. We also found that at some periods of the day/our stay, some of the water coming from the bathroom had a slight smell of sewage.
Living and kitchen area did not have ACs like the bedrooms, which sucked because it was still so hot throughout the day and night, but now we find this to be a common theme where the AC is only in the bedrooms.
Location-wise, the Airbnb is situated on top of a hill and we needed a car to drive us down every time so it was not walkable to the main streets. That part was a little inconvenient, but the property management team offers packages and services to your Airbnb (ex. massage, nails, private chef, etc.).
Things to do in Ubud
I will say that one of us got pretty bad traveler’s diarrhea or “Bali belly”, so we did spend at least 1 full day in our Airbnb to let that person rest. The sickness kind of carried through our days at Ubud so we didn’t go out or do as many things as we could have so that person can be comfortable back at the Airbnb instead of suffering in the heat and having to use dirty washrooms.
Monkey forest
One of the most touristy locations in Ubud but I enjoyed this attraction. Entry into the Monkey Forest was about $5 per adult and you can kind of just stay in there for as long as you want. Right after you pay and pass the gate, you will start seeing monkeys everywhere.
There are a few guidelines you need to follow in the Monkey Forest. This includes running, grabbing or touching the monkeys, bringing plastic or paper bags, etc. The most important one is probably to not look at the monkeys in the eye because they will take it as a sign of aggression and maybe bite/fight you and you will get rabies most likely ๐ฑ.
The baby monkey is so cute ๐ฅน !!!
You can take photos with the monkeys if you pay $5 to the workers. They carry snacks/treats for the monkeys and will help you pose with the monkeys. In our photo, they made it look like the monkey was the one taking the selfie ๐ต.
There are also lots of statues and boobies.
ATV
We booked an ATV tour tandem style so each couple would ride an ATV together (4 people, 2 drivers). The cost was pretty cheap – around $140 total and the package included lunch and access to the pool bar where their ATVs are.
We weren’t allowed to bring our phones so I don’t have that many photos, but if you bring one of those swimming bags for your phone, I saw other people keep their phones with them. The amount of mud is dependent on how fast you want to go or how dirty you want to get. After you check in at the front desk, they will drive you and a bunch of other foreigners to where the ATVs are stored and washed (maybe a 7 minute drive).
I will say we drove past a very disturbing statue of some sort of monster of god or beast (no idea) with a bunch of bloody babies coming out of its body.
Anyways, we stayed as a group of 4 and did not have to join a tour with strangers. The 4 of us had our own guide and he showed us how to use the ATVs and guided us through the routes. The coolest part of our route was probably the section where we drive past a small waterfall and the ATV actually goes into the water/river and we drive through the river surrounded by trees and nature. Very movie like!
I also liked that we went through some sort of door/statue mouth and it was like a dark tunnel inside. That was kind of thrilling too. And if you get stuck, the guide will help you get unstuck.
I also got to drive the ATV for a bit during the wet zones (just like a flat pool with water where we drive really fast and try to splash each other).
Sunset Ubud Pool Bar
Just like in Seminyak, there are day clubs where you can hang out, drink and relax in a pool. This one wasn’t really on our list, but it is where our ATV was located so it was pretty cool that we got to eat lunch here and hang out for a bit. I actually really liked the view as you could see some rice paddies and it was basically empty so we had the whole place to ourselves.
For the prepaid lunch, we could choose between nasi goreng (fried rice), mie goreng (fried noodle), or a pasta. I found the nasi goreng to be pretty average.
If you end up getting a similar ATV package to us, I would highly recommend to bring a swimsuit so you can use the pool! They also have a hot tub that is actually warm if you ever feel chilly.
Cretya Ubud
Here we have another day club – this one I was targeted from Instagram ๐ . Cretya Ubud is probably one of the most Instagrammable places in Ubud and highly popular with tourists. When we went, it was super busy and there were tons of people filming for their social media. We didn’t have a reservation, but you can walk in and just pay your $5 entrance fee.
Once you pay and go in, it is huge and almost like a maze. We first walk through a bunch of activities you can pay additional for. This includes things like zip lining, riding a bicycle in the sky, and a multitude of different Bali swings.
