Ubud

Ubud represents the cultural heart of Bali. Temples, rice fields, dance, craft, wellness traditions and village life create a destination where spirituality and creativity remain deeply connected to landscape.

Ubud lies in the uplands of Gianyar regency, about an hour north of Bali’s airport. The town grew around the palace of its royal family, the Puri Saren, and the market opposite; around it, villages such as Penestanan, Peliatan, Mas and Sayan each specialise in painting, dance, woodcarving or stone. The Ayung and Wos rivers cut deep gorges through a landscape of rice terraces and jungle.

In the 1930s the painters Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet settled here and helped found the Pita Maha artists’ association, and Ubud has been Bali’s artistic centre ever since; the Puri Lukisan and ARMA museums trace that history. The UNESCO-listed subak, a cooperative system of water-sharing linked to the temples, shapes the terraces of Tegallalang nearby and Jatiluwih further west.

The dry season, from April to October, brings the most settled weather, with sunny days, cooler evenings in the hills and the clearest views; July and August are the busiest months. The wet season, from November to March, brings heavy afternoon downpours, deep-green terraces and fewer visitors, and Ubud is usually a couple of degrees cooler than the coast.

Balinese ceremonies follow a 210-day calendar, so temple festivals take place throughout the year. Galungan and Kuningan, when village streets are lined with bamboo penjor, recur every 210 days; Nyepi, the Day of Silence, usually in March, closes the entire island, airport included, for 24 hours. The Ubud Writers & Readers Festival is held each October.

Ubud’s finest resorts line the valley of the Ayung River just west of the town. Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan descends into the gorge from its lotus-pond roof; Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, lies on the riverbank among rice terraces at Kedewatan; and Amandari, opened in 1989, follows the ridge above the river like a Balinese village. Capella Ubud sets its tented camp in the rainforest at Keliki, and Hoshinoya Bali places its villas along water channels above the Pakerisan valley.

LVXVRY books Four Seasons through Four Seasons Preferred Partner and Mandapa through Marriott STARS & Luminous — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay. For Amandari, Capella Ubud and Hoshinoya Bali, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay, and often combines Ubud with a few nights on the coast in the south of the island.