7 Days in UBUD, BALI 2025 | Travel Guide | Best things to do

This magical place is Abud and if you're planning a trip to Bali you have to add Abud to your itinerary. Today we are here and we are going to show you around this magical place and while we do we are going to show you exactly where to eat, what you can do here, where you should be staying, all of the sights and attractions, all of the amazing restaurants and cafes and just everything that you need for a perfect trip to Abud. Make sure you hit that subscribe button because we send these videos out all the time. Like this video if you do like it and leave us a comment if you have any questions or if we've missed anything that you think is important about Abud. Leave it down below we'd love to hear it. So where is Abud? If you're flying into Bali you will most likely fly into Denpasar and Abud is roughly one hour north drive from Canggu or the Denpasar area. We will pop up a map here so that you can see but we are on our morning walk this morning and it is so lush. The rice paddies are just absolutely stunning. Abud was made famous by or not made famous but you might know it from the very popular rom-com Eat Pray Love with Julia Roberts. We actually watched it the other day and Tyson's a big fan. He loved it. I'm a big fan. I was a bit hesitant to begin with but it's a good movie. So if you haven't watched it yet definitely go and watch that movie before you come here or even whilst you're here because you'll get a bit of a better understanding but yeah the rice paddies are beautiful. There's so much to see and do here. It's really peaceful. It's got a really nice spiritual vibe about it and yeah today we're going to dive in and just show you around everything that you can do. All right let's get into Abud. When is the prime time to visit this Bali gem and how do you roll around once you get there? The dry season April to October is where it's at. It's sunny chill and no random rain to ruin your plans. June to August is peak with killer clear skies and that unreal green glow everywhere. We're here in April of 2025 and it is absolutely perfect. Warm days, cool nights and just chill enough before the high season hits. We were in Abud for Nyepi which is Bali's silent day. The night before though was absolute madness with the huge Ogle Ogle parade. These were wild demon statues carried through the streets with music pumping and everyone hyped. We've got a full video linked above but seriously if you can time your trip for this you'll be blown away. So getting around Abud, super doable with a few options. Scooters are the go-to. You can rent one for around 70,000 to 150 IDR a day which is roughly 7 to 15 Australian dollars and you're waving through rice paddies and dodging monkeys like a local. Just make sure you helmet up and watch those narrow roads. Now if you can't drive a scooter yourself that's no worries at all because you can hit up Gojek or Grab on the app which is like Bali's version of Uber. We've just arrived at breakfast. We've done our workout. One thing to note here is that the gym culture in Abud is very different to Canggu and Uluwatu. There's not huge buzzing gyms around. We found a little one called Rezia gym I think and yesterday I went to another one called CrossFit Abud and other than that there's not really a ton of gyms and stuff. You can find a good one to work out but you know nothing like Uluwatu or Canggu. We're going to go inside and have a feed and also talk about the different cafes and restaurants that you can find here. We've had so much good food. Before we dive into all the amazing food we're going to just share what areas you can stay in and take you on a little tour around Abud so that you can find the perfect destination for you. We just arrived in Rostiz. Abby's been here before and if you want to work come here. I'll put it there first. Here or Alchemy. This place is great. So we just had a beautiful breakfast and we did a fair bit of work. We got really into it for a few hours. It's about two o'clock and now I'm going to tell you about the best areas to stay in Abud. All the different places you can stay in Abud because there are so many. It's quite a big area Abud and you know you can stay further out which is about 30-40 minutes further out or you can stay in the town centre but the town centre is like you know very spread out. There's lots of different areas. So bear with me with the names because some of the names are hard to pronounce but I'm going to put up the maps so it's easy for you to see. So the first one is Abud town and then you have Jalan Raya Abud. So Jalan means road and Raya Abud so this is the name of the road. Okay and then there's lots of stuff on that road and in that area. So where is this? It's right in the centre and right next to the monkey forest and if you have heard of Abud before you might have heard of the monkey forest. It's a really cool place to go. We're actually going to go visit that a little bit later and what's good about it is it's really walkable. So you can