A town that is filled with romance, adventure and culture. Ubud feels like it hasn’t been spoiled by tourism and influences from the West, but instead it’s everything that you would imagine Bali to be. Before visiting Ubud, I knew that it would be oozing with Balinese culture but I didn’t realise that it would have so much adventure and romance too. We spent six days exploring Ubud and here are my favourite memories.
Eating at Swept Away
Meal times in Ubud became a special occasion because of the beautiful restaurants and their surroundings. The food in Indonesia is tasteful, but when the taste has faded it’s the experience that you remember. With the water running in the background and a cocktail in my hand, Swept Away was the perfect way to round off a day of exploring Ubud with my Fiance. You can dine on the decking and watch the water run by below, or you can enjoy your meal on the rocks surrounded by 100 candles.
Exploring the Rice Terraces
Ubud is famous for it’s rice terraces and among them is the Tegallalangrice terrace. The terraces are in layers, almost like cake tiers and every now and again you’ll spot a farmer in the distance doing a day’s work. Rice is a staple food in Bali and you’ll quickly begin to appreciate the grain when you hear the journey that it makes to get from the ground to your plate.
Visiting a Temple
Every Balinese house has a temple and you only have to walk a few metres in any direction before you come across a temple that is open to the public. The temples are spacious but they are so delicate in their design and offer a side to Bali that you may not have seen otherwise.
Drinking coffee at a Coffee Plantation
Like most Londoners, I am a huge coffee drinker so visiting a coffee plantation was always high on my list. You can smell the coffee beans roasting as soon as you enter the jungle like plantation and after exploring, you have the chance to taste the fruit of the plantation workers labour. Jordon isn’t a big coffee drinker so he only tired the chocolate flavoured coffee, which meant that I got to try the rest of them and I wasn’t complaining!
The coffee plantation also offers a view of the Rice terraces. You will never get tired of looking at this beautiful sea of green.
Climbing Mount Batur
If there is just one excursion that you do, it should be climbing Mount Batur to watch the sunrise. You’ll set off in the early hours of the morning to reach the foot of the Volcano at around 4am, and climb in the dark with only a flashlight to lead the way. Being a morning person, watching the sunrise is something that I do often but I found it hard to believe that the sun that rises over Bali is the same one that rises in London. It was so beautiful and orange! Hand in hand Jordon and I watched the sun climb through the clouds to greet us and it was like I was seeing the sun rise for the very first time.
Laying in the Hot Springs
The hot springs are located just a short distance away from the foot of Mount Batur. We headed here after we had finished climbing and spent a few hours soaking up the sun in the natural hot springs before we headed home.
There is a lot to see and do in Ubud, we didn’t get a chance to visit the Monkey Forest or see a waterfall, but what we did see was enough to make us realise what a special place Ubud is.
