The 5 excursions you can't miss in Ubud

If I had to keep only five things from Ubud, these would be them. We dedicated five full days to the area in our complete itinerary, but if you're short on time, these are the ones you absolutely cannot skip.

1. Tegalalang Rice Terraces. Probably Bali's most recognizable landscape — rice terraces cascading down the hillsides at different levels. Walk through them in comfortable shoes; it's not a "show up, photo, leave" visit, it genuinely deserves time.

2. Tirta Empul. One of the island's most special temples, famous for its sacred water pools used by Balinese people for purification rituals (melukat). You can go into the water and follow the ritual, or simply watch from outside — you don't have to take part to enjoy the place and feel the atmosphere.

3. Gunung Kawi. Huge shrines carved directly into the rock, surrounded by dense vegetation. You have to go down quite a few stairs, but the setting is much calmer than other tourist spots in the area.

4. The bamboo forest. One of those little surprises that make Bali special: a space surrounded by huge bamboo stalks forming a kind of natural, almost cinematic tunnel.

5. Pura Besakih. The Mother Temple, on the slopes of Mount Agung, considered Bali's most important Hindu temple. After smaller temples, arriving here produces a completely different feeling — it's enormous, imposing, and directly connected to the mountain behind it.

Bali has a fairly intense relationship with stairs — bring comfortable shoes for each of these five spots, seriously.

Our real recommendation

Don't try to cram it all into a single day just to save time. Tegalalang, Tirta Empul, Gunung Kawi, the bamboo forest and Besakih can be combined into one route with a private driver, but it's a long day — save some energy to enjoy it, not just to check it off a list.