walk to lots of restaurants and bars and eateries and coffee shops and shops all these sorts of things are just within walking distance. The accommodation in this area you can get homestays which are beautiful to stay in but there's also five-star hotels and that sort of thing as well. And if you step just outside of town there's multiple places that you can stay. So just outside of Abud centre you have Soweta Turtutawa, then you have Kedawatan and you also have Bedulo. And all of these places are just around Abud town centre and they are you know beautiful areas with rice paddies, super quiet, chill, lots of villas on the rice paddies. You're going to find really unique stays there and you're going to have a really nice quiet beautiful Abud experience. Then you have places that are about 20 to 40 minutes out of town. One of the places that you could go and stay at is called Tegelalang and this is most famous for the rice terraces. There are also some really cool jungle clubs here and lots of the five-star hotels and resorts are in this area. And then finally Penestanan. Now Penestanan is a little artsy village and it is just outside of Abud centre and it's a really cute place. If you're from Australia or from Melbourne it's kind of like the Brunswick of Abud. So if you wanted to stay in the town centre we would probably recommend staying there because it's kind of got all the cool like hip cafes and artsy stuff and it's walking distance to all the things that you want to go and see. So we're going to go home now and Abby has a reading. What do you have a healer coming right? Abby's got a healer coming and so we'll see what happens there. Maybe some some huge awakening I don't know. I'm excited. And if you're enjoying this video please make sure you subscribe because that's how we can create more videos for you and make sure you like this as well. It goes a long way. Abud's food and drink scene is next level and we love our brunch, we love our dinner, we work at a lot of cafes as well and we're going to give you our best top tips. The first one coming in hot is Ruster's. This cafe was phenomenal. It's a little bit out of the main town so you probably have to get a scooter there. Amazing fit out, amazing bakery, overlooking the rice paddies and it's just such a vibe. The food was so good as well and it is huge so you're guaranteed a table. We went there twice and worked and we kind of wish that we went every day so Ruster's definitely one to add to your list. Another one is Alchemy. This is a vegan cafe and it is also part of like a yoga studio so they have classes, they have breath work, they have all of that sort of stuff as well. The food is really yum. What did we get? We got like a vegan, I got a take on a brekkie thing, like an egg thing and it was quite good because it was appam which is random. You got a nice stew. Yeah it was okay. I think, I think, yeah the food was okay. If you, if you like vegan then that's the place to go. I think that's what the thing is, but if you don't like vegan, you know, I wouldn't have gone there. But it was a really cool place. I worked there for the day and you had a really nice vibe. The drinks were really tasty so that was great. Another really cool one is Zest. This is huge as well. We stumbled upon this just needing like a break from work one afternoon and we went in. We actually couldn't eat here because it was so busy. There was live music and there was a lot happening, but it looked really cool and the food is meant to be amazing. We looked it up afterwards and yeah, it's meant to be like really good, like wholesome, nutritious foods, healthy and just a really cool vibe. And then the last one that we recommend is Tis Cafe. This is such a beautiful, beautiful spot. It is about a 25 minute scooter ride outside of the main town, but worth the drive. It is where all of like the really quintessential rice paddy fields are, where you've probably seen on Instagram where all the swings are. Yeah, with all the terraces and there's heaps of cafes along that area. We found one called Tis and it was overlooking the rice paddies. There were beautiful swings. There was even a pool. You could come and work there. It was a really cool vibe. We only got a coffee, but the coffee was great too and definitely one to check out. Now while we're on the terraces, I thought I'd just mention Kretia. This is the viral pool bar in amongst the rice terraces. So if you want that Instagram pic and if you want to hang out for the day at some awesome pools in amongst the rice terraces, definitely go to Kretia. Now moving on to dinners and we had some awesome dinners, some fantastic food in Ubud. The first one we went to was the Sion House and Sion House was Japanese. It had an incredible view. So I would go there at sunset and watch the view. There's also a little bar there that you can sit at if you want to sit there before you eat. And then the Japanese food was incredible. We had this Japanese curry. I would highly recommend Tokyo curry. Eat that. Secondly, there's Kasa Kurandera