About Ubud, Indonesia

The island’s other major destination is the cultural centre of Ubud, a charming but relatively commercialised town, where traditional dances are staged every night of the week and the streets are full of arts-and-crafts galleries.

It’s a relatively short bus journey from Kuta and a great place to relax. There is a huge selection of places to stay which vary wildly in cost. Wealthy German and American tourists push up the prices in some places but you can still find decent accommodation (including breakfast) for around £5 ($8). Some of the restaurants are expensive by Indonesian standards but the quality of food and service puts many western restaurants to shame - try the Balinese duck (which has to be ordered 24 hours in advance at a cost of around $10!).

Ubud is the best place to come for Balinese culture - the temples are beautiful and it’s definitely worth seeing a show. There are some lovely walks through padi fields and past artists houses and one of them most popular visits is the Monkey Forest and the Temple of the Dead. The monkeys are relatively friendly but very demanding of food and if if you intend to enter the temple make sure that you are dressed appropriately.

There is also an extremely good market but you should be aiming to pay around a third of the price you are originally offered.

And when you intend to move on there is a range of buses to various places leaving in an ad hoc fashion throughout the day.