Last updated: July 2025

All up, I’ve spent about a year living in Ubud and travelling around Bali, Lombok and nearby islands on and off as an “in-betweener.”

I’m a self-employed digital nomad, but I’m not not tech-bro, nor a business coach who coaches coaches to coach coaches to coach coaches, nor am I an ethereal om-tatted vegan. Though many of my friends are such beings, I don’t fit neatly into any of those clans.

You probably won’t find me chiming gongs and chanting namaste at a crystal, but you also won’t find me wearing a Bintang singlet in Kuta, nor strapping on a long red dress over a harness on the Instagram swing.

If you find yourself somewhere between these worlds and keen to check out Bali anyway, this is the guide for you.

As a solo female traveller, I find Ubud, North West Bali (e.g. Munduk), Nusa Lembongan, and Gili Air incredibly safe. I have never had a single issue with feeling unsafe or harassed over many years of visiting Bali and the above islands. I have not spent much time in the more heavily touristed areas of Kuta, Leggian or Seminyak, too hectic for me, so I cannot speak for the safety of those areas.

Balinese are beautiful, friendly people with big smiles who will often go out of their way to help you. The majority of them are Balinese Hindu, are very devotional, community oriented, spiritually dedicated, and believe in karma.

A Balinese man once told me that if someone in the village does something wrong, like stealing, the whole village atones for their mistake, since they feel that the community must have failed him.

When travelling through Bali you will find many little offerings of flowers, incense, small snacks, and even cigarettes that are put out daily in entranceways, on roads, temples, and statues as an offering to the gods. Balinese host huge ceremonies regularly, often including the whole village. They shut down entire streets (including main roads) for hours at a time regardless of the insane traffic it causes, while they celebrate with music, traditional dress, and enormous amounts of flower petals. As a result of all the devotional practices and beautiful offerings everywhere, the island has a very special and lovely feel to it, despite the mad amounts of tourism and sad amounts of rubbish.

I get asked for Ubud recommendations often, so I’ve whipped up this blog for anyone travelling to Ubud or Bali, for holiday or for work, or both.

First, a heads up:

Ubud is a crazy place. It is not endless rice fields, yoga and and peace, as Instagram might have you believe. It is hectic, overflowing with traffic, and a bit of a concrete jungle in the centre. It can be very overwhelming when you first arrive, especially if you’re expecting a lot of peaceful natural beauty. However, despite this, there are many super beautiful spots throughout Ubud, where you step from a busy street and are suddenly in a rice paddy or a beautifully curated oasis of calm.

For this reason, the accommodation you choose in Ubud is important, it’s not just a place to sleep, it can be a a beautiful oasis to return to after exploring the crazy streets of Ubud. If you can, I recommend staying somewhere a little further out where you’re surrounded by rice fields, or a nice pool. There are places like this for $50-100 AUD per night – expensive for Bali but cheap compared to Australia!

Likewise, hiring a scooter (or jumping on the back of a taxi scooter) is also highly recommended so you can experience the beautiful jungles and rice paddies on the outskirts of Ubud. More info on accomodation and scooters below:

Where to eat out in Ubud

If you’re a coeliac or gluten free – welcome! Me too. All the places I list here have gluten free options (though bear in mind I’m an asymptomatic coeliac, so I can’t vouch for safety. For that I highly recommend the Find Me Gluten Free app, where I and many others add gluten-free centric reviews about restaurants we find while travelling).

Also, you can download my gluten free coeliac travel cards (including in Indonesian) here!

Best restaurants in Ubud

The Elephant (Jalan Raya Sanggingan) – super yum food, great coffee, awesome relaxed vibe, lovely staff and amazing view. One of my favourite places to go with a book.
Alchemy (Penestanan) – raw vegan, but yum. A bit expensive and Instagram-y, but the Breakfast bar is delicious. Lots of raw desserts
Clear cafe – beautiful decor, huge koi, running water, a little oasis off one of the busiest streets in Ubud, huge menu of yum food
Muse – Delicious food and lots of gluten free options (gluten free sour dough is used by default and the dosas and many Indian dishes are also gf. Lovely staff. Highly recommend.
Batubara Woodfire – delicious wood fired steaks and side dishes. Expensive.
Home Cafe – delicious, clean breakfasts, huge arrange of GF options and make your own breakfast plates
L’Osteria – trendy Italian restaurant in the centre of Ubud, delicious GF pasta which they cook in separate clean water for coeliacs

Other great gluten free options in Ubud

Watercress (Jalan Monkey Forest, great menu with delicious food, good barista coffee. Melbourne cafe vibes & quality)
Yellow flower (up the Campuan steps – hard to find) – beautiful view, vego
Taco casa – quick and easy tacos (hard shell = gf) and nachos
Sari Organik (A beautiful walk or scooter ride through rice fields up on the Tjampuan ridge, a must do (at least the walk, if not the restaurant)
Uma cuccina – gf pizza and pasta options. Great ambiance, upmarket
Milk and madu – A few gf options including pizza
Atman – plenty of gf options
Ganesha – Delicious Indian food
Cilantro – delicious Mexican food, lovely staff – very helpful with gluten free.
Kafe (good, clean food, near the yoga barn on Jalan Hannoman)
Seeds of life (Jalan Gotama, Ubud central), amazing raw vegan food, treats and pancakes, even if you (like me) don’t really love raw vegan. Lovely relaxed vibe.
Bali buda (Jalan Jembawan, top of ubud central, near radiantly alive yoga) – lots of delicious food, plenty of GF options marked on menu.
Kebun – gf pasta options and other delicious meat dishes – cool outdoor vibe, like eating in a quaint street in France
Bun bali – gluten free crepes made from tapioca, gluten free options for Balinese dishes.
Dayu’s warung (all gluten free Indonesian)
Mara’s kitchen/ Luv Brownies – GF bakery with delicious GF chicken dumplings. Small and basic shop, but yum.
Dolce Arancia – delicious GF pizza and pasta
Ikigai Sushi (Jalan Bisma – delicious sushi and Japanese food, including gluten free soy sauce)
Three Monkeys – Lovely ambiance, delicious food and well presented with GF options
Made’s Banana Flour Cafe – everything is GF and made with banana flour. Haven’t been back here since 2017 so can’t say for sure if it’s still open post-pandemic.

High end dining in Ubud

Copper (Jalan Bisma – seriously beautiful and ambient, high end restaurant but still cheaper than Australia, great atmosphere, really inventive, yum cocktails)
Mozaic (Degustation menu is stunning, really creative and delicious, around 70 AUD for a 6 course degustation without wine)
Swept Away at the Samaya (Stunning place with a thousand candles all over the rocks and with a river running by. Degustation or a la carte. Very romantic place for a date (there is a special table surrounded by hundreds of candles if you want to go to town on the romance.

Bars in Ubud

I’ve barely explored the Ubud nightlife, so my recommendations are limited!

Bali Bohemia bar – super cool place near monkey forest, often live music
No Mas on Jalan Monkey forest, also a great bar, ambient lighting, good vibe,

Coworking in Ubud

Outpost, Nyuh Kunning (huge, quiet/ productive spaces with aircon, more social spaces upstairs)
Outpost, Penestanan (pool access + co-living options) – behind Alchemy.

Shopping in Ubud

At markets, expect to pay around 1/3 – 1/2 the price they initially quote you.
Great leather bag shop up Jalan Raya Sanggingan near the Elephant Cafe, you’ll see the leather bags spilling out of the shop on the left as you head north, I bought my favourite, beautifully made leather handbag here for 800,000 IDR (Around $80 AUD).
The best clothes shops are in Seminyak and Canggu. Ubud is mostly hippy and touristy stuff, though some nice places on the main road, Jalan Raya
There are a lot of yoga wear shops along Hanoman, you can get awesome, comfortable yet sexy crissy-crossy back sports bras for 150-180k ($15-18 AUD), They are so comfortable and last really well. There is one shop called Wayan Jirna Shop, next to Clear Cafe Express on Jalan Hanoman where the quality is much higher than the others, and better price, the young dude that runs it, Wayan is lovely and a real character.

Yoga in Ubud

Yoga barn (World famous, huge place, lots of Lululemon type folk here but also loads of regular lovely folk and local ex pats, great teachers and the biggest, most diverse timetable –Tina Nance, Denise Payne and Les Leventhal are EPIC teachers. Go to ecstatic dance Friday night or Sunday 11am – SO much fun, scariness, madness, and a really amazing experience, don’t miss it. Book ahead the week before, or queue up an hour or so before to get in. Very popular).
Radiantly alive (smaller studio (though still huge), they have fly high yoga where you hang upside down which is fun. So far haven’t found any teachers there I love as much as YB
Intuitive Flow (stunning view, in Penestanan, hard to find, get there via a foot pathway opposite Alchemy)
Ubud Yoga House (up near Sari organic, beautiful view over rice paddies.)
Pyramids of Chi – not yoga, but sound healing in a pyramid. A cool experience with all sorts of instruments. LSV (Light sound vibration) is their signature class, which involves lying on a water bed with sound vibrations running through it, a sound bath with gongs and all sorts of instruments being played live, with a co-ordinated light show that you view through closed eyes which causes you to see all kinds of patterns and colours even though the lights are only white lights. Expensive, but a fun and unique experience to do as a one off.
Yoga & somatic trainings – There are an insane amount of healers, teachers and trainings being offered in Bali, many of whom I’m sure are wonderful, but many of whom have large egos and guru complexes and I would avoid at all costs! I recommend anything run by Tina Nance, an authentic, down to earth teacher who truly embodies what she teaches. Extremely knowledgable in the areas of yoga, yin yoga, somatic trauma integration, nervous system/ polyvagal theory, Shiatsu and Chinese medicine. Tina is a world class teacher and facilitator.

Best Massage Spots in Ubud

Shambala spa just off Japan monkey forest is really great, super professional and nice atmosphere while still really cheap – is very popular so you need to book a day ahead.
Nicks massage on Jalan Bisma (also a handy scooter shortcut to monkey forest to avoid crazy traffic) – quite hidden, often can fit you in on the spot
Bali Botanica is epic for a day spa – I took my Mum here for mothers day around $160 AUD for an ENTIRE DAY of day spa, 7 hours. Seriously epic.
Goutama Spa, (Jalan Goutoma), just up from Soma Cafe, ask for Putu – she was recommended by a local ex pat, amazing hands, super strong, awesome massage, one of the best I’ve ever had in Bali. The Spa itself is tacky and full of tourists, but once you’re in your massage room it’s all good!
Spa Bali (Jalan Raya Pengosekan) – Awesome place for manicure/ pedicure and some of the best massages we have in Bali, friendly staff, spacious, clean, great atmosphere. Often have appointments at the last minute.

Cost of living in Ubud

Last updated 2025. All prices are in $AUD.

You can have a massage every day for $10-20. You can eat for $1-$2 per meal (local Indonesian places) or $5-20 per meal at the western places. These days it costs me around $15 per meal because I can’t eat local with my coeliacism, In Ubud the food is amazing, heaps of raw vegan, plenty of GF. You can find an Airbnb or guesthouse for $600-800 AUD/ month a 5-10 min scooter ride from Ubud or you can splash out and get an unreal place for anywhere between $50/ night to hundreds a night.

Accommodation in Ubud, Bali

Airbnb or Agoda is where you’ll find most good places, or even Ubud/ Bali Rental Facebook groups. Below are a few places I’ve stayed that I can vouch for, though there are many, many wonderful options in Bali.

The prices and value can vary wildly, so the below are provided as a guide to what’s possible in the lower end of the pricing spectrum. I’m always trying to strike a balance between paying as little as possible, but also having a lovely place that I can enjoy. For longer stays where I’m mostly working from a coworking space, I’ll often stay somewhere cheaper that has a kitchen, but no pool or amazing view.

As mentioned above, if you’re staying for a short time and have a little extra budget, I recommend finding a place with lovely surroundings and/or a pool, since Ubud itself can be a little hectic!

In 2016 I stayed at Lasan Mas Guesthouse which is stunning, the photos don’t even do it justice. There’s a waterfall/ river thing right in front of you in the valley. It’s a bit further out (10 min scooter ride from Ubud), $800 ish AUD per month. Whatsapp the lovely owner Wayan, (contact me for his number), he’s super helpful or book through Airbnb if you’re happy to pay more.
In 2017 I stayed at both Putri Ayu (great location in Jalan Bisma, quick scooter ride to get anywhere), lovely pool, bathroom very average but the rest of the place is perfect!) and Rumah Semanggi (Stunningly beautiful location in the middle of rice paddies and a beautiful tropic garden, a bit further out from Ubud, I would only stay here if you’re happy to scooter around and/or hire a scooter driver. Super friendly staff, very tranquil and peaceful – a great place to get away from the hecticness of Ubud.
In 2022 we stayed at Casa Avana (the most stunning views, surrounded by rice paddies) and also at Loka Pala Villa while we were working from Outpost Nyuh Kunning, which we loved.
In 2025 I stayed long term at Pibra House, great second floor apartment, helpful host, great value for money at roughly $550AUD/ month. A 6 minute scooter right away from the centre of Bali and the Yoga Barn where I was doing a training.

Transport/ Getting around Bali

Drivers

Agung Wock is a great dude, very honest and won’t rip you off, 300k IDR pickup from Airport (around $30AUD). Whatsapp him: +62 857 92168621 (He gave me permission to share his phone number).
Basically everyone in Bali is a driver or knows a driver, I have at least 10 saved in my phone, feel free to contact me for more Whatsapp numbers to try! Everyone in Bali uses Whatsapp to communicate.

Taxis

You can rent a scooter taxi very cheaply using Grab or Gojek, though I encourage you to avoid these apps where possible since they take a lot and give very little back to the drivers.
There are marked taxis (taksi), but as well as taksis, almost every man in Ubud is a driver and will call to you on the side of the road and/or beep at you as they drive past to check if you want a ride. Make sure you agree a price before or if they have a meter, make sure they turn it on. The taksis will try not to use a meter as the rates are crazily cheap, so they’ll easily try to rip you off and charge you $5+ when it should be 50 cents.
Getting taxis/ drivers round Ubud in cars is a pain because the traffic is often bumper to bumper – but in a scooter you can whiz down the inside or outside and avoid a lot of traffic along with all the rest of the scooterers.
As at July 2025, the standard price for a driver from the airport to Ubud is 350-400k ($35-40 AUD).

Scooter Rental

I can’t recommend renting a scooter enough, there are few footpaths in Ubud (and most have huge holes in them and scooters tend to ride long the footpaths to avoid traffic) so to me it honestly seems safer to scooter around than to walk. Most of the best parts of Ubud are spread much too far to walk, so you’ll miss a lot without one. You can bike but there are some serious hills, it’s very hot, and the traffic is pretty insane so cyclists never look particularly safe to me. Scootering around is one of my favourite parts of being in Indonesia. You feel very free. Navigating the traffic on scooter is not for the faint hearted though!
Scooter rental is around 50 AUD (500k IDR) per month or $5-8 (50-80k) per day (don’t pay much more). Petrol is around 10-15k IDR per litre, roughly 2-3 litres for most scooters.
You can buy petrol on the side of the road from Absolut vodka bottles, plastic bottles, sometimes even olive oil bottles! It’s usually by the litre for 10000 IDR. Ask for 2 (dua) if your tank is empty. Bensin = petrol in indonesian.
You should be able to rent a scooter from the hosts of most villas and guesthouses, if not there are places all over Ubud, a few on Jalan Pengosekan, a few on Jalan Monkey Forest.
Be aware that though it’s legal to drive a scooter with a car drivers licence in Bali, western travel insurance companies do not usually insure you unless you have a motorbike licence in your home country. Check the fine print and be aware that you’re probably not insured for damage to the bike or to yourself in the case of an accident. That is the case for me but I choose to take the risk because without a scooter in Ubud I feel I would be restricted and miss a huge amount of the experience.
Make sure you have 1. a helmet, 2. your drivers licence (preferably an international one if you don’t want to be scammed by police), and 3. the papers for the scooter (usually under the seat).
Police: If you get stopped by police (they often have a roadblock set up on the only road to Kintamani, the beautiful volcano up north that attracts a lot of tourists), they may tell you you have to pay a fine of 1 million IDR or go to jail, (they told us this because we didn’t have an international drivers licence, but I suspect if we did they would have made up another reason). We ended up paying 500k ($50 AUD) and later found out that 200k will usually suffice with police, and it’s a good idea to cary a fake wallet with just 200k in it and the rest elsewhere so you can tell them it’s all you have. In our last two trips to Bali in 2024 and 2025 where we spent many weeks in Ubud and also in north west Bali, around Munduk, we weren’t stopped by any police.

Money: Credit Cards and Cash

Many places in Ubud don’t take card, only cash, though hotels and bigger restaurants do.
There are ATMs everywhere though. Maybank and Mandiri I found to be reliable and charge no or little fees.
You have to be careful with skimming at ATMs, use your keycard/eftpos if you have one (a card with no chip, one that is linked to a savings/ cheque account that you use to get cash out at home, usually with a Plus or Cirrus Logo on it), not debit or credit cards, otherwise peeps can steal your CC number and your bank will cancel your card. With a key card your bank may freeze the card if they realise it’s been skimmed, but they won’t cancel it as it can’t be used online. Bring multiple cards just in case. It only happened to me once or twice, but good to be safe.

Bali/ Indonesian visas

If you’re staying for 30 days or less you can apply for a Visa on Arrival online and make sure you have proof of your flight leaving Indonesia within 30 days of arriving. You can also just land and queue for a VoA, but why waste your time in queues.
You used to need visa agents to extend your visa, but now the process can be done easily online.
If you wish to stay 60 days, you can renew your 30 day visa online 14 days before it expires. You can only renew it once and then you have to leave the country. It can take over a week for the visa extension to be approved, don’t panic. Many expats who live in Bali longer term get cheap flights to Singapore, KL, Borneo, HK, etc and do a one day visa run every 60 days. You can re-enter the country as many times as you like (as far as I know) and keep doing the visa extension for a total stay of 60 days.

AROUND BALI:

Canggu

When I lived in Bali, Canggu was up and coming, quiet and chill. It is now Instagram cafe/ influencer central. Lots of delicious and highly Instagrammable restaurants, but also a lot of pretentious fashionistas around, I personally wouldn’t stay in Canggu again unless for eating and shopping. The beaches are average, covered in tourists, and nothing to write home about.

Gold dust spa is epic, more pricey (but still cheap compared to Australia)
La Laguna is EPIC – Instagram it.
Dojo is the coworking space
Great clothes shops in Canggu and Seminyak, beautiful clothes, more towards the western end of prices but still often cheaper than home

AROUND INDONESIA:

Nusa Lembongan

In 2015 and 2017 we went to Nusa Lembongan island, fairly touristy as with the rest of beach-bali and the roads are very bumpy and potholed in some areas, but fun to scooter round on, some of the beaches are so beautiful – Dream beach is beautiful, though covered in tourists. The island is mostly about scuba and surf. I enjoyed it the first time and loved it the 2nd time. Great small waves for learning to surf.

Best gluten free restaurants on Nusa Lembongan:

(Note: this has not been updated since 2017 and may be entirely inaccurate):

Sandy Bay Beach Club – cocktails and best food on the island
The Deck – cocktails, breakfasts
Tigerlily – breakfasts
Pisang Pisang – breakfast, gf cassava pancakes, smoothies
Muntigs – dinner
Le Pirate beach club – drinks and sunbathing
Two towers coffee shop – coffee and banana pancakes if you’re not a coeliac!

Accommodation on Nusa Lembongan:

Taman Seaview – beautiful view, a bit away from the main tourist street which we loved, beautiful pool, and they rented us a couple of scooters for 50k per day. ($5AUD/ day)
Rama garden – we stayed here in 2015 and loved it, it’s connected to Pisang Pisang which is great for breakfast and smoothies and healthy (but yum) options

Surfing on Nusa Lembongan

We learnt to surf with the guys at New Bro, who were awesome, fun, and great teachers, especially Agus and Robot.

Yoga on Nusa Lembongan

Serenity Yoga on the north of the island, great yoga deck and lovely teacher.

Kuta, Lombok

We also went to Kuta, Lombok (NOT to be confused with Kuta Bali). Lombok is great, much more relaxed and less tourist-destroyed, many empty beaches (still with some rubbish problems, but still some lovely ones to be found), long open roads for some awesome scooter exploring. We loved it here. Check out Ashtari for yoga and food (stunning view over the beach) and we stayed at Yuli’s Homestay which was awesome, super friendly and helpful. Lombok is a Muslim island, we didn’t have any troubles down the south in Kuta and were told by our homestay that we didn’t need to cover up, the locals seemed fine with non-covered up female tourists there, but I believe it’s more strict in other parts of Lombok. Many mosques and early morning wake up calls in Lombok, but in Bali there are always loud noises, roosters, Mosques, barking dogs, you get used to sleeping through it.

Gili Islands – Gili Air

We went to Gili Air in 2024 and 2025 and loved it! Quiet, chill vibe, lovely sunsets overlooking volcanos on the north and west of the island, good snorkelling on the east side. No cars or scooters, so you have to hire a bike or an electric scooter to get around the island.

Yoga, Co-Working & Jewellery making on Gili Air

Great Yoga at Flowers and Fire Yoga and H2O yoga.
Working on Air is a great co-working space, friendly staff, fast internet, great central location
Loved the silver jewellery making class at the Kaktus, $40AUD for a 3 hour class, highly recommend. I made myself some leaf earrings and Bloody Good Bloke an engagement ring which he’s been wearing ever since!

Best Gluten Free Restaurants on Gili Air:

Barefoot Blondie was my go-to gluten free cafe for breakfast and lunch, super helpful friendly staff and had gluten free bread.
Dolcemare is lovely and has gluten free pizza and pasta (Pizzas are nothing like Melbourne quality GF pizzas, but still tasty.)
Ra Healing food has lots of delicious GF options and nice spots to sit and look out to sea
Yanai Japanese is super delicious, lovely ambiance, and have GF soy sauce. Expensive, special date night vibes.
Makan la Vie is a delicious French steakhouse, such good food. Expensive but great steaks.
Gili Coffee roasters is a great vibe, good coffee and GF bread options
Hakuna Matata – Delicious sushi on the beach (BYO GF soy sauce)

Accommodation on Gili Air:

La Isla Bonita was just beautiful, delightful pool and surrounds, and incredible staff who specially went and bought me potatoes so they could make me a gluten free breakfast every morning. Higher than our normal price range but, we got lucky and paid about $120AUD night on a last minute deal, is often around $200/night. We just loved it here and even went back after staying elsewhere.
Gili Air Santay Bungalows has the most incredible location on the east of the island (best for snorkelling and sunrises), you can sit and eat breakfast right on the beach overlooking lombok for about $45 AUD/night. The accommodation is fairly basic, but spacious and great value.
Gili Air Santay 3 is next door to Gili Air Santay just slightly further back from the beach but still only a 200m walk, they have some smaller darker rooms, and then two new, huge rooms, which are incredible value for money (we stayed a month and paid around $22AUD a night in June, which is low season. Gili Air Santay 3 is run by the loveliest Indonesian characters, Ani (Honey) and Emy, you feel like you’re staying with family. We stayed here long term in 2025 and I’d definitely go back.
Gili Matiki is beautiful and quiet with a lovely pool and friendly staff, about $75 AUD/night. Rooms have no insulation so you can hear others in their rooms, but other than that recommend.

We went for a day trip to Gili T is over-touristed and hectic, rammed with young Aussies, I wouldn’t go back.

The (gluten free) solo traveller and digital nomad’s guide to Ubud, Bali