What are Bali swings, you may ask? You literally sit on this really long and pretty swing and someone else can take photos of you. The backdrop is pretty beautiful, with rice paddies and flowers and everything. They even rent out dresses for you to make your photo even better. Most of these activities will cost around $20 and up, and they are essentially all photo ops.
Originally I was interested in riding one of the swings and taking photos because I am a basic Instagram bitch, but after finding out it was $20 and looking at the infrastructure of Cretya Ubud, I lost my appetite for it. It generally felt like a very inauthentic place since there were so many swings everywhere and tons of people taking photos. It was like an Instagram factory ๐ฅฒ.
This day club is huge. Down below there are even walking trails and statues you can take photos with. But we finally walked around to back to find the pool and pool bar, which is mostly where I wanted to chill and take photos.
Just like at Potato Head Beach Club, there is a minimum spend if you want to sit at a table. Cretya Ubud was more expensive and our spot costed us $100 CAD for 4 people. Again, compared to Vancouver club prices for a table, this is nothing, plus our spot was super good because it overlooked the pool and the view.
For food and drinks, we ordered a coconut ($5), 2 cocktails ($11 each), and some healthy juices ($6). For food, we ordered a burrata and proscuitto pizza ($13), garlic prawns ($12), and calamari ($8).
The pizza was actually pretty good and we saw a lot of people ordering it. In general, prices were reasonable for food and drinks.
There is a DJ playing music and actually underneath the pool there are lower floors with more pools. In general, it looks like a really cool place to hang out. The water was not deep though, so everyone is like kind of crouching ๐ and it didn’t feel very refreshing because it was quite crowded. There was only less people as it got closer to sunset time and became less hot.
Massage and Nail spa
We stayed at our Airbnb on some days because one person was sick, but we did hire a masseuse and a nail service to come to our Airbnb. So me and my friend Bella had a nice Balinese massage and body scrub, and I also got a pedicure. This costed me maybe $40 total for both services.
Where to eat in Ubud
Because one of us was sick, we actually ordered a lot of takeout and had it delivered to our Airbnb via Gojek or Grab. Here are a few photos of what we ordered (mostly Balinese food) and they were pretty good!
Sun Sun Warung
Sun Sun Warung was probably our only dinner where we went out to eat. It was really good and the cheapest meal we had in Bali since everything was under $4 ๐ณ – even the entrees!
Loewe’s rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
Recommended: Read my review on Sun Sun Warung in Ubud.
Final thoughts on Ubud
Our 4 days in Ubud was enjoyable (for me ๐ ). The person who was sick was actually my fiance so I did feel quite bad for him as he was quite sick and unable to leave bed for 1 day. I’m not sure really what caused it since we have been careful in picking out restaurants that had good reviews on Google and places where a lot of foreigners would eat at. All of us had a little bit of diarrhea at one point by now, but not to the extent of we couldn’t go out and do activities. Our diagnosis is probably the water in our Airbnb (the water they claim is safe to drink), or ice cubes in drinks we purchase, or the cutlery in our Airbnb (cups, pitchers), are dirty or washed in the dirty water.
I think this is why I was kind of glad we had chosen a really nice Airbnb because if you are sick and constantly need to use the washroom, you should make sure it is a nice washroom ๐. I enjoyed my time relaxing in the pool, watching Netflix, editing my photos, reading webtoons, etc.
I do want to give a big shoutout to our 2 friends who really helped us out while Kelvin was sick. They arranged many things, including all of our food deliveries and even ordered bottled mineral water and medicine. They also kept me company while Kelvin was dead – we really appreciate you guys ๐ฉท!
Ubud was pretty cool in that the landscape was very different from Seminyak. I found the rice paddies to be very beautiful and it seemed almost fake (at least the ones in Cretya Ubud club did). Some of the things we could have also done if we were all feeling well was visit a waterfall and do a ridge trail.
Part 3 will be coming up featuring Kuta and Uluwatu!
Sincerely, Loewe
Bali + Singapore trip 2023 recap
Seminyak | Ubud | Kuta + Uluwatu | Singapore part 1 | Singapore part 2
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