Bali, an island part of Indonesia, offers a unique blend of rich culture, heritage, religion with pristine beaches, nightlife and luxurious resorts.
Bali is largely divided into beaches in south and hilly rain forest terrain of Ubud in centre. We had evenly divided 3 nights each in Ubud & Kuta. However, there is a huge difference amongst the beach areas of Bali & choose wisely basis your preference. Kuta is a surfers paradise, famous for bag packers & nightlife. Nusa Dua has high end resorts, but good only if you want to just stay in a hotel & enjoy its luxuries. Seminyak offers a nice mix of beach shacks, resorts, villas & would recommend it for a stay after our experience.
Ubud
Book a nice villa either with forrest & river views or rice terraces through Airbnb. There are so many beautiful options from themed homes to private pools - all within a decent budget range. We also took a bike on rent for 75k IDR/day as Bali is known for its nasty traffic.
Day 1: We started with the Ubud Centre and most of the attractions are walking nearby. Monkey Forest, is a beautifully designed and maintained park and offers scenic walk amongst trees, temples & off course monkeys! Next were Ubud Palace, Saraswati temple - both historic Hindu sites. Finally, a stroll through the Ubud market where you are spoilt for street shopping and ensure to bargain hard, atleast one third of the price. We ended with a relaxing Balinese massage all at just 80k for 1 hour!
Day 2:
We started early on our bike towards Aloha Ubud swing which offers plenty of Instagram moments and is one of the hottest trends in Bali. Next stop was Tegallang rice terrace where you can enjoy a nice lunch overseeing the paddy fields. A few kilometers ahead is a beautiful historic Gunung Kawi Sebatu temple. Dinner was at Sayan House - a fancy restaurant offering beautiful valley facing views and delicious food.
Day 3: Bali has multiple scenic waterfalls to offer & visit to one of them; like Tegenungan or Tibumana in Ubud or many in North Bali; is highly recommended. Our beach stay was in Kuta which is largely famous for surfing bag packer crowd. Kuta beach has lots of surf training, high tide vistors but nothing to sit on the beach or a shack to enjoy the sea. In the evening we visited Seminyak beach for a beautiful sunset.
Day 4: Today was all about beach hopping on the bike. Uluwatu temple is at a far end of Bali, that offers beautiful oceanic views but can be skipped to save time. We found a hidden gem called Pandawa beach with clean blue waters for kayaking. Next was Nusa Dua hosting all the high end resorts in an artificial landscapes. Waterblow at high tide is a good spot to visit. On the way, we had lunch at Bumbu Bali which offers an authentic Baliniese cuisine as a plate for one. At night it was time to hit Kuta club and parties that go on well past midnight!
Day 5: Being the last day, we wanted to take it easy. Lunch was at Bale Udang in Kuta- again a highly recommended place for some great ambiance & food. Dinner was at Seminyak - north Kuta beach with fresh seafood & nice music. Finally a massage to relax before our check out next day. Bali has heritage, beaches, temples, seafood, massage, island, religion, history, forests, shopping, adventure, nature, nightlife, luxury, surfing, spices, and many more endless things to do!
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