Ubud

About Ubud

Ubud sits in the green foothills of central Bali, in Gianyar Regency, surrounded by river gorges, rice terraces and temples. It has been the island's centre of art, dance and healing for generations. Legend credits the 8th-century Javanese priest Rsi Markandya with founding Gunung Lebah temple at Campuhan, where two rivers meet.

The royal palace, Puri Saren Agung, still hosts traditional dance in its courtyard at night, and it was also one of Ubud's first places to stay in the 1930s. Painters such as Walter Spies and later Arie Smit helped turn the town into an art village. Today yoga shalas, cooking schools and cafes sit beside family compounds and banjar halls.

Ubud District is made up of eight villages: the town of Ubud itself and the villages of Kedewatan, Lodtunduh, Mas, Peliatan, Petulu, Sayan and Singakerta. Art lovers can visit four museums here, Puri Lukisan, the Neka Art Museum, the Blanco Renaissance Museum and the Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA). The Sacred Monkey Forest is home to around 750 long-tailed macaques, and the paved Campuhan Ridge Walk runs about 2 kilometres along the ridge above the river. Every year the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, started after the 2002 Bali bombings to help tourism recover, brings writers and readers from around the world.