My Ubud Journal – Three Day Itinerary for Ubud Bali

bali swing title page

My previous post highlighted the one of my favorite places to stay in Ubud, Kamandalu Ubud, therefore I separated that review in a separate post. I just recently came back from Bali from a honeymoon trip and I wanted to share all our adventures in Ubud. Yes, only Ubud because I only had 3 actual full days in Bali and I only stayed in one destination. It was afterwards I found that everyone makes a trip for at least 7-10 days, some stay for 2 weeks; then I realized, my trip was very small in comparison. In this post I will be sharing how to get around Bali, where to change money, and places to visit in Ubud. I will be travelling to Bali again in October with 10 full days and I am super excited to be able to update with more information.

Getting There

We flew from TPE to DPS (Depensar Airport) the only airport in Bali. Everyone goes in and out of the airport, and by far it is the worst airport I have ever seen. We were estimated to arrive at 3:30PM, but due to some delays we ended up arriving at 4:10PM. I’m not sure about other times, but when we arrived late afternoon, it seems all other flights arrived at the same time to. First you pass through customs- 1hr for us, there are several lines you can pick from, and there are around 3-4 customs agents who serve each line. Sometimes it reduced to 2 at one point. The line was LONG and the wait was LONG and filled with TOURISTS. After 1-1.5hr of customs, you need to find your luggage. Of course by the time you are there, all the luggages are already out (no point in priority baggage at this point!). Pick up your luggage and then go past customs control. Another line here! We picked a line that was super quick, the lady was just collecting the customs declaration form from us and letting everyone go whereas the other lines, they would look at each check box and make sure you sign the bottom before letting you go. After 1.5 hrs, you finally are out of the airport!

Getting Around

I found a reputable driver for my airport pickup and he was already waiting since 3:30PM #sorry! His name is Iwayan Suada and his Instagram is @wayan_driverbali. He was responsible for both our airport transfers, and one full day drive around Bali. He was recommended by other bloggers, and I did a background check online, he seems reliable. I highly recommend him and he was very nice and he is English-speaking! Airport transfers cost (250,000 IDR) one way from the airport to Ubud. Half day (max 6 hrs) is 400,000 IDR and full day (max 10 hrs) is 550,000 IDR including petrol and parking fees.

There are many options for airport transfer and it depends on where you live. I saw some airport transfers to Seminyak for 250,000 IDR which is totally not worth it because Seminyak is right by the airport. Ubud is 1.5-2 hrs away from the airport (see my point?). I heard from a backpacker he paid 80,000 IDR from Seminyak to the airport- which is a good deal.

When you come out of the airport there are many “drivers” be careful! There are reputable taxis called Blue Bird Taxis you can take- their cars are blue. Lot of people were holding up an ID card of some sort trying to tell you they are reputable, I wasn’t really sure about that. The best way is to find a driver beforehand instead of fumbling at the airport trying to find a driver on the spot (who will charge you more).

Our Itinerary

Where to exchange money in Ubud

I only exchanged money at reputable places, either at the currency exchange inside convenience stores and Pt Dirgahayu Valuta Prima, authorized money changer in Bali. Other that those places, be careful where you go change your money. I saw some independent money changing shops with higher rates than the authorized rates, but you never know if they will cheat you or provide you with fake notes.

Where to Live

Visiting Bali for the first time? If you want to be at the heart of all the tourist attractions, I would recommend living in either Ubud or Seminyak regions. If you’ve been to Bali more than once, then it would be advisable to live elsewhere like Uluwatu, or even Northern Bali. This was my first trip to Bali so I selected Kamandalu Ubud Resort in Ubud after seeing it on my favorite Instagrammer visit that hotel. Kamandalu is a luxury five-star resort, with a wide range of rooms: Garden Villas (no pool), Pool Villas, Valley Pool Villa (with a view), Two Bedroom Villas (their pool is awesome!) and their iconic Insta-worthy Three Bedroom Villa (with a triangular shaped pool that has popped on IG at least once in your feed before!). I stayed in the Pool Villa for 3 nights and Valley Pool Villa for 1 night so I could review two different rooms! I would highly recommend everyone to stay at Kamandalu – read more about how much I enjoyed my stay!

Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary

A very popular attraction, you can visit this place any time of the day, in rain or shine, and not have to worry about which angle the sun is on. I came here during the first week of April which meant there were occasional thundershowers in the afternoon. By the time I got here, it was raining, pouring, and the girl at the counter said that if we were to head into the forest now, the monkeys would be hiding, and recommended us buying our tickets later. Thank you for being so honest. After waiting for 20 minutes, the rain rescinded a little, but it was still raining. We decided to head it because we were hoping by the time we got in, the rain would stop. The forest is quite big and it is easy to spend over 2 hours here, there is a map you can pick up at the ticket counter. When we entered, there was a pavilion near one of the streets and we saw monkeys hiding inside the pavilion (probably from the rain). They were just sitting there, lying around, and one of them was eating a corn. The monkeys are friendly and they will climb on/over you if you let them.

