Bali's cultural capital runs a year-round arts scene with evening Kecak fire dances at Pura Dalem Ubud and a small but consistent bar circuit in the rice paddy alleys.
Year-round. The Ubud Arts Festival (Pesta Kesenian Bali) runs for a month from late June to late July.
Ubud sits in the Gianyar Regency of central Bali at 600m, surrounded by rice terrace landscapes, temple complexes, and the jungle gorge of the Campuhan Ridge. It is Bali's cultural and artistic centre: the town has been home to Western artists (Walter Spies, Rudolf Bonnet) since the 1930s, and the Balinese arts of painting, woodcarving, and traditional dance (Kecak, Legong, Barong) are performed nightly for visitors. The Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in the southern part of the town houses approximately 750 long-tailed macaques and three Hindu temples; the evening approach through the forest to the Pura Dalem theatre is one of the more atmospheric walksto a performance venue anywhere in Asia.
The bar and nightlife circuit in Ubud is specifically different from Seminyak or Kuta: there are no clubs, the bars close at midnight to 1am, and alcohol is a secondary element to the arts programming. Tutmak Café, Aperitif Bar, and the Night Market (Pasar Malam) on Jalan Suweta are the main social venues from sunset onwards. The Ubud Arts Festival (Pesta Kesenian Bali) in June-July brings daily gamelan, dance, and shadow puppet performances across the town. For visitors who want both culture and social evenings, the combination of a Kecak performance at 7pm and the Night Market afterwards is the archetypal Ubud evening.
Party hostels within reach of Ubud's main celebrations. Ranked by guest rating.
Day-by-day breakdown
The Campuhan Ridge walk starts from the Ibah Hotel bridge on Jalan Raya Campuhan, 500m west of Ubud centre. The 9km round trip through rice terraces and small villages takes 2.5-3 hours; the sunset view from the ridge at 6pm is the reason to time it this way. Alternatively, the rice terrace walk from Ceking village (20 minutes by scooter north of Ubud) runs through working terraces with fewer tourists. Scooter hire in Ubud costs IDR 70,000-100,000 per day.
Kecak fire dances run every evening at Pura Dalem Ubud (Jalan Hanoman), Pura Taman Saraswati (in the town centre), and Arma Resort temple. Duration: 60-75 minutes. Tickets: IDR 100,000-150,000 (£4.75-7.10). The Pura Taman Saraswati performance is the most accessible: the temple is in the centre of town. After the performance, the Night Market (Pasar Malam) on Jalan Suweta is open until 10pm with local food at IDR 15,000-40,000 per serving. Bars on Jalan Monkey Forest and Jalan Raya Ubud run until midnight.
Getting to Ubud Sacred Monkey Forest Nights and Arts Scene from Seminyak , Kuta , and Yogyakarta