Ubud: which types it suits

Ubud is a small town set among forest and rice terraces in the middle of Bali. Every morning, fresh offerings of flowers and incense — canang sari — appear on pavements and shop steps, and in the evening gamelan and dances like Legong fill the courtyard of Ubud Palace. It is less a place for ticking off sights than one where the mist lifting off the paddies, the damp of the forest and the sounds drifting over a temple wall become the day itself.

It suits travellers who want to stay somewhere quiet, recharge alone, and follow mood and meaning. A natural rhythm takes over: the Campuhan Ridge Walk in the morning, a yoga session or a market-to-kitchen cooking class with other travellers by day, then back at night to a room where the frogs in the rice fields do the talking. Public transport barely exists and the central roads jam easily, though, so an efficient itinerary that races through many places is simply not what Ubud does.