Even though the warning signs on the outside said do not touch the monkeys or make eye contact, I found the monkeys to be quite friendly. But that doesn’t mean you will meet mean monkeys. I saw one monkey scare a kid and made him cry. I also got a chance to shake one of their hands too. If you go in the afternoon you might come across feeding time, where the monkeys all gather in several spots around the forest and eat the corn, sweet potato that the workers give them.

Monkeys are known to take your belongings, one climbed up my leg and stole my map which was in my pocket. Good thing I didn’t have my phone there! One of them took a liking to my hat and climbed up my leg, onto my shoulder and onto my hat. That scared me a little.

Price: adults 80,000 IDR per person, 60,000 IDR per child
Opening times: 8:30 AM- 6:00 PM
Best time to go: anytime, try avoiding rainy days as the monkeys may be hiding

Bali Swing- Ubud

Yes, the most famous Bali Swing that is trending on Instagram right now. Everyone wants a photo on the Bali Swing, and you will be rewarded with awesome photos! The admission fee is 35 USD/ 500K IDR , up to you. The admission fee is very expensive considering the standard of living in Bali. If your boyfriend/husband is there just to take photos of you, I would suggest you choose a photographer’s admission fee (10 USD / IDR 150K) for him, which is just a simple admission fee but no access to the swings. The admission fee includes free access to all the swings (different heights) and the bird’s nests. Important tip: GET HERE as early as possible. I made the mistake of arriving at 10:30-11 AM and there was already a huge lineup in front of the most popular swing (1 hr wait). You can also pay for a Bali Swing photographer to take photos of you for an extra charge. I thought that this photographer would follow you around through all the swings, but it turns out they don’t. In the end you’re all clustered in a room and choose the photos and they upload it on dropbox I believe. I wouldn’t recommend it. Just bring your own camera (more on this later!)

I ended up trying out the other swings (lower heights) which had no people waiting at all. The photo is quite the same, the canal at the bottom is quite annoying though. Here are my two best shots on two different swing sets.

There is also a couple of birds’ nest photo OP. The most famous one was another 1 hr wait so I didn’t even attempt waiting for that one. There are thankfully seats + shade for those waiting. I went to a slightly larger bird’s nest and the wait was shorter, 30 min. The person in charge was really nice and helped everyone take photos. A girl in front of me gave the photographer a tip (around 7000 IDR) and asked him to take photos while her boyfriend stood off to the side (doesn’t know how to take photos?). I don’t know why she gave a tip since he was already helping everyone in the line take photos. I didn’t feel that he took more photos for her, but it made me feel like I had to give a tip as well because she DID. Dang so I also had 7000 IDR in my wallet which I also gave it to him as well. I handed him my camera + money on top and asked “Please help us take photos” and he got the point. He helped take photos of my husband and I and we just kept on doing different poses.

The admission fee also includes some food buffet as well + water. If you wanted soft drinks you need to pay around 30,000 IDR. The food buffet is very simple and mediocre. Don’t expect anything else.

There are some smaller swings off to the right where you can sit the other way and film in another direction. Maybe a 5-10 min wait for that.

I only got 4 shots here (3 swings and 1 nest photo) and decided we’ve already spent too much time wasted here. We had a private driver for 10 hours and I wanted to go to other places as well.

My final comments on Bali Swing: Bali swing is the most famous company to go to for those IG photos. Over the years, almost every tourist attraction has their own form of bali swing. Some airbnbs have their own swing such as Zen Hideaway (I really want to stay here but they have no air con!) .

Tegalalang Rice Terrace

A lot of people say to head to Ubud’s famous rice terrace early in the morning to see the sunrise, which I did. I left my hotel, Kamandalu Ubud at 7AM and arrived at the rice terrace 20 minutes later. It was still cool and there were hardly anyone. There are two admission tickets as each side of the valley is owned by two different groups. They all require a donation to go in. I would suggest 10,000 or 20,000 IDR depending on how much you have. Since we arrived too early, one side didn’t ask for donations because the worker hasn’t woken up yet? First you walk down a series of steps to get down to the valley. On the way down, you will notice many cafes, shops, restaurants have opened nearby with great views of the rice terrace. After walking down, you will come across a place where you will cross over to the other side. There are no shops on the other side, which provide great photo ops for the layered rice terrace look. Wearing white or red is recommended as everything is green or blue (sky). It’s also very muddy, we came when it rained the night before and the bottom of my dress got very wet.

Right at sunrise when the sky was pink

For some of the steps, it requires a great deal of climbing up and down, sometimes you need to use your hands as well. Exploring each section of the terrace will provide you different angled shots as well.

