Bali packs jungle waterfalls, Hindu temple ceremonies and world-class surf onto one island small enough to cross in a day. Ubud runs on yoga and rice paddies while the southern peninsula runs on sunset beach clubs — most visitors do a bit of both.
Good to know
- A scooter is the easiest way around Ubud and the south, but traffic and driving norms take a day to adjust to.
- Wear a sarong (usually provided at the gate) to enter any temple; shoulders and knees covered elsewhere too.
- Nyepi (the Day of Silence, March) shuts the whole island down — even the airport — for 24 hours.
Eat this
Places the planner can use
Mark places as a must or something to skip. The itinerary is built only from this list; ★ marks the destination’s highlights.
Jungle sanctuary of moss-covered temples and several hundred long-tailed macaques living among the ruins.
Royal compound with nightly traditional dance, fronting a sprawling market of sarongs, wood carvings and silver.
An easy grassy ridge trail between two rivers just outside central Ubud, best walked at sunrise before the heat sets in.
Market visit followed by hands-on lessons in sambal, satay lilit and base genep spice paste at a family compound.
A boreh body scrub and hour-long massage at one of Ubud's riverside spa pavilions — an antidote to volcano legs.
Suckling pig roasted whole over coconut husks, served with rice, crispy skin and vegetable lawar at a no-frills warung.
Emerald rice paddies cut into steep hillsides on a centuries-old subak irrigation system — go early to beat the tour buses.
Clifftop temple 70 metres above the surf, ending with a torch-lit Kecak fire dance at dusk — hold your belongings, the monkeys steal.
Holy spring temple where Balinese Hindus queue at stone spouts for a ritual purification bath — sarongs provided at the gate.
Loungers in the sand, a DJ warming up and the whole beach turning orange — Potato Head and La Plancha are the classics.
Pre-dawn hike up an active volcano for sunrise over the caldera lake, finished with eggs cooked in the crater's steam.
Speedboat to dramatic cliffs, the T-Rex-shaped Kelingking Beach and turquoise Angel's Billabong — a long but spectacular day.