and this is South American food. South American food, yeah, because we had the arepas and the arepas were, it was really good. I think it's vegan there as well. We had arepas and then we had hot chocolate with bone broth, which was very tasty, very strange, but very tasty. Really cool vibe and awesome menu. So yeah, check that out. I'm going to grab our phone for the next one just so I get this pronunciation right for this restaurant. We stumbled across this on Google actually. It had 5,000 stars for like a local warung and this one is called Nasi Ayam Kedewatan Ibu Manku. Thank you, you got that right. But basically it, there was only like five menu items and you go in and it's really authentic and they almost have like these little seats that you can sit in the temples and eat. Really cool vibe and it was $3.50 for our meal. Huge portions, Nasi Kampur with rice and chicken and tempeh and amazing spices. One of the best spicy meals that we had and it was just top notch. So if you want an authentic Indonesian meal that is really, really cheap and delicious, definitely head there. And then the last one on our list is Bernadette Warung. This is where we had the best beef rendang ever. The staff was so friendly. It was just such a nice vibe. It's in town. It's right near Zest as well. And the food was just 12 out of 10. So if you're looking for a good beef rendang, definitely add Warung Bernadette to your list. And we're just going to list a few more local warungs here to check out. If you want more authentic, traditional Indonesian food, then add these to your list too. So what can you do in Ubud? Ubud's probably the best place for activities. If you come to Indo and you want to do all the different things, then Ubud's the place to go. You have a heap of rice paddies and terraces that you can see. There's a place called Tegelalang and that's probably the most famous place to go see the rice paddies and the rice terraces. Very beautiful, or Mientras Cafe like we said before. You can also go to the rice paddy walk and this is a beautiful walk. We actually stayed on the rice paddy walk and in the morning you could walk about half an hour. It takes maybe even longer along the rice paddies and it's beautiful. And during sunrise or sunset you're going to love it. Then of course there's the monkey forest, the famous monkey forest. People say it's a little overrated. We actually just drove through the monkey forest using our scooter and there's monkeys everywhere. I think if you go in then you're going to have a good time. But just be wary of the monkeys. They do steal your stuff and they're quite aggressive apparently. So just hold your things tight. There's also a heap of museums, art museums that you can go check out. It's a real art community. Ubud's got a lot of artists and a lot of culture. So go and just research different art museums to go if you like that sort of stuff and check them out. And then you can also see waterfalls. There's heaps of waterfalls around. Some of the famous ones are called Canto Lampo or Tibumana. They're pretty close to Ubud central so easy to get to. And then of course if you're in Ubud you're probably craving some sort of eat, pray, love experience. So there are a ton of yoga studios, breathwork, all of that stuff. And then on top of that there are lots of spiritual healers. So I'm going to put the details of two spiritual healers that we saw the week that we've been here. First one that we went to, we went to together as a couple and it was about half an hour. We had a spiritual reading, a body scan and then he healed us with some water blessings. He gave us a water bottle each and told us how to manifest for seven days and just to how to strengthen our relationship. I really liked that. It was by donation as well. So we didn't have to pay, well we did pay, but there was no fee. We just had to pay a donation which was really cool. I really liked that experience. And then I went and saw a healer on my own as well for an hour and had a sort of spiritual healer session. Her name was Judith. I'll pop her details here as well. She was great. So if you're looking for more of a one-on-one experience, that one cost me around 200 Australian dollars. So that one was a bit more pricey, but definitely worth it. And just a little tip before I forget, if you are driving your scooter around lots of the walking tracks, you can actually drive your scooter on and it can take you much quicker to get to places. So what I would do is just check the Google maps and type and put in that you're walking when you'll end up finding all these little shortcuts. Also that means you can ride on the rice paddies and it's really fun and beautiful. Just don't fall in. So that wraps up Ubud for us and we're next heading to Nusa Penida. I hope you enjoyed this video. Please like it if you did and comment any comments you have below. Make sure you subscribe because we're going to send out freaking awesome stuff until you see what Nusa Penida's got on offer for you. And yeah, we hope you enjoyed it. Cheers.