Price: (by donations) around 10,000- 20,000 IDR per person, depending on how much you want to give.
Opening times: 24Hrs
Best time to go: In the morning for the sunrise, it gets busy in the afternoon which are not good for photos

Alas Harum Bali

This place was recommended by Kamandalu staff, it was supposed to be a place where you can drink 10 types of coffee and 10 types of tea. FOR FREE. However, if you want to drink the famous Luwak coffee, then there is a charge. So we decided to give it a try and experience Luwak coffee.

Upon arriving one person will be responsible for taking you through the small coffee tour (in English). You get to see the coffee plants, the actual animal that poops out the coffee beans, and what they do to clean and roast the coffee to make sure that it’s clean. It’s very interesting and the animals look so cute. Of course, it was quite sad that they were caged up for the purpose of their coffee. Well, I don’t want to comment too much on that.

After the tour you are seated and you have a choice to drink their Luwak coffee for 50,000 IDR a cup. I got a cup for my husband and I to drink since we couldn’t finish a cup ourselves. We also got the “experience” drinks, 20 different coffee and tea. I guess they wanted you to drink regular Bali coffee and compare it with Luwak coffee. I am not a professional coffee drinker and I felt that Luwak coffee was just more stronger than Bali coffee. Other than that I didn’t find anything different. I enjoyed the experience though, and we had a great view.

Right beside where you exist, you get to come across a series of water. This is an “amusement park” similar to Bali Swing, except you have even more choices. Besides some nests, there is another swing, and a zip line, and I believe there is a small bungee jumping. This is all situated with the rice terrace as a backdrop, which is quite pretty. The nest didn’t look interesting to me, a bird’s nest, and the swing wasn’t the type of swing I wanted. It was those types of swing where you almost “flip over”, there is a rope that holds your back too. Those types of swings aren’t good for photos so I opted out.

If you wanted to walk around their rice-terrace amusement park, there is an admission fee as well too. I just left. Afterwards someone told me that the Tegalalang Rice Terrace was just a short walk away so we decided to walk over. We didn’t think we’d be walking for almost 20 minutes in the heat. That wasn’t fun.

Putri Day Spa Review

I couldn’t leave Ubud without trying out one of their spas! I had to give it a try. I found this day spa after reviewing it on Google and I decided to give it a try. I booked the spa at night, when the sun has set. I figured I wanted to spend most of my daylight hours outside exploring Bali or relaxing in the pool of my villa, so before our spa appointment, we ate at 5PM and then headed to Putri at 7PM. Putri offers free shuttle services to their spa, if the pick up location is in Ubud (contact them in advance, using What’s App). We got picked up at Ubud Palace around 6:30PM and the driver drove us over.

We were welcomed with welcome drinks and a cold towel. They took down our information and then asked us what treatment we wanted. We had booked for a 90 Balinese Massage. We were brought to a room with two massage beds, a large bath and a shower. Ambiance was nice and quiet. We were allowed to change and then two therapists came in and began the treatment.

Overall I enjoyed the treatment, somehow I started tearing up during the massage, I think I was yawning too much because I was so tired! So when I had to turn around, I had to dry my eyes. I think the therapist thought I was quite weird. The oils they used I thought was mediocre, I chose lemongrass flavor but I didn’t really smell it. I haven’t done too many massages before but I thought it was quite enjoyable. I fell asleep at one point I believe. After our treatment was over, we were allowed to shower (showering off all that oil after it’s pressed into your body!) I think it was mandatory, because there was “too” much oil. It’ll soak into your clothes if you don’t shower it off. We paid afterwards (345,000 IDR for 90 minutes, for two people! Wow!) and the driver took us back to Ubud Palace where we waited for our resort shuttle which would take us back to Kamandalu Ubud.

The bottom line: Putri Spa: 4/ 5 stars.

WHERE TO EAT

Melting Wok Warung, Ubud

Melting Wok Warung was one of the better restaurants from my whole trip, reasonably priced and the food tasted great. This family owned restaurant fills up easily as there are not too many seats in the restaurant. Their tight menu changes regularly and there are not too many choices. Actually, their short menu is written on this large chalkboard which they bring over to you to choose from, ranging from chicken curry noodles or a type of fish. Easy decision-making! Reservations are recommended for dinner on a weekend.

melting wok warung

Warung Bernadette, Ubud

This restaurant was one of the first we tried out and it was quite good along with great interior decoration! I enjoyed the chicken skewer satay and nasi goreng. However, there was a mouse that felt the need to run around while people were enjoying a late dinner which frightened us quite a bit. Five months later, I was reading other Google reviews about this restaurant and the mouse was still there! I would’ve thought the owners would do something about it, but it seems not.

Warung Biah Biah, Ubud

This restaurant is in the vicinity of the two restaurants stated above, just within a few minutes walk. The interior is a bit more cramped and we had to share a table with other people during peak hours. A lot of foreigners visited this place as the food was relatively cheap and tasty (try out their noodles!). I wouldn’t get their smoothies – they tasted washed out but their fried noodles just hit the spot.

warung biah biah