Arriving in Ubud, Bali: My Favorite Balinese Town

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For our honeymoon, weather ultimately determined exactly which places we chose to visit. Because autumn is monsoon season in parts of Asia, we chose Bali and Hong Kong as our honeymoon locations, because they were amongst the few places in Asia where it wouldn’t be raining. In my last post, I told you exactly how we used credit card points to travel for free to Asia—so read up on how you can enjoy the same trip we did! In this post, I want to tell you about where we stayed the first few days of our honeymoon: Ubud, Bali.

WATCH MY VLOG ABOUT UBUD, BALI:

WHY I LOVE UBUD

I first visited Ubud in 2015 with two of my friends and it was hands down, my favorite town we visited during the trip. Ubud is the cultural and spiritual heartbeat of Bali. It kinda has this eclectic hippie vibe where you can find traditional Balinese culture mixed in with warm-spirited travelers and expats trying to find their zen. But it’s also a place filled with natural gems—where you can find those jungle-like Instagrammable spots with lush rice paddies, palm trees, and rivers.

Ubud has this weird ability to calm your spirit the moment you arrive. That’s the Ubud effect. The Eat, Pray, Love feeling that people long for when they go to Bali. And it’s exactly why we chose to kick off our honeymoon there. Karl was adamant about wanting to relax on our honeymoon. I have a tendency to crave wild adventures, so I tried to curb that natural desire during our time in Bali. Ubud was the perfect place to do just that. It allowed us to totally relax and center ourselves.

Honeymoon in Ubud, Bali

WHERE TO STAY IN UBUD FOR TOTAL RELAXATION

We turned to The Asia Collective to help us find the best place to stay in Ubud to help us relax the first few days. They pointed us to COMO Uma Ubud, a luxury hotel with a specific focus on holistic wellness.

After flying from Atlanta to LA to Tokyo to Singapore to Bali, we then took a 1.5-hour Uber ride from the airport to our hotel in Ubud. That car ride may sound like a long drive after all that flying, but it was worth it (and the ride only cost us $11 USD).

From the moment we checked in to COMO Uma Ubud, we knew the service would be wonderful. We were warmly greeted with a refreshing Balinese drink that was blended together with orange juice, pineapple juice, ginger ale, and various herbs and spices. Afterwards, we were given a small tour of the property and then escorted to our very beautiful room, which you can see in the video.

Honeymoon in Ubud, Bali

HOW WE SPENT OUR TIME IN UBUD

1. We lounged in our lavish room.

Our room was so relaxing, that I pretty much zoned out after we checked in that afternoon, and I didn’t wake up until the next day (#thanksjetlag). The bed was super comfy, we had an outdoor patio and private garden with a koi pond, and the bathroom blew my mind away. It’s probably one of my favorite bathrooms I’ve ever experienced in a hotel.

Honeymoon in Ubud, Bali
Our bathroom

2. We ate good food.

One thing that I loved about Ubud both times I visited is that there are so many amazing restaurants in the area, both walking distance and a short drive away from wherever you’re staying. This hotel had a car service, which made it super convenient to go out to eat. COMO Uma Ubud also has some great restaurants on site. Each morning, we enjoyed breakfast next to their giant koi pond.

Honeymoon in Ubud, Bali
Koi pond by the restaurant

3. We took a yoga class.

I’m not into yoga back home, but when I travel to certain places, I seem to find myself suddenly interested in getting my yoga on. The class took place outdoors in a very secluded section of the property. Our instructor guided us into total zen-mode and at some point, I found myself in positions I never thought I had the flexibility to pull off. We zenfully floated through our lesson in total peace, hearing nothing but the soft sounds of our instructor’s voice and the wind blowing across the nearby palm trees.

Honeymoon in Ubud, Bali

4. We got a couple’s massage.

Right after our session of deep breathing and awkward poses, we retreated deeper into bliss with an hour-long full body couples massage. It was totally necessary after a long day and a half of flying. I loved that we were able to experience it together.

Honeymoon in Ubud, Bali

5. We explored a rice field.

Last time I went to Bali, I explored the Tegalalang Rice Terrace. This time, Karl and I walked to a lesser-known rice field known as Subak Keliki. The hotel provides local guides that lead complimentary daily walks in Ubud, so we woke up one morning and participated in one of these walks. After the walk ended, Karl and I stayed behind to capture some aerial views of the rice terrace with my drone.

Honeymoon in Ubud, Bali

6. We went for a dip.

We spent our final hours in Ubud swimming around the infinity pool. We even met and chatted with another newlywed couple who were on the tail end of their own honeymoon adventure. The pool is beautiful and surrounded by greenery, which made us feel like we were in a little tropical jungle.

Honeymoon in Ubud, Bali
They gave us a tour of their best room, which had its own private pool – this is where we wanted to stay, but it was already booked.

Subscribe to my YouTube page, Ashley Renne: Travel Lushes, to keep up with the rest of my honeymoon adventures! To watch all the honeymoon vlogs, you can follow this playlist.

When you travel, what are some things you do to relax? Let me know in the comment section below!

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Relaxing in Ubud, Bali for our honeymoom

12 Replies to “Arriving in Ubud, Bali: My Favorite Balinese Town”

  1. I loved Ubud so much!! I spent a month in Bali in 2011 (time flies!!!) out of which 10 days in Ubud. A very special place with a special vibe! There’s indeed so much to do and especially such a nice energy to relax and pamper yourself 🙂

    1. Yes!!! Ubud is seriously a special place in Bali. The vibe there is so different from the other cities I’ve visited in Bali. Do you ever plan to go back? Wow I’d LOVE to spend an entire month there like you did!

  2. Even though you didn’t get the “best” room in the place, it still looks like you got a lavish experience. Looks amazing. I’ve always heard great things about Bali. I NEED to get there!

  3. It’s so funny that we too were just in Ubud a few weeks ago. We loved Bali so much. The rice terraces were one of our favourites. Earl was right to focus on relaxing doing your honeymoon and Ubud is the perfect place for that. Congratulations on getting married!

  4. Congratulations to the newly wed. On this post, I can feel the love and you really enjoyed a honeymoon you deserve in Ubud, Bali… It was indeed a relaxing experience close to nature and the yoga class is so soul